SPECTRA REPORT: Be a Web- Watcher

While steady ROI from actual e-commerce remains a distant goal for most marketers, the Web presents an immediate, sustainable opportunity: Use the unprecedented tracking abilities of the Internet and apply the learning to the core business. For most retailers and manufacturers alike, this has broader potential than online sales.

For starters, identify the relatively few "driver" consumers who are true brand champions responsible for recurring high-margin sales; then target and measure all promotional activities on the basis of appeal, reach, and impact with this group. The same holds true for key under-developed consumer segments, for which Web-based infor-mation branding will prove an essential strategy and laboratory.

E-commerce provides a unique level of insight into consumer behavior; we can see patterns of interest and activity repeated over time, tied to key demographic variables. With the Internet Intelligence service spawned by the Spectra-Nielsen

NetRatings alliance, it's now possible to update consumer profiles on an ongoing basis according to recent changes in preference and activity observed among Web users who fit the core consumer profile. This is especially true

for responses to promotional

messages and site-based information.

By profiling users and measuring usage patterns on Internet sites and ISPs, such new tracking services will link Web usage to brand purchasing.

How does it work? As the chart illustrates, click-stream data can feed a closed-loop process that improves marketing ROI measurably, providing a strong, sustainable foundation for growth.

First, click-stream data is integrated into a wider framework?consumer profiles that support segmentation according to attitude, lifestyle, or behavior. By coding Web tracking information according to the Spectra grid's 54 lifestyle-lifestage classifications, we aggregate data to the household level that provides a common framework for ROI evaluations.

Next, does the Web user match our core consumer target, and what is the traffic pattern telling us about audience or message? Or, are we attracting a new consumer who could also be courted in conventional media and outlets? To what degree are the same types of consumers interacting with other media?

Target ROI is the next step. We can take it because a combination of data points?from frequent-shopper cards at retail to e-commerce transactions to syndicated panel studies?are continually measuring the extent of purchase behavior on a household basis.

Gaps between target and delivery indicate the consumer segments that need to be further developed, as well as a framework for identifying the messages and media that will most likely get the job done. From there, it's a straightforward process to improve the strategic role, focus, content, and promotion of the Web site.