The Research Report
By: Maria Sample
How online marketers use facts, figures and forecasts.
Studies, polls, reports, surveys, statistics and forecasts. Every day the latest data on the most current trends is widely disseminated and distributed. Want to know which demographic group is most likely to spend more online, to have broadband or to download music? There's data out there that purports to have the answers.
There's no dearth of data, for sure, but just how much of this mountain of market research is useful for online marketers who need to make crucial business decisions is up for debate.
Kathryn Finney, a.k.a. The Budget Fashionista, uses reports from Forrester Research and comScore to learn about the top sites in women's apparel. This gives her an idea of "who to target, who to partner with and to get an idea of where the industry's going."
Joe Zawadzki, founder and president of Poindexter Systems, which provides online ad management services, is less convinced about the value of some market research. "Once that research is made public, the opportunity to capitalize on that information is gone. Private data is the key." Zawadzki says public research does have its uses, claiming it's good for sales and venture capital fund-raising.
Some merchants claim research is helpful to them in a variety of specific areas, including understanding the competition.
Catherine Paschkewitz, manager of Consumer Marketing at HP Home & Home Office Store, which has partnerships with Forrester, JupiterResearch, eMarketer, comScore and Hitwise, says HP wants to see how Hitwise is working with the competition, which helps to understand and plan campaigns.
"We want to see how we rate versus our competitors," says Paschkewitz. "We also do studies around search behavior and research to see how we can further optimize our program." HP commissions comScore to create some of this custom research, but also relies on its own customer base for information, overlaying Claritas data and performing usability studies internally.
"Research is part of a process," she says. "One part is up-front planning - looking at affiliate sites via Hitwise to see their traffic and customer profiles."
When the HP Home & Home Office Store launched its affiliate program, for example, the team wanted to make sure it would succeed, so they researched what was working for the affiliate market, and talked to affiliates, managers and merchants who had affiliate programs, in addition to looking at research on the subject, Paschkewitz says.
HomeGain's Affiliate Manager Marie Nilsson says merchants often use research to start a campaign.
"[It] is actually a piece of your research project in a sense, if you document your findings, draw conclusions and use it for optimizing your future campaigns," she says. "That's the beauty of advertising on the Internet: Provided you have the right tracking tools in place, you are able to measure each move."
Nilsson says that once you have some experience, the research process is easy.
"As a merchant, you understand how your channel works by launching campaigns and documenting every step of the way, noting all the details, such as placement, targeting, creative used, time of year, close rates, conversion rates, CTR, pricing, etc.," she says. This type of data becomes your future research. "Every campaign can be looked upon as an individual test in a series which compiles a research project if you outline, structure and target your tests."
HomeGain obtains its research in several ways. It gets monthly Hitwise information, which Nilsson says "is great for understanding what your competition is doing." The company also internally compiles metrics and data. "We use census information, which is free. We also do consumer surveys on a regular basis, all in-house," Nilsson says.
But not all research is relevant for a merchant's business, according to John Joseph, Performics' senior vice president of affiliate marketing. He claims that merchants are very interested in statistics regarding overall ad spend and retail figures. "A year from now, merchants will really start using the demographic info that's available," says Joseph.
However, the use of research appeared to be a sensitive subject for many merchants. Calls to BestBuy.com went unanswered. Representatives from Walmart.com and Target.com declined to comment, on the grounds that this type of information is proprietary.
The Affiliate Perspective
FatLens' co-founder and president Siva Kumar says the research his company finds the most useful is "learning about other companies with similar challenges and business models to us. We meet with and share experiences with many of the marketing personnel of other companies."
However, Kumar notes that, "While we have perused published research from establishments like Forrester and find the information interesting, the high-level nature of the reports is not as relevant for daily decision making."
FatLens relies on its own traffic and revenue performance data as research, because it is the "best way of learning about what is working and what we should expect to see as results."
He claims that this type of information is most critical to help FatLens in modifying its programs as well as experimenting with new methods of traffic and revenue generation. "Our growth as a company from inception to our current revenue and traffic levels over the last nine-month period is mainly due to the research we have done on the various online customer-acquisition techniques for similar companies in terms of market segment and business models," Kumar says.
Melissa Salas, senior marketing manager at Buy.com echoes Kumar's reverence for research.
"It's essential for marketers to be wellinformed about industry reports, analyst projections, shopping trends, product announcements and reviews, as well as critics' remarks. With this knowledge, you can position your company to meet your overall business objectives."
Salas claims that marketing campaigns benefit from research as well. "Being a multicategory retailer, it is imperative to stay on top of best sellers and new product releases so marketers can create specific promotions to gain market share," she says.
Research = Understanding
"Consumer research leads to insight," Greg Smith, executive vice president of media, insights, planning and analytics at interactive agency Carat Fusion, says. "It gives you ideas of where to place ads." Smith cites a past campaign in which research led his agency to recommend positioning minivan ads on parenting and kids' sites as well as on car sites.
Smith says Carat Fusion's use of research depends on the client's objective, be it marketing or branding. Marketing efforts are most always motivated by sales, so the results are measured in straightforward metrics and the agency can move from site to site until it finds the best results for the client. With branding, clients are usually looking to change perceptions and attitudes, which makes the process a bit more complex. Here, Smith would use research to define the target, and then figure out where to find that audience in large numbers. Continued on Page 2...
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