Metrics in digital marketing of trade enterprises

Aim of the article. The purpose of the article is to identify metrics that are relevant to digital marketing, in particular, in the activities of trade enterprises. Description of certain metrics, their detailing and systematization. Analyses results. A study on the metrics of digital marketing in the activities of trade enterprises. Systematized, defined and supplemented groups of digital marketing metrics, their application in the activities of enterprises. The main metrics of digital marketing on some groups of metrics of digital marketing in the aspect of the analysis of digital marketing are allocated. The metrics used in social media marketing have been significantly supplemented and described. Added an exhaustive list of marketing metrics in social networks, in particular, highlighted the main ones. The interpretation of the metrics for attracting, covering and evaluating the results of advertising campaigns in order to attract new subscribers has been supplemented and detailed. The metrics of media and ppc-advertising are described in detail, the most important of them are singled out. The metrics of email-marketing are considered, defined and supplemented, priority ones are determined. The popularity of using digital metrics in ppc and e-mail groups is substantiated.The digital marketing metrics used for startups are outlined, described and detailed. Conclusions and directions for further research. The study analyzed and supplemented the main groups of application of digital marketing metrics. The descriptions and details of these metrics have been clarified, a wider set of metrics has been found, which corresponds to the current state of affairs in digital marketing. Systematized information from various sources and supplemented by practical observations of the functioning of services and digital marketing systems. The metrics related to social media marketing have been significantly supplemented and described. For each direction, important metrics are identified that outline the tools by results

Strategic business decision making: the use and relevance of marketing metrics and knowledge management

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perception of marketing managers in a transition country Montenegro with regards to marketing metrics. The paper examines the degree in which managers are familiar with the way marketing metrics are applied and how important they are in the process of making business decisions in a company operating in a Montenegro. Design/methodology/approach Data was collected during 2020 through a survey of 171 randomly selected companies and was analyzed using structural equation model and the statistical method of analysis of variance tests. Findings The obtained results show that managers are quite familiar with financial and non-financial metrics. Both groups are applied to a significant degree, as managers believe that these indicators provide valuable information needed during the decision-making process. Still, more emphasis is placed on the knowledge, implementation and importance of non-financial metrics compared to financial metrics. This is probably due to the specificities of the economic activities of the companies operating in Montenegro, as most of them are service companies, which is why non-financial metrics (such as consumer metrics) are the most important indicators when it comes to ascertaining the market position of the company. Additionally, in recent years the primary focus in Montenegro, as country that is still in the process of transformation from planned economy to a free-market form, has been placed on strengthening of competitiveness and advancing the market orientation of companies. This led to an increase in the importance that managers in transition countries attach to non-financial metrics. Research limitations/implications The fact that the survey only covers companies from one country is its limitation. Practical implications The obtained results will have a significant empirical contribution, which is reflected in providing guidelines for managers on how to improve the system of measuring and controlling marketing performance, all that to strengthen the competitiveness of the company, and can serve managers of hierarchy levels in a company as guidelines for making decisions on the implementation of marketing strategy and marketing metrics, to improve business performance, multi-context customer interaction, cost-saving and strengthen competitiveness. Social implications Obtaining necessary knowledge management and implementing marketing metrics are important conditions for consideration when it comes to the continuous monitoring and improvement of business results, increasing competitiveness and advancing the market position of the company. Originality/value The originality stems from the analysis of the interconnection that exists between marketing metrics and strategic decision-making, which is expected to be positively reflected in the development of society, i.e. strengthening the competitiveness of companies based on knowledge management achieved through the assessment of the degree of knowledge, the implementation and the significance of each of the metrics covered within this research in business decision-making processes. The paper provides insights into the extent to which managers understand the meaning of these indicators and are able to combine different marketing metrics to obtain more complex indicators, serving as necessary inputs when making strategic business decisions.

SERVICE QUALITY DIMENSIONS AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION: A STUDY OF SELECTED HOTELS IN OSUN STATE, NIGERIA

Customer satisfaction is a critical success factor in the service sector and it is one of the important marketing metrics. Satisfying the needs of customers is very important for the survival and continued existence of businesses especially hotel services. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between service quality dimensions and customer satisfaction with respect to hotel services in Osun State, Nigeria. A questionnaire was used to obtain data for the study. Six hundred and twenty - four (624) copies of the questionnaire were administered, but six hundred (600) representing ninety - six per cent (96%) were returned and used for the analysis. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis. It was found that responsiveness is the most highly rated service quality dimension (82.3%, mean = 4.30, SD =0.05), while empathy has the lowest perception value (65.6% mean = 4.11, SD =0.06). The result also revealed that majority of the customers (70.9%), were satisfied with the hotel services in Osun State. Furthermore, it was discovered that the five service quality dimensions have a significant positive relationship with customer satisfaction. The study clearly showed that service quality plays an important role in customer satisfaction with hotel services. Therefore, managers should give more attention to the five (5) service quality dimensions namely: tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy.

What is so special about the sharing economy: The customer experience view

Research background: From time to time utilization of modern technology innovatively disrupts the industry, as is true for sharing economy companies such as Airbnb and Uber. These companies achieved global success with their platform-enabled businesses connecting the demand of individuals with underutilized resources of others. Besides the competitive prices enabled by controversial practices, they are widely criticized for, these companies attracted masses of customers, not only the price-sensitive ones. Relating to that, the recent marketing phenomenon of customer experience is aiming to help companies systematically understand the perception and resulting actions of customers, and to better manage their marketing mix to gain competitive advantage and increase overall performance. Purpose of the article: The purpose of this article is to explore the nature of customer experience in the area of sharing economy to better understand the importance of experiential factors the marketing metrics of sharing economy companies are driven by. Methods: The research is based on the pilot data collection through online and offline surveys and the subsequent partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis of the data from 86 respondents. Findings & Value added: This paper provides insight into the area of sharing economy through the identification of the factors of needs fulfillment level (particularly social) and effective resource management during the customer experience as the ones with the positive effect (medium and weak-medium) on the memorized customer experience quality, while the human perception engagement is surprisingly found as the weak contributor. The memorized customer experience quality was found to have a medium positive effect on customer satisfaction which further has the medium-strong positive effect on the positive word-of-mouth and customer loyalty of customers of the sharing economy companies.

Taking measure: the link between metrics and marketing’s exploitative and explorative capabilities

Purpose While metrics are becoming increasingly important for marketing’s relevance, there is also a need to understand how they, as enablers of learning, affect marketing’s adaptive capabilities that ensure its long-term success. Therefore, this study aims to test the association of marketing and financial metrics use and the metric-based orientations of training and compensation, with two key marketing routines – exploitation, i.e. the perfecting of existing activities while allowing for incremental adaptations and exploration or experimentation accompanied by radical adaptation. Design/methodology/approach The study gathers data from 205 managers and uses partial least squares structural equation modeling to test the hypothesized relationships. Findings Marketing metrics encourage both forms of marketing adaptation. Financial metrics use discourages exploration. Market orientation and long-term orientation strengthen (weaken) the positive (negative) relationship between marketing (financial) metrics use and marketing exploration. Metric-based training is more positively associated with both adaptive capabilities than a metric-based compensation orientation, albeit weakly. Research limitations/implications The study’s central proposition – that different metrics or metric orientations are associated with distinct types of knowledge, interpretations, mindsets, motivations and cultural contexts – provides a deeper theoretical understanding of the pathways by which a metric emphasis affects marketing adaptation. Practical implications Marketing managers should emphasize marketing metrics and training more than compensation, to promote marketing exploitation/exploration, while exercising caution in overstressing financial metrics given their negative association with exploration. This latter negative relationship can be weakened (as can the positive one between marketing metrics and exploration be strengthened) with increased market orientation and long-term orientation. Originality/value This study addresses the research gap regarding the relationship between metrics as a configurational element of marketing organization and marketing adaptation.

EXPLORING THE VALUE OF YOUR WEBSITE ANALYTICS

The recent wave of technological advancement has simply presented companies with a range of website analytics tools that can be leveraged for the purpose of collecting, analyzing and visualizing company’s website data (Bandaru et al., 2015). In this very perspective, the study investigated the value and benefits of website analytics, specifically in reference to the marketing performance management, while presenting an overview of the ways through which the organizations can exploit the metrics system in the 21st century. In this context, literature on performance measurement was reviewed and applied to the use of website analytics. With this specific focus, the study found that companies’ efforts in reference to the use of marketing metrics systems and the resulting outcomes are highly dependent upon the reasoning for the selected metrics, as well as the processing of metrics data, which may ultimately allow the businesses to further enhance customer footfall over their website. Given the fact that digital marketing has gained tremendous importance in both service and manufacturing industries, the study confirmed that the web analytics can help the businesses to harness the values resulting from it, and can ultimately result in a range of benefits resulting from marketing activities. From this perspective, the findings of the study confirmed that the most prominent value resulting from website analytics is in the form of crucial information about the visitor’s data, which can be utilized for optimizing organization’s content in accordance with the interest of the users (Farney, 2011). Simply put, organizations are not just competing against their competitors through traditional front, but also over the internet, which makes it exceptionally important for the businesses to identify their users who frequently visit the website to purchase goods, in addition to those that simply visit the website for information (Waisberg and Kaushik, 2009). This can ultimately become the source of company’s decisions, and may further help the business in undertaking strategies that are not just productive, but can also increase the web-traffic. In this very context, website analytics can be an important tool that can help the businesses in understanding their users’ behavior in addition to their demographics (i.e. age, gender, source of traffic etc.). Considering the findings, the study further proposed businesses to consider Google Analytics initially, since it is an open and free source. This can be used by businesses to learn more about web analytics, and once the business has gained command over it; it may switch to another analytical tools so that they can further leverage the data about consumers to make informed and logical decisions. KEYWORDS: website analytics, marketing metrics, digital world, visitors