The advertising research foundation (ARF) has some very interesting ideas of what they define as engagement in the digital era. Engagement is a new term that sprung up when measuring interaction is now feasible by clicking on a link or expanding a flash display ad.
ARF as “running on a prospect to
brand idea enhanced by surrounding context.” This definition is quite abstract.
If marketing’s bottom line is to have impact on sales current and future. Then
the three fundamental criteria for measurement makes more sense. The engagement
metrics has to be reliable, valid, and predictive. The key here is predictive. The
measures need to predict future purchase behaviors with good level of
confidence.
It is easy to see how the many approaches documented in the ARF papers satisfy the reliable and valid criteria. Some has very good
prediction model claimed. For example, Harris Interactive claims the
generalized brand health model has 58% correlation with intent to purchase,
intent to purchase has 37% correlation with sales. Synovate, another example,
can actually use attitudinal equity and market forces to predict purchase
probability.
It is always very easy to show correlation when you have
lots of data points. However, correlation does not mean causation. Online media
and the ease of collecting data means that advertisers have an easier time now to
measure the correlation between the metrics they care about with sales. However,
there are so many definitions of good metrics that will correlate with sales.
The concept of engagement is the gut feelings by
advertisers. Advertisers believe that engagement is the missing secret sauce
that would drive future purchase. Engagement is in addition to just brand
exposure, attitude towards brand, and so forth. However, advertisers cannot
agree on how exactly to measure engagement. More research needs to be done to
find the underlying common factor that actually represents engagement and
causes future sales. Proving correlation is not enough.
http://www.thearf.org/research-arf-initiatives-defining-engagement.php
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