2006 Webtrends Cmo Web Smart Report
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2006 WebTrends CMO Web-Smart Report
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In our recent CMO Web-Smart Survey of more than 250 marketing executives,
@webtrends.com
we set out to discover how big an impact the web would have on marketing in the
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next year—and how confident CMOs and other executives were in their ability to
measure online marketing performance and create an ROI mind set throughout
their organizations.
The extraordinary results of the survey demonstrate the huge increase in the
influence of the web on every aspect of business, as wel as the need for greater
accountability: in short, the ability to prove how the increased spend on the web
translates into growth and profitability, as wel as the ability to continual y improve
how marketing campaigns perform. Some key findings include:
The web is the hub: Over 56 percent of marketing executives said that the web was
either the hub of their organization’s marketing strategy, or that it would become the
hub in the next year.
Organizations aren’t feeling ready: Marketing executives aren’t grading themselves
or their organizations very highly when it comes to their col ective knowledge of the
latest web marketing trends, strategies and technologies. On average, execs rated
themselves 6.3 on a scale of 1-10. And they rated their staffs even lower, at an
average of 5.5.
Marketing teams will be even more accountable: Most marketing executives plan to
increase accountability by investing in training and building metrics into employee
reviews and compensation.
Take five minutes to read the full report and learn more about the key trends and
chal enges marketers face today—you might be surprised by the findings. Then,
share it with your col eagues. Discuss it with your team. It’s time to make sure
that everyone in your organization understands the importance of the web in their
marketing mix, that they’re al ful y accountable for their marketing performance,
and that they’re al feeling equal y web-smart.
© 2006 WebTrends Inc. All rights reserved.
The rOle OF The Web In 2006: The MarkeTIng hUb
Which of these best describes the role of the
web within your overall marketing mix?
Not that important to our business
3.9%
A strategic channel but less
39.5%
important relative to other channels
The hub of our marketing strategy
25.3%
31.3%
Will become the hub of our
marketing strategy in the
25.3%
next 12 months
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
SUrVeY reSUlTS
Over 56 percent of marketing executives said that the web was either the hub
of their organization’s marketing strategy, or that it will become the hub in
the next year.
39 percent indicated that it was a strategic channel, but less important than other
channels. And almost no one (less that 4 percent) said that the web was not important
to their business.
Marketing is changing, and CMOs know it. Consumers have more control over how
they see advertising. They have more options, more channels, and more chances to
interact with the new media. Of course, there’s also a lot more money moving to online
marketing. According to a recent study by Three Deep Marketing and MarketingSherpa,
the number one chal enge marketers are facing today is determining the payback on
dol ars spent. When asked what their specific marketing problems were, most marketers
said they had trouble managing data—getting the right message to the right person.
These chal enges provide opportunities for marketing executives to improve the way
they do business. With the right information and solutions, marketing executives can
take action with confidence in a changing world—to understand customers, target them
and deliver exactly what they want when, and where they want it. And the web is the key.
2 | © 2006 WebTrends Inc. All rights reserved.
Web-SMarT Index
How would you rate your staff’s collective
knowledge of the latest web marketing trends,
strategies and technologies?
How CMOs rate their staff’s collective knowledge
20%
15%
10%
5%
5.5% weighted average
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Low
Expert
How CMOs rate their own knowledge
20%
15%
10%
6.3% weighted average
5%
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Low
Expert
SUrVeY reSUlTS
Only 4 percent of CMOs rate themselves and their staff as “experts” on web
marketing trends, strategies and technologies.
On a scale of 1-10, the weighted average rating for the staff was 5.5. Clearly, marketing
executives don’t rate them very highly. It’s a strong indicator that organizations need to
educate their teams from the ground up, or hire experience.
On the same scale, marketing leaders gave themselves a little more credit for being web-
smart — the weighted average response was 6.3 — but not much. CMOs are indicating
that they, too, have a lot to learn.
| 3
Web-SMarT Index
How would you currently rate your organization’s
ability to measure web marketing performance?
Measuring results
is a real strength
of my team
15.1%
We have some
56.4%
metrics, but still room
The marketing
for improvement
organization isn’t
4.9%
accountable to results
Currently a weakness
23.6%
and an area we need to
really improve upon
SUrVeY reSUlTS
Over 84 percent of CMOs rated their organization’s ability to measure web marketing
performance as having room for improvement, weak, or non-existent.
As noted previously, over 56 percent of marketing executives said that the web was
either the hub of their organization’s marketing strategy, or that it would become the hub
in the next year. Yet here we see that only 15 percent of them indicate that measuring
results is a real strength of their team. A huge majority said that it’s an area of weakness
or that there’s room for improvement.
Not surprisingly in this time of increasing scrutiny, only 4.9 percent said that the
marketing team wasn’t accountable for measuring results.
4 | © 2006 WebTrends Inc. All rights reserved.
