Mashable article on Digital Marketing Metrics #thisarticlecouldbe10yrsold

  I came across a Mashable article today that almost made me shed a tear. The article calls out 5 digital marketing metrics that matter:

How meaningful is this when publishers are forcing users to load a new page every time they flip through pictures, lists, etc:

1.       Average Page Views per Visit

User is still so far removed from converting. What’s the true value of these:

2.       Bounce Rate

3.       Average Cost per Page View

4.       Average Time on Site

5.       Rate of Return Visitors

These metrics are the same ones that digital marketers were measuring 10 years ago. Through my experience at Digitas, I’ve learned that Brand Managers are reluctant to allocate marketing dollars to digital because of the inability to tie those dollars to offline sales. I share this very valid concern. But over the past year, I’ve gained hope as we’ve started to deploy research tools that allow us to tie digital marketing efforts to offline sales and to measure various earned media metrics. These metrics are tremendously valuable and meaningful but if we continue to look at archaic, less meaningful measures, it will be long into the future until digital marketing budgets near those of television and other traditional mediums.

Article:  http://mashable.com/2012/07/27/marketing-metrics/