Tracking Responses:
The Measure of Marketing Success

by Kellé Campbell

The term “quantifiable results” is becoming the watchword within the marketing field. More and more investors and CEOs are demanding to see the impact of advertising, public relations and other marketing efforts on organizational goals and profits. Research services and marketing companies are answering this demand with state-of-the-art systems and devices for response tracking and analysis.

However, some marketing companies and practitioners resist including response evaluations in their marketing budgets and processes, citing the expense and difficulty involved. If they can see that their marketing is working, they ask why they should spend the extra cash for data that will tell them what they already know. Plus, how do you accurately measure the impact of “soft” tactics like event sponsorships and socially responsible activities?

Critics of response tracking use these arguments to contend that marketing can only be properly measured in terms of output and expenditure, and they point to industry awards, Web site hits, audience size, or media impressions as proof of success.

While evaluating marketing impact can be difficult and expensive, ignoring it leaves you without a feedback loop that will cost you customers in the long run. Response tracking is not only a valuable tool for measuring marketing success but it is also a major asset in planning for the next campaign. The impact data can be used to adjust market analyses, reassess strategies and justify budgets.

What can be measured? Company databases and accounts receivables records, scanner data, consumer panels, test markets, frequent shopper programs, focus groups, customer inquiries and innovations in data capture and analysis systems can provide access to vast amounts of information on customer or business traits and buying habits.

Since every campaign has unique details and intended outcomes, the selection of objectives and evaluation criteria will be different for each business. We’ll deal with general guidelines concerning the three main categories of buyer response: awareness, attitude and behavior.

Awareness

Prospects who admire marketers’ creativity but can’t remember the message are the stuff of CEO nightmares. While awards are great for prestige, getting the point across should be the main goal in your brand awareness campaign. Finding the number of people in an audience who retained the marketing message is crucial to determining the success of marketing efforts. Two methods can be used: (1) measuring pre- and post-campaign awareness of the campaign’s message on the same or similar representatives of the target audience, or (2) measuring the difference in knowledge between a control group not exposed to the campaign and a sample market group that was.

Measurements should include unaided and/or aided questions on one or more of the following topics:

• Brand Awareness
  
  
• Brand Image
  
  
• Awareness of Marketing Activities
  
  
• Message Recall

It is also a good idea to include relevant questions on demographic, psychographic and lifestyle characteristics of the targeted market to ensure that your market and situation analyses are on target.

Attitude

When companies do conduct summative evaluations, most focus on attitudinal analysis. According to Dr. Don E. Schultz and Jeffrey S. Waters, authors of Measuring Brand Communication ROI, the traditional view of the consumer is one of a being driven by attitudes, opinion and thoughts. While these inner processes are often repressed or not easily verbalized, they can be interpreted and explained.

Measurements based on the attitudinally-driven consumer model are extremely useful in explaining brand loyalty and purchasing trends. They also allow companies to fine-tune their marketing message for the next campaign cycle and identify opinions and biases that could hamper or aid promotion.

However, as Waters and Dr. Schultz state, “Attitudes and feelings are difficult to translate into behaviors except in the short-term.” That is, analyzing predisposition does not automatically translate into accurate predictions of purchasing behavior. The authors recommend that marketers integrate attitudinal and behavioral data, using the attitudinal data to explain and add depth to behavioral definitions.

Behavior

Direct response makes certain marketing tactics more measurable. For example, Cheryl P. Dixon, the membership marketing and development director at the Carl E. Sanders YMCA in Atlanta can use coded application forms and surveys to connect her marketing activities with community response. “I look at the percentage increase in member sales and program registration that could be linked to the promotion,” she says.

JoAnn Peroutka, the assistant vice president of marketing at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County deals with a very different situation. “On the graduate side, it’s easier to track by activity because the recruitment is a shorter term, event-driven process. The undergrad side of things can’t be handled that way at all—some students are recruited beginning in their second year of high school, some junior year, some self-select and inquire without any effort on our part.” Therefore, instead of tracking returns on specific activities, Peroutka’s department sets enrollment goals as the criteria for judging success.

Another measurability obstacle arises when products and services have a significant time lag between purchasing decisions and the actual transaction. Including indicators of interest (such as store visits, inquiries, or participation in special events) in behavioral tracking presents a more complete picture of marketing effectiveness.

Extra Benefits: Customer Profiling and Return on Investment

About 20 percent of buyers provide the bulk of sales volumes and profitability. Examining customer data allows you to determine the number of inquiries that became qualified sales leads and the profitability of these leads. As a result, companies can refine the demographic and psychographic profiles of good customers and direct their campaigns towards these and similar groups. Additionally, they can determine how much to invest in existing customers in terms of retention, customer service, cross selling and up selling.

Calculating return on investment can be as simple as dividing revenue from marketing responses by the cost of the campaign or as complicated as comparing estimated profits from the entire campaign to a base scenario of zero marketing. The resulting data can justify new campaigns and budgets, and all-in-all resolves the “quantifiable results” question for both marketers and top management.

In the final analysis, tracking customer awareness, attitudes and behaviors can provide a critical feedback loop affecting everything from accounting budgets to long-term corporate strategies and, most importantly, customer satisfaction.

Kellé Campbell is a public relations and marketing writer based in Baltimore, Maryland, and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications. In nearly a decade of working with corporations, government institutions and small businesses, she has conducted market research and has helped plan marketing campaigns for organizations across the United States.

Used with permission, copyright © 2001, Aprimo, Incorporated.