INMA_A01.QXD

improvement measures and purchasing the right tools and the management processes

such as putting in place a process where staff review results and then modify their mar-

keting activities accordingly. In this chapter, we will review both approaches.

This chapter is in two parts, the first part is about performance management, where we

review the approach to improving performance through assessing appropriate measures,

tools and the right process to apply them as suggested by Figure 9.1. In the second part,

we review some of the issues involved with maintaining an online presence, which again

involves looking at the measures, tools and process for keeping a web site up-to-date.

To improve results for any aspect of any business, performance management is vital. As

Bob Napier, Chief Information Office, Hewlett-Packard was reported to have said back in

the 1960s,

You can’t manage what you can’t measure.

The processes and systems intended to monitor and improve the performance of an

organisation and specific management activities such as Internet marketing are widely

known as ‘performance management systems’ and are based on the study of perform-

ance measurement systems.

Many organisations now have an established online presence, but there are many

unanswered questions about the process by which the marketing performance of this pres-

ence is evaluated and how it is modified with a view to improving its performance. Adams

et al. (2000), for example, asked managers to name their priorities for improvements to

e-business performance measurement systems. Results differed for different types of organ-

isation, reflecting the stage of evolution in their measurement. For bricks-and-mortar

Performance management for Internet marketing

Figure 9.1Criteria for improving performance from Internet marketing

Quality of

web analytics

processes

Tools

Can our analytics

software collect,

aggregate and

visualise metrics?

Metrics

Have we selected

the right diagnostic

metrics to improve

performance?

Quality of

management

processes

Action

Are the measures

acted upon?

Analysis

Are the measures

reviewed and

interpreted at the

right time?

Improved channel

contribution

Performance management for Internet marketing

Performance
management
system
A process used to
evaluate and improve
the efficiency and
effectiveness of an
organisation and its
processes.

Performance
measurement
system
The process by which
metrics are defined,
collected, disseminated
and actioned.