Reference no: EM132275683

Assignment: Green Thumb is a local company that sells seeds, plants and gardening supplies/accessories. Over the past thirty years, the company has expanded from a single retail store employing three individuals to employing nearly a hundred individuals across its five retail locations. Business has been good, buoyed by the state's growing tourist population, yet Green Thumb has concerns about the sustainability of this growth. Demand for their products is highly seasonal and nearly half of their customers are tourists, enamored by the high quality, "home-grown" products and the wisdom of their seasoned staff. As a result, Green Thumb has decided to launch a website to:

• Expand their geographical reach, and

• Cultivate customer loyalty.

Not only do they plan to sell their seeds and supplies online, but they also want to become a go-to resource for aspiring gardeners by posting how-to articles and video tutorials.

You've recently been hired by Green Thumb to oversee the performance of their website. It's a daunting, yet exciting task, since you'll be able to help them "raise" it from the ground up. Management has communicated to you they're not particularly interested in the technical details of the day-to-day functioning. They simply want to know:

• Are people coming to the website?

• How much money are they spending?

• Are they coming back?

• A piece of cake...

Last week you met with the Marketing team who is eager to help support and grow Green Thumb's online presence. However, they admit they're more comfortable in the offline world-focusing on direct mailings, TV ads, and good old fashion word-of-mouth. Despite their trepidation, they have plans to:

• Launch a new email newsletter, highlighting exclusive online product offers as well as links to the most recent video tutorials.

• Develop a Facebook page, to increase brand awareness and help drive traffic to the website.

• Would like to leverage paid search to expand the website's reach, but they're not sure where (geographically) they should focus their campaigns, and what keywords to use.

You also sat down with the design firm that created the website to get a better sense of the motivation behind the design. You wanted to know how does the website reflect Green Thumb's business goals and its users' goals? The lead designer explained that they wanted to create a shopping experience online that reflected the essence of the Green Thumb brand-warm, inspirational, knowledgeable. "Green Thumb isn't a company trying to sell you a product. It's a steadfast partner, through rain and shine." Thus, she included rich imagery that users could click on to explore the products, there were down-to-earth descriptions intended to bring the material to life, and she used a subtle call-to-action buttons that encouraged users to a) "Save for Later" (for those who weren't ready to buy), b) "Share with a Friend" (to facilitate social engagement), and c) "Add to Cart"-the ultimate goal.

The designer enthusiastically described the "How-To" content. "People love to watch videos...I mean, I know I do. This content will not only encourage loyal customers to return to the website to learn from the ‘experts', but they'll also feature Green Thumb's products-it's really ‘stealth advertising'".

So, with this background, you're ready to begin. Questions whirl through your head.

• How do go about quantifying Green Thumb's website performance?

• What questions are you trying to answer?

• What tools do you need?

• What data will you focus on?

• What challenges do you anticipate?

Over the next five weeks, you'll be asked to address these questions in your weekly assignments, which will then be integrated into your final project--a comprehensive web analytics measurement strategy for Green Thumb.

Your report will include the following sections:

1. Introduction:

Brief overview of the case

Web Analytics value proposition for Green Thumb

What can you measure and why is it important?

What are the business objectives for the website?

2. Data Sources & KPIs:

What data sources do you plan to use? Why?

Define 3 - 5 KPIs for the Green Thumb website

In your opinion, what segments should Green Thumb focus on?

3. Conversion Funnel:

Define Green Thumb's conversion funnel

What reports will you use to track users at each step in the funnel and why?

4. Execution of Reporting & Analysis

Define comprehensive Marketing Measurement Model.

Model should include business objectives, corresponding goals, KPIs, and segments

Explain how the model will help you capitalize on the previously defