[June 15, 2010]

ForeSee Results Debuts Social Media Value Calculation

ForeSee Results today announced that it has added a Social Media Value Calculation to its core product offering. The Social Media Value Calculation allows ForeSee Results' clients to understand the impact of their social media marketing efforts on revenue.

"Most businesses have accepted the marketing value of social media without any real proof points," said Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results. "We can count how many Facebook (News - Alert) fans, how many Tweets, how many complaints, and how many people click through ads on social sites, but we haven't had a way to calculate a tangible return on investment for social media efforts, not to mention other marketing initiatives. Now we can."

ForeSee Results uses a scientific methodology created at the University of Michigan to measure customer satisfaction and assess its impact on future behaviors. Using this proprietary methodology, ForeSee Results has created a way to link influences on customer visits to a website, store or call center with what they actually spend. The resulting Social Media Value Calculation helps businesses understand how much revenue is being influenced by social media versus traditional advertising, marketing emails, brand awareness and other factors.

"Countless organizations are working desperately to understand the effects of their social media activities, but most take a myopic view of their social efforts at the campaign or channel level," said John Lovett, senior partner at Web Analytics Demystified, a leading international web analytics consulting and strategy firm. Lovett was briefed last week on the new capability in advance of its public release. "The Social Media Value Calculation from Foresee Results empowers organizations to assess the contributions of their social media marketing in the context of their entire business objectives. It gives companies a comparative view of performance that enables them to quantify the value of social media."

Using the voice of customer methodology already provided by ForeSee Results surveys, companies can find out what influenced a customer's viit to their store, branch, website, or call center and link it to behavioral data tracking how much that customer did or didn't spend. A brand website, financial institution, nonprofit, or B to B (or other non-retailer where there is no purchase) can tie what drove the customer visit to any other valuable, business-specific outcome such as opening a new account, signing up for a newsletter, requesting more information, etc.

"Linking what drove a customer to visit with what they actually spent or did as a result allows you to actually calculate a return on social media investment," said Drew Bennett, senior product director at ForeSee Results. "You can accurately compare what you spend on social media marketing against the direct revenue it generates to see if you're investing wisely in social media."

Jim Sterne, author of Social Media Metrics and founder of the eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit sees ForeSee Results' approach as a social branding investment analysis tool. "The ability to capture which social sites prospects and customers associate with your company and then tie that to purchases provides a fresh perspective for directing social media investments."

Preliminary research done using this model is showing us that ideal investments in social media vary vastly from company to company. Some companies are spending millions in advertising their social media presence and staffing a team to oversee it, only to discover that social media is influencing 1% of all purchases. Meanwhile, promotional emails have been neglected in favor of social media, and emails are influencing 32% of purchases. Other companies are seeing social media as a primary influencer of 5-6% of all revenue with a relatively modest investment.

"The Social Media Value Calculator tells our clients what is influencing their customers' visits, how much those customers spend, and which marketing efforts are having the greatest return on investment," added Freed. "Every business is going to have a different model for success, which is why it's so critical that companies understand their customers and not allocate marketing spending based only on hunches, industry standards, or expert guidance."

Read more about the Social Media Value Calculation on ForeSee Results' website at http://www.foreseeresults.com/research-white-papers/how-to-calculate-roi-on-social-media-marketing.shtml

About ForeSee Results

As the leader in customer satisfaction measurement, ForeSee Results captures and analyzes voice of customer data to help public and private sector organizations increase loyalty, recommendations and website value. Using the methodology of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), ForeSee Results identifies improvements to websites and other online initiatives that drive customer satisfaction. With over 48 million survey responses collected to date and benchmarks across dozens of industries, ForeSee Results offers unparalleled expertise in customer satisfaction measurement and management.

ForeSee Results, a privately held company, is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan and at www.ForeSeeResults.com. Connect with ForeSee Results at http://www.ForeSeeResults.com/Blogs-Community/

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