Chris Berry has a great post on his Eyes on Web Analytics blog titled, Aspiration, Temporal Analytics and Shower Curtains.
Chris is discussing the challenge of measuring aspiration and why most of us don’t do it. I think it can be measured and analyzed but first you have to be very, very clear about what counts. On the board behind my desk I have written on a white board, “There is only one metric that truly matters.”
I am referring of course to conversions, because in my opinion everything feeds into that metric. Take engagement, or click-through for example; they are metrics that feed into conversions. If you have the world’s most engaging site, or an email campaign with an astronomically good click-through rate do they matter if your customers are not converting. Of course not.
Chris poses an interesting question however, what if you could measure someone’s affinity for a brand regardless of the other metrics? He goes further when discussing a teenager’s desire to purchase a new Mac power book notes:
Currently, under most models, we’d say that her repeated visits to the site, but not converting, is somehow a failure of the site, when, in all reality, it’s a failure of her means to buy. The ads are possibly reinforcing her desire for a Mac though, and could be reinforcing the loyalty.
While I think the issue is a “wicked problem“. I don’t think it is insurmountable. There is just a certain degree of inaccuracy that needs to be taken into account when planning business rules.
Lets take a high end brand like Rolex for example. I want a Rolex, very much. But I don’t aspire to be a Rolex owner. I am not sure anyone does. I aspire to be something, not to own something. I have a Rolex catalogue at home. I visit the website. I talk and listen to others talk about their watches (WOM), I “oooh” and “ahhh” and one day I will own one of my own.
In the meantime Rolex, based on this information can communicate with me to ensure they are still top of mind when I look for my next high-end timepiece. Rolex should not however start lowering their price to get into my salary range or start marketing in the video games I play. Those would destroy the brand, and my desire to own one.
They can take a look at the ROI of advertising to individuals such as myself, people who want to own one, are yuppies and dinks (double income no kids), and see if it is worth continuing to advertise to me based on…are you ready? A CONVERSION RATE!