Metrics Move from Website to Consumer

I know that we’ve trashed twitter influence metrics in the last week or so. But for all the vitriol we’ve spilled on them, at least these guys are looking towards the future: a future where spontaneous, ambient consumer utterances on open platforms will be vastly more relevant than the traditional website experience.

Forrester analyst Tammy Barber opined yesterday that “on-demand intelligence” is putting increasing pressure on traditional research methods in the eyes of data-hungry interactive marketers. But she slotted website metrics in alongside social media metrics in the category of new measurements that would phase out offline surveys and focus groups. I disagree. I think website metrics are increasingly in the rearview of the digital marketing ecosystem, cruising along sluggishly while social media metrics blow by them in the passing lane.

Maybe it’s a gut feeling; maybe it’s what I’m seeing and hearing in my reference set. The two core components of website measurement–web analytics and surveys–combined for 73 hashtag mentions in October, only slightly topping the 67 uses of the “#zzz” token. The buzz is about social metrics, with a particular fetish lately for twitter metrics. The cool cats have moved on from website measurement.

But there are still those out there who believe that if they blind themselves to the future, they can live forever in an unblemished past. Thus, they double down on website measurement in the same way as unscrupulous investors doubled down on mortgage backed securities a couple of years ago. While their downfall won’t be as colosally destructive, those who take leadership roles in website measurement just as its relevancy wanes might very well end up looking just as stupid.

Richard Zeidel