Online Metrics: What Are You Measuring and Why‪?‬

Unlike traditional marketers who must wait days if not weeks to measure the effectiveness of their campaigns, online marketers are confronted with an ocean of data which can be tracked and measured in near real-time. Despite the volume of data and powerful tools available to online marketers (at free to low cost, making analytics as affordable for startups to fortune 500) online metrics are widely misunderstood, misapplied and often misused to say much more that they should. Understanding how online metrics work, what they measure and which of them are most relevant based on specific marketing functions and campaign goals is a valuable skill for every marketer. This note frames online metrics in the context of campaign goals (from search marketing to back-end analytics) while discussing the various marketing functions (from display advertising to brand management) that benefit as a result of access to specific metrics. Throughout the note, each metric is placed along an ROI Continuum designed to add insight as to the role of each metric over time as it relates to a firm's bottom line.