Coremetrics Poll Finds Marketers Unable to Track, Justify Online Advertising Programs

Marketers Skeptical of ROI on Display and Web 2.0 Campaigns

SAN MATEO, Calif.– Coremetrics, the leading provider of online marketing and business optimization solutions, recently polled more than 100 marketers from large to midsize online retail companies about their ability to track and justify their display and Web 2.0 campaigns.

* 52% said they were either not sure, somewhat skeptical or completely unconvinced display advertising and/or Web 2.0 initiatives justify their cost
* 49% said it was somewhat difficult to impossible to justify display advertising and Web 2.0 budgets to their management team
* 68% said it was somewhat to very difficult to collect and combine performance data from multiple sources (web analytics, display ad network, behavioral targeting network)

Quotes
John Squire, Chief Strategy Officer, Coremetrics
”With fewer dollars to spend, marketers are under increasing pressure to measure their online campaigns and justify budgets based on results. At the same time, consumers are taking more time to complete transactions online and are exposed to multiple marketing campaigns before converting.

What’s missing is the ability to understand online visitor behavior and conversion patterns so marketers can make informed, confident decisions about where to allocate their budgets. Coremetrics solves that problem with Impression Attribution, tying online marketing exposure to website behavior.”

Eric T. Peterson, Web Analytics Demystified
“Despite a decade of advances in web analytics, campaign analysis and the challenge of LAST-based attribution continue to challenge even the most sophisticated marketers,” says Eric T. Peterson, CEO of Web Analytics Demystified, Inc. “In my experience far too few companies invested in analytics today are even aware of the attribution problem, much less actively doing something about it.”

Detailed Results
1. Which of the following initiatives has your organization been pursuing?
(Check all that apply)*
a. Display advertising 90%
b. Search advertising 72%
c. Syndicated videos 9%
d. Widgets 21%
e. Micro-sites 41%
f. Email 77%
g. Affiliates 31%
h. Mobile 22%
i. Other 17%
* number of respondents = 112

2. How convinced are you that your display advertising and/or Web 2.0 initiatives justify their costs? (Check one)*
a. Completely convinced 7%
b. Somewhat convinced 41%
c. Not sure 42%
d. Somewhat skeptical 8%
e. Completely unconvinced 2%
* number of respondents = 105

3. How easy is it to justify the display advertising and Web 2.0 budget to your management team? (Check one)*
a. Very easy 7%
b. Somewhat easy 17%
c. Neutral 27%
d. Somewhat difficult 39%
e. Very difficult / impossible 10%
* number of respondents = 122

4. How easy is it to collect and combine performance data from multiple sources (such as web analytics vendor, display ad network, behavioral targeting network)? (Check one)*
a. Very easy 3%
b. Somewhat easy 14%
c. Neutral / not sure 16%
d. Somewhat difficult 39%
e. Very difficult 29%
* number of respondents = 105


Methodology
The above data is drawn from a survey Coremetrics conducted on March 11, 2009. Coremetrics polled 186 marketers about how they are able to track and justify their display and Web 2.0 campaigns. The number of responses to each question is given above (*number of respondents).

Coremetrics Impression Attribution
Coremetrics Impression Attribution is a first of its kind ad-hoc reporting solution that helps optimize impression-based marketing initiatives. The solution analyzes how campaigns across the Internet influence website visitor acquisition, conversion and retention.