As data has become an ever greater weapon in the marketers’ arsenal, a range of metrics have battled for hegemony. According to a recent study from the University of Technology Sydney, it’s satisfaction that is the most prized of all.
It was the most used marketing metric in half of the 16 countries analyzed, with over 4,000 marketing plans analyzed in total from over 1,600 countries.
“Despite trillions spent on marketing globally, managers have said consistently over the last couple of decades that one of the most difficult activities is demonstrating the impact of their marketing actions,” the researchers say. “We wanted to know what metrics managers are using globally, what drives metric use, including cultural influences, and how many metrics managers are using. In today’s digital technology-intensive and data-rich environment, it is important for managers to know which metrics count.”
Key metrics
Marketers were also keen to measure the awareness raised by their campaigns and the return on investment achieved, with 45% of companies measuring awareness and (an alarmingly low) 43% measuring the ROI of their campaigns.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, there was a positive correlation between the desire to use a variety of metrics, and the overall marketing performance of a company.
“We found the greater a manager’s overall use of quantitative information or metrics when making decisions, the better the performance, accuracy, and overall quality of decisions. It also leads to greater CEO satisfaction, and increased profits and shareholder value,” the researchers continue. “Metrics provide information to help managers diagnose, coordinate, and monitor their actions. They also quantify trends or outcomes, reveal current relationships, and help predict the results of future actions.”
In total, 84 different metrics were used by organizations, with the average organization deploying nine as part of their marketing work. Metrics were most commonly used in South Korea, China and India, with the US and France among the lowest users. The authors suggest that managers in countries with a lower tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity were more likely to take a metrics-driven approach to marketing.
Other cultural aspects such as assertiveness and power distance were also influential, with the organizational structure and culture understandably important, albeit in a somewhat counterintuitive way.
“Rigid organisational cultures were less effective than more organic, free-flowing cultures where there was flexibility for managers to exchange ideas and choose their own metrics, rather than focusing on a strict set of instructions,” the authors explain. “It’s important for managers to understand the different drivers for metric use, both cultural and organisational. It is also useful to know what metrics other managers are using, and how many they are using, as it provides a benchmark for their own marketing-mix.”
