The use of Web analytics for digital marketing performance measurement

Abstract

This study proposes that the benefits gained from marketing performance measurement are determined by how an organization exploits the metrics system under specific circumstances. For this purpose, the authors review performance measurement literature and apply it to the use of Web analytics, which offers companies a metrics system to measure digital marketing performance. By performing an in-depth investigation of the use of Web analytics in industrial companies, the study shows that an organization's efforts to use marketing metrics systems and the resulting outcomes cannot be understood without considering the reasoning behind the chosen metrics, the processing of metrics data, and the organizational context surrounding the use of the system. Given the continuously growing importance of digital marketing in the industrial sector, this study illustrates how industrial companies characterized by complex selling processes can harness Web analytics to demonstrate how digital marketing activities benefit their businesses.