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LTV, RFM, LifeCycles – the Framework

Analytical Culture, Customer Experience, DataBase Marketing, Driller Q & A, Measuring Engagement, Newsletters,

Jim answers questions from fellow Drillers
(More questions with answers here, Work Overview here, Index of concepts here)

Q: I visited your website because I am trying to understand how to develop a customer LifeTime Value model for the company that I work at.  The reason is we are looking at LTV as a way to standardize the ROI measurement of different customer programs.

Not all of these programs are Marketing, some are Service, and some could be considered “Operations”.  But they all touch the customer, so we were thinking changes in customer value might be a common way to measure and compare the success of these programs.

A: Absolutely!  I just answered a question very much like this the other day, it’s great that people are becoming interested in customer value as the cross-enterprise common denominator for understanding success in any customer program!

If I am the CEO, I control dollars I can invest. How do I decide where budget is best invested if every silo uses different metrics to prove success?  And even worse, different metrics for success within the same silo?

By establishing changes in customer value as the platform for all customer-related programs to be measured against, everyone is on an equal footing and can “fight” fairly for their share of the budget (or testing?) pie.  By using controlled testing, customers can be exposed to different treatments and lift in value can be compared on an apples to apples basis – even if you are comparing the effect of a Marketing Campaign to changes in the Service Center.

Continue reading LTV, RFM, LifeCycles – the Framework →

Inside WAA Certification: Any Questions?

Analytical Culture, Web Analytics

The WAA has published a lot of info about the new WAA Certification Exam; you might want to first read the FAQ and take a look at the application information and Exam Handbook for the organizational details, and you can see sample questions from the Test at the bottom of the page here.  But something I can just about guarantee about the Certification – no matter how much info the WAA publishes about it, many people will still have questions!

So here, I will attempt to answer other kinds of questions I think people might have based on my discussions with WAA members.

Update: The WAA has answered many Certification questions here.

However, I’m going to approach this topic a bit differently than most of the published documentation – from a Product / Marketing perspective, rather than an Educational / WAA POV.  I can do this because (if you don’t know) I have worn all the hats on this project – developer, marketer, WAA project owner – and I think it might be helpful to tell the business story of the WAA Certification, from the bottom up.

And if you have other questions, feel free to leave them in Comments and I will do my best to answer them!

Continue reading Inside WAA Certification: Any Questions? →

Tortured Data – and Analysts

Analytical Culture, Web Analytics

Fear and Loathing in WA

You may recall I wrote last year about the explicit or implicit pressure put on Analysts to “torture the data” into analysis with a favorable outcome.  In a piece called Analyze, Not Justify, I described how by my count, about 50% or so of the analysts in a large conference room admitted to receiving this kind of pressure at one time or another.

Since then, I have been on somewhat of a personal mission to try to unearth more about this situation.  And it seems like the problem is getting worse, not better.

I have a theory about why this situation might be worsening.

Companies that were early to adopt web analytics were likely to already have a proper analytical culture.  You can’t put pressure on an analyst to torture data  in a company with this kind of culture – the analyst simply will not sit still for it.  The incident will be reported to senior management, and the source of “pressure” fired.  That’s all there is to it.

However, what we could be seeing now is this: as #measure adoption expands, we find the tools in more companies lacking a proper analytical culture, so the incidents of pressure to torture begin to expand.  And not just pressure to torture, but pressure to conceal, as I heard from several web analysts recently.

Continue reading Tortured Data – and Analysts →