We all know that a practical use of web site analytics like Web Trends, Omniture or Web Side Story is to track behavior on your web site so that you can determine ways in which to improve navigation pathways, content placement and positioning that will increase desired results (e.g., purchase habits, spend per purchase, registrations, applications, etc.). 

 

But sophisticated marketers also integrate web site analytics with eCRM to recognize individuals, track behavior and database preferences so that knowledge gained can be used for future messaging, product placement and site-side advertising.  Content management tools can be leveraged to push specific products at a user who is tracked by web site analytics and identified by eCRM to elevate the chances of putting the right product or message in front of the right person at the right time.

 

Don’t shiver, this is all in common practice today.

 

Now what about outside of the immediate domain of a marketer?  What about on the web?  Here is where things normally get bland with anonymity and event-based targeting.

 

But site-side analytics providers like Web Trends and Web Side Story use first party cookies, the cookies of the marketers they work with.  So when someone lands on the web page of the marketer – say Disney – Web Side Story drops a Disney cookie rather than a Web Side Story cookie.  This is exciting because it means that the data asset is readily available to Disney in a format that they can easily access and extend across other aspects of their infrastructure.  They append the cookie written by Web Side Story with other information that is useful to them by, say their eCRM system.  If the site side analytics data was wrapped up in a third party cookie like an Ominiture cookie, than the marketer would have all their data wrapped up in the third party cookie and would have to conduct synchronizations to get access to the data for other purposes outside of site analytics.

 

Either way, let’s think about DirectServe – first part ad serving.  Is it possible to marry the information generated by a first party ad serving platform with a site side analytics platform and what would there be to gain?

 

Trueffect’s DirectServe platform serves ads from clients’ domains.  So cookies written and read are the advertisers’ cookies.  When someone is encountered that has the Disney cookie (following the earlier example), they can be identified based on the contents of that cookie and be targeted accordingly.  If the segmentation methodology of the cookie data dictates a specific type of banner storyboard, that message methodology will be followed.  If the individual encountered does not have the Disney cookie – which was incidentally set by Web Side Story – than TruEffect will set the cookie.

 

Back up, what am I talking about?  The site analytics software is setting the first party Disney cookie in this example.  Well, Disney can also set the cookie too.  So Disney can append the cookie to include customer segments that would represent target profiles for ad serving – things like family traveler frequency or store shopper frequency.  The cookie file will be interchangeable between Disney’s other systems and the site analytics software because the site analytics software is working in the first party domain.

 

When a new cookie is set by TruEffect using DirectServe, all of the acquisition marketing data is associated with that cookie.  So all the ads seen and all the sites those ads were seen on are associated with that cookie.  When the individual clicks on an ad and goes to the advertiser’s site, they anonymously carry with them the acquisition marketing data.

 

Let’s go back to the concept of integrating a DirectServe ad serving implementation with a site analytics platform.  When someone comes through to a site with a first party cookie that has been written by TruEffect, that cookie will be readable by the advertiser’s site analytics software.  All the data, including how that person arrived at the site will be associated with that anonymous individual and can be aggregated together with the rest of the data that gets collected by the site analytics software.

 

Go the next step.  If that user registers or somehow becomes a record in the eCRM system, then all the knowledge about how that customer was acquired becomes associated with that record.

 

Think about all of my postings on re-targeting now.  The advertiser can use customer segment models to write cookies to identify known individuals based on preferences.  TruEffect can recognize and distinguish those individuals from unknown individuals based on those cookies through an online advertising campaign anywhere on the internet in real-time.  Then the advertiser can message to each preference type specifically and re-target customers while simultaneously prospecting unknown individuals.  Click-thrus will be diverted to the appropriate destination pages like any other campaign and existing customers will be driven by way of a content management system to the ideal transaction-promoting section of the web site.

 

Site side analytics will capture all of the activity.  eCRM will record all customer behavior and build an expanding record base that includes anonymous customer acquisition profiles.  eCRM will be leveraged to create customer target profiles for DirectServe customer re-targeting and content management software will be used to optimize the delivery of product and content placements that optimize desired transactions to the most appropriate individuals to achieve maximum ROI and lowest CPA.

 

It’s all in there.  Patented into a nice little package. 

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