Why measuring performance is important

A number of the articles discussed in other post on this blog list measuring the performance of the organisations web activities as being important. I’ve found two articles that deal specifically with why measuring performance is valuable and how to approach governance for this important activity.

Measuring Your Web Site's Return on Investment: Whoever isn't measuring ROI on their Web site is crazy, because it is measurable (Mary K. Pratt, May 07)
Key premises of the article is measuring ROI on websites can be an effective method of assessing performance as well as improving in decisions making. Some relevant points:

• Use ROI as a way of defining what is important to the company – don’t just measure everything
• For ROI to be a useful business objectives of the site must be understood
• ROI is useful for comparing ‘what if’ situations and considering the impact of decisions that are outside of the web site, i.e. cost on other parts the business.

Web analytics governance: who’s in charge? (Hurol Inan, Feb 08)
This blog discussed why good governance of the web analytics is important. The post also includes some examples of how various organisation are approaching governance of analytics. Interesting points include:

• What is measured needs to match the web site strategies
• A lack of governance for the analytic activities can mean inconstant measurement
• Web analytics governance model should be a subset of the general governance structure, with a steering committee charged with the task of defining expectations, granting power and verifying performance.