Web MarkeTIng Spend
How will your investment in the web change
relative to your marketing plans in 2006?
Increase significantly (+50%)
21.6%
Increase moderately (+25% to +50%)
26%
Increase slightly (+10% to +25%)
35.5%
Stay the same (0%)
16.9%
Decrease slightly (-10% to -25%)
0%
Decrease moderately (-25% to -50%)
0%
Decrease significantly (-50%)
0%
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
SUrVeY reSUlTS
Over 83 percent of marketing executives plan to increase their investment in the
web in 2006.
Everyone is going to be investing more in the web in 2006. Without exception, not
a single marketing executive said that they would decrease their online spend. The
majority (35 percent) said they would increase it slightly. 26 percent said they’d increase
it moderately. And 21.6 percent said they would increase their budgets significantly.
According to a December 2005, report from Piper Jaffray, “Online advertising is now
positioned to exceed $55 bil ion global y by 2010.” When you consider that kind of
growth potential, it’s clear that accountability wil become more and more critical.
Since this increase is al ocated across many channels, the ability to gain a deeper
understanding and optimize results is critical. Organizations are spending their valuable
marketing dol ars across multiple channels and partners to reach customers in new
ways—Google, Yahoo, MSN, online publications, email, mobile and more. The key to
success wil be to consolidate performance data and customer information into a single
consistent metrics framework within a complete reporting system.
| 5
aCCOUnTabIlITY and STaFFIng
How are you currently staffing your team for
measuring web marketing performance?
Single full-time employee
dedicated to analysis
15.7%
Part-time responsibility
of multiple employees
26.4%
Multiple full-time
employees dedicated
9.7%
to analysis
Analysis is nonexistent 15.7%
on our team
25.5%
6.9%
Part-time responsibility
Outside agency or consultant
of a single employee
providing analysis
SUrVeY reSUlTS
52 percent of organizations make measuring web marketing performance
the part-time responsibility of multiple employees or a single employee.
15.7 percent of marketing executives said that analysis is non-existent on their team.
When you consider how significantly online marketing budgets wil increase, it’s
hard to believe there’s no accountability for it. 26.4 percent said it was the part-time
responsibility of multiple employees, which signifies the need for consistency in metrics
(and agreed-upon key performance indicators) across departments. And 25.5 percent
said it was the part-time responsibility of a single employee.
Managers considering hiring a dedicated web marketing analyst shouldn’t wait. A recent
JupiterResearch study, Web Analytics: Framework for Using Data to Drive Business
Success, stated that:
“…companies assigning at least one dedicated resource are at least twice as likely as
those assigning none to measure conversion rates, integrate external search marketing
data, measure marketing spending, as wel as use A/B testing strategies and funnel
analysis tools to incremental y improve Web sites... which JupiterResearch believes is
fundamental to achieving analytics success.”
JupiterResearch also went on to note that... “assigning many partial resources is
sub-optimal, rarely producing the quality associated with dedicated resources.”
6 | © 2006 WebTrends Inc. All rights reserved.
aCCOUnTabIlITY TO reSUlTS
What are you doing to breed an ROI mind set
within your organization, and to increase the
accountability of the marketing function in 2006?
Hiring dedicated business
analyst(s) within the team
25.5%
Hiring outside agency or consultant(s)
to provide analysis or services
19.4%
Investing in training of existing
49%
employees
Building metrics into employee
performance reviews and
46.9%
compensation
Other
13.3%
0
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
SUrVeY reSUlTS
Most marketing executives plan to increase accountability by investing in training
and building metrics into employee reviews and compensation.
Training (49 percent) was fol owed closely by building metrics into performance reviews
and compensation (46.9 percent), so accountability is clearly moving top-down in
many organizations. Talk about a need for accurate metrics… clearly, in order to create
a system that impacts employee salaries, it’s vital to have consistent measurement
standards across the organization.
25.5 percent planned to hire a dedicated business analyst and 19.4 percent said they
would hire an outside agency or consultant to provide analysis services.
| 7
COnClUSIOn
Marketing executives are seeing clearly that the web is central to future success.
Performance metrics for online campaigns, including search, email, and advertising,
wil let them run their marketing with confidence. The measurability of the web,
along with an integrated online marketing performance management solution, lets
every member of a marketing team instantly understand the cause and effect of
their marketing programs. And the interactivity of the web, paired with a powerful
relationship marketing solution, lets them understand customers, and nurture profitable
relationships through targeted, relevant campaigns.
The engaging, interactive, user-control ed nature of web-based media is causing it
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This report includes data col ected from survey responses from October to December
their marketing performance
2005, as an online survey of CMOs and other marketing executives produced by
for maximum return on
WebTrends. Survey respondents represented a diverse sampling of business types
investment. As the worldwide
and industries:
market leader for web
analytics and marketing
Business Type:
Industry:
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expertise. By delivering
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