Measuring Through Metrics
How to measure utilisation by looking at the right metrics.
Creating metrics with empirical data is a great start in understanding just how well you are utilising your technology. However, it’s easier said than done because there is no set gold standard for those metrics’ development.
Financial Return
Is a given channel and set of capabilities providing the expected (or a good) return on investment?
Whilst it doesn’t give a direct line of sight to actual utilisation, financial measurement does give an indicator as to whether or not you are driving customer outcomes. Financial return as a proxy for utilisation can be modelled multiple ways – on a purely top-line basis (we spend X and get Y back), by channel or discrete technology sets (our cost of marketing automation versus the return on email/SMS/push channels) or by incremental uplift (assuming you have appropriate measurement in place).
Usage
The simplest approach is asking the question: are our people using the tool? If so how many? This approach is often too simplistic, however.
Martech utilisation issues are often at a feature or function level so Measuring usage can be as easy as breaking a technology platform down into component parts and assigning metrics to what features and functions are being consistently used.
This doesn’t need to be onerous; you can baseline how many features you use and then assign percentages. This approach also allows you to include weighting for components; for example, if a vendor has thrown in the kitchen sink to get you across the line in the sales process, you can downweigh certain components you may not end up using when contracts renew.
Coverage or Volume
Another measurement perspective is to look at how many active customers are impacted by any given piece of technology, and then how much impact that’s having in terms of driving top-line financial results.
If a technology solution is only serving a small number of customers and the contribution of those customers is small then looking at alternatives to service the use cases from other existing technology can increase utilisation.
Abandon Cart is a classic use case where organisations may have several ways of servicing that need through existing tech but purchase a dedicated solution.
You have to ask the question: Is a new piece of technology focused on a small group of people going to do a better job than something we might already have?