I don’t think it’s realistic for a company whose website gets 10,000 visits per day to have a human being greet every single visitor BUT to at least have the option would be nice.

Instead of just having a “follow us on twitter” button, why not change the copy on the site (and operational objective of the company’s Twitter presence) to be purpose-driven? How about offering visitors the option to connect with a specialist via Twitter while they’re on the site, looking for something? Have them answer questions, compare products for them, connect them with customers who have bought the product, etc.?

And that’s just one idea.

Your idea of helping C-suite execs visualize traffic vs. conversions/transactions is simple yet fantastic. They’ve never been shown this. There’s only so much a pie chart can express, when that kind of data is even presented to them in that context.

Ponder the difference between “Woohoo! 12% of our website visitors made an online purchase from our e-store last year!” vs. “Only 12% our visitors made an online purchase from our e-store last year.” What digital team is going to present that 12% figure in a “we can do better” context? C-suite execs often don’t understand the web and other forms of media measurement because the format and context in which data is presented are skewed to perpetuate a set of services purposely divorced from actual business performance.

It isn’t in the best interest of people paid to sell subjective metrics to suddenly get out from behind the safety of decades of pointless measurement and finally start taking responsibility for real numbers: It is a lot easier to sell potential exposure and web traffic than it is to sell transactions.

As much as I find web analytics fascinating (and immensely valuable), any company that loses track of how limited that type of data really is outside of the human factor, is completely missing the boat. No wonder most companies spend so much capital on digital “strategies” but get so little in return. Heck, it’s gone on so long that most digital shops have completely forgotten what R.O.I. even stands for, as we learned this past year.

Business (and marketing, for that matter) is about influencing human behavior. Human behavior is influenced by stimulus. SAnd the funny thing about stimulus is that it is never neutral: It is either positive or negative. So every action a business takes (or fails to take) produces either a negative or positive effect on a potential customer’s experience – and ensuing purchasing decision. In other words, actions create bias, either for or against.

What is the consequence, then, of a robo-call vs. a friendly human phone call?

What is the consequence of an ineffective website vs. a customer-friendly website?

What is the consequence of being put on hold for 35 minutes vs. having a friendly voice pick up the phone when it rings?

What is the consequence of treating social media as just another push channel vs. using it to solve a customer problem and making them feel valuable?

You nailed it with this post, Keith. You and CC Chapman and Amber. I’m glad you guys are here.
olivier blanchard´s last blog ..BrandBuilder post number 1,000 – Let’s talk about leadership