If You Want To Sell Wonder Widgets, Then Say So

February 3rd, 2011

Topics: Digital Marketing, Methodology, Perspectives


In my day-to-day activities, I set up a lot of tagging and reporting for Webtrends users. Many conversations start and end with, “We’ve got a new site launching this week and need reports.” Period.

Webtrends can generate a lot of data about your business or campaign. You can get everything, from the summary (total site visitors) to the ultra-specific (people from Minnesota who clicked on a blue button, 26 pages deep in your site, at 2am last Tuesday using Firefox version 2.3.5).

That range and quantity of data could mean hundreds of pages of detailed reporting, which causes most people to glaze over immediately.

Do It On Purpose
Other than giving you the kitchen sink, here’s a question I’d prefer we start with:

“In one sentence, what is the purpose?”

That same question goes for webpages, apps, Facebook measurement, video — anything! “What is the purpose?” Because once I know what you want your site to do, then we can figure out together the best way to measure if it’s working towards that goal or not.

If your goal is “Sell 100 Wonder Widgets a month,” then say so directly! No business speak and no vague “action item” language at this stage of the game. Although “we want to increase profitability by leveraging cross-team synergies” is an admirable mantra, it is not a website goal.

(And if you say something that’s too “synergistic,” I’ll retaliate by asking for a website mission statement, followed by my evil, evil laugh—and I even won’t hit ‘mute’!)

Measurement Is Action
Measurements should give you actionable data. A one-line statement about what you want the site to accomplish will help you prompt those successful user actions. Then we can configure the tracking and reports to measure those activities and drive people to buy more Wonder Widgets.

Are you really going to do anything with reports about Minnesotans clicking blue buttons at 2am? Probably not. But if you are only hitting 40% of your Wonder Widget goal, then you can use seemingly strange data to figure out why. As long as you have a structure that measures a site goal.

Use the One Sentence Method
In one sentence, think about the answers to:

  • What is the purpose of this page?
  • What is the purpose of this video?
  • What is the purpose of this blue button?

At this point, don’t worry that you sound like a 5-year-old stuck on a series of “Whys?” Anyone who has ever tried to answer these kinds of simple questions knows you eventually get past the filler and down to the essence of the matter. (And, no, “Go away, kid. You bother me,” doesn’t count as an essence.)

The point is: If you can’t sum it up in one sentence, then you need to think about it more — or maybe less! — to simplify to find that one critical, measurable goal.

Do you suppose people don’t simplify because they want to hear my unmuted, evil laugh?
(I don’t have an audio clip, but it looks like this: MuuhuhuHAHAhahaaa.)

  • http://www.webdesign.janzaskolny.cz Jan Zaškolný

    I think this article and its content should be a must read for everybody involved in creating websites from designers and coders to content developers. Short but well written and saying what it should say. When I will get tired of explaining the importance of measuring goals and developing websites to achieve them I will definitely mention this article.