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NONE: Re: visits vs hits
Re: visits vs hits
Niranjan V. Raman (nraman_at_utk.edu)
Wed, 24 Jul 1996 11:14:22 -0400
Thought I would add my $.02 to this debate. The bottomline of this
discussion seems centered around two fundamental issues: (1) Who are the
people reading/viewing my Web marketing communications (as opposed to ad,
banner, Webpage, or icon), and (2) What is the effect of this exposure (on
my company, on my products and/or services)?
The first issue is the one that is causing a greater controversy - hits,
visits, etc. No matter what is measured, it must not be forgotten that the
data still is imperfect to some extent. This is because of dynamic IP
addresses, more than one user at a machine, or even as someone pointed out,
the possibility of an individual accidentally clicking on your site, and
clicking out immediately even before s/he has had a chance to look at
anything. All you get is either a measure of popularity across the 20% of
the public that is on the Internet, and/or a measure of curiousity for
individuals high on the inquisitivity level. Even when you get perfect
measures, what does xyz2001_at_tomtom.com tell you? In other words, short of
idenfifying the domain or service provider, the data doesn't really tell
you much about your audience, esp. on demographics and psychographics that
is of most interest to marketers. Some companies are attempting to do just
that by requiring user names/ids with passwords, and administering form
questionnaires on their websites before allowing access. I believe that
most individuals turn away from such websites unless they choose to be
members of that clique (Harley mobike people, travelocity?). So from an
advertising viewpoint, at present, you really can't target a message to a
group of consumers very well. Rather your message has to be very broad
and/or contain several levels/links that cater to people from all walks of
life.
Second, many Website owners/administrators are making the mistake of
assuming that x hits/visits cause y sales. This is the age-old
advertising-sales response curve issue. There may be other variables
including prices, word-of-mouth recommendations from colleagues, the nature
of the product etc. that precipitate the sale. In fact, some of these may
cause the consumer to look at the company's webpage in the first place
(high on purchase consideration or in consideration set), and then make the
decision on whether to or not to. So the causal paths may not be as
straightforward as assumed. The webpage can certainly be a useful tool but
as someone pointed out, it is just another form of consumer contact, albeit
a more effective one. It may be wiser to measure the effects of this
consumer-defined exposure (which I call desired exposure) in ways more than
just profits or sales.
Guess I said more than my two cents. Cheers,
-Niranjan
===========================================================================
Niranjan V. Raman, Ph.D. nraman_at_utk.edu
Assistant Professor (423) 974-5097 (W)
Dept. of Advertising (423) 670-1394 (H)
University of Tennessee (423) 974-2826 (Fax)
===========================================================================
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