Friday, September 18, 2009

Web Analytics Maturity Model: Case Study of European Car Manufacturer

In this case, the WAMM was used to assess the current “state of the union” and as an effective communication and change management tool at an European car manufacturer.

The ecosystem consists of nearly 50 different versions of its web sites, each one characterized by specific marketing activities, car models, cultural aspects and local legislations. The group also manage other sites such as media, B2B, social presence and a typical corporate presence. With a multitude of visitor personas, business objectives, success events and supporting metrics and KPIs, web analytics plays a crucial role in providing insight to more than a dozen stakeholders. In the competitive automotive market, and especially during hard economic times, web analytics is used as a competitive asset.
We are using the WAMM as support for developing a Web Analytics roadmap and strategy. It is a long road to implement culture change in a large organization - especially when you are on the IT side. It already triggered interest; that is a good start!
Web Project Manager & Web Analytics Specialist.

Think globally, act locally

While local agencies handle the localized aspect of online/offline marketing and advertising activities, the head office group serves as an internal agency responsible for the hosting, content management and web analytics services. The group also provides the design, site templates, global content and assets as well as online tools such as the Car Configurator and the Dealer Locator.

From a marketing measurement perspective, the group provides two important services:
  1. Measure the marketing performance against business objectives defined at the global level – improve and optimize the content and tools provided by the group.
  2. Provide the NSMCs with personalized metrics so they can optimize their own activities at the local level.

WAMM Assessment

This organizational structure is common in the automotive industry and other global organizations. Objectives and Scope are high, while Management commitment and general adoption of analytics still have to be demonstrated. The team strive to handle multiple jobs at the same time and because of that, although the web analytics tool is good and quite sophisticated, it can’t be fully leveraged.


Web Analytics is mostly perceived as an IT project servicing online marketing needs, particularly Search Engine Optimization and online campaigns.


As mentioned previously, the TME team is using the WAMM to define and communicate goals, create a sense of urgency, demonstrate the complexity and requirements that will lead to the best outcomes.



To move from the actual “analytically initiated” state to the desired “analytically operational” maturity state, this organization will need to:
  1. First, identify a senior executive who will act as a champion, someone with strong political skills, a stakeholder with some versed interest to make things happen for web analytics.
  2. Secondly, the team will need to be extended, either by hiring skilled personnel to fill the knowledge and expertise gap on the business, technological or analytical dimensions, or better still, bring current employees who have demonstrated interest for analytics.
  3. Lastly, the analytical process will be defined and owned by the newly formed team, with approval and support from the manager, and communicated to stakeholders.
From this point on, proper definition of objectives & scope will lead to an appropriate use of the technology and not only facilitate the continuous improvement of online processes, but also a growth in analytics maturity.

About this organization

This car manufacturer oversees the wholesale sales and marketing of two brands, parts and accessories, and manufacturing and engineering operations. Operations in Europe are supported by a network of several localized marketing and sales companies across most European countries, several thousand  sales outlets, and manufacturing plants.

For further information regarding the WAMM and its future evolution, including speaking, consulting and training, visit the Web Analytics Maturity Model area on immeria.net.

Coming up next: other case studies!