How poor metrics undermine digital marketing

http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Marketing/Digital_Marketing/How_poor_metrics_undermine_digital_marketing_2220_abstract?gp=1


The digital world has developed faster than the tools needed to measure it. This lag has made it difficult for marketers to fully exploit the Web’s promise as the most targetable and measurable medium in the history of marketing.

Hobbled by nascent technologies, inconsistent metrics, and a reliance on outdated media models, marketers are failing to tap the Web’s full power. Unless this problem can be addressed, the inability to make accurate measurements of digital advertising’s effectiveness across channels and consumer touch points will continue to promote the misallocation of media budgets and to impede the industry’s growth.

Some companies, though, are developing analytics that allow them to compare the effectiveness of their on- and offline efforts. Others are learning how online marketing messages convert shoppers into buyers, both online and in stores.