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Stage 2: Defining the performance metrics framework

Measurement for assessing the effectiveness of Internet marketing can be thought of as 

answering these questions:

1 

Are corporate objectives identified in the Internet marketing strategy being met?

2 

Are marketing objectives defined in the Internet marketing strategy and plan achieved?

Figure 12.6

A summary of the performance measurement process

What should we do about it?

Why is it happening?

What is happening?

What do we want to achieve?

Corrective

action

Performance

diagnosis

Performance

measurement

Goal setting

REVIEW

Who?

When?

MEASURE

Who?

When?

How?

CONTROL

Who?

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Part 3  Implementation

3 

Are marketing communications objectives identified in the Internet marketing plan 

achieved?

4 

How efficient are the different promotional techniques used to attract visitors to a site?

Efficiency measures are more concerned with minimising the costs of online marketing 

while maximising the returns for different areas of focus such as acquiring visitors to a web-

site, converting visitors to outcome or achieving repeat business.

Chaffey (2000) suggests that organisations define a measurement framework which 

defines groupings of specific metrics used to assess Internet marketing performance. He sug-

gests that suitable measurement frameworks will fulfil these criteria:

A 

Include both  macro-  level effectiveness metrics which assess whether strategic goals are 

achieved and indicate to what extent e-marketing contributes to the business (revenue 

contribution and return on investment).

B 

Include  micro-  level metrics which assess the efficiency of e-marketing tactics and imple-

mentation. Wisner and Fawcett (1991) note that typically organisations use a hierarchy 

of measures and they should check that the  lower-  level measures support the  macro- 

 level strategic objectives. Such measures are often referred to as performance drivers, 

since achieving targets for these measures will assist in achieving strategic objectives. 

E-marketing performance drivers help optimise e-marketing by attracting more site visi-

tors and increasing conversion to desired marketing outcomes.

C 

Assess the impact of the e-marketing on the satisfaction, loyalty and contribution of key 

stakeholders (customers, investors, employees and partners) as suggested by Adams et al. 

(2000).

D 

The framework must be flexible enough to be applied to different forms of online pres-

ence whether business-to-consumer, business-to-business,  not-  for-  profit or transactional 

e-tail,   CRM-  orientated  or   brand-  building.  Adams  et al.  (2000)  note  that  a  ‘ one-  size-  fits- 

 all’ framework is not desirable.

E 

Enable comparison of performance of different e-channels with other channels as sug-

gested by Friedman and Furey (1999).

F 

The framework can be used to assess e-marketing performance against competitors’ or 

out-of-sector best practice.

When identifying metrics it is common practice to apply the widely used SMART mnemonic 

and it is also useful to consider three levels – business measures, marketing measures and 

specific Internet marketing measures (see objective setting section in Chapter 5).

Chaffey (2000) presented a framework of measures, shown in Figure 12.7, which can be 

applied to a range of different companies. Metrics for the categories are generated as objec-

tives from Internet marketing planning which then need to be monitored to assess the suc-

cess of strategy and its implementation. Objectives can be devised in a  top-  down fashion, 

starting with strategic objectives for business contribution and marketing outcomes leading 

to tactical objectives for customer satisfaction, behaviour and site promotion. An alterna-

tive perspective is bottom-up – success in achieving objectives for site promotion, on-site 

customer behaviour and customer satisfaction lead sequentially to achieving objectives for 

marketing outcomes and business contribution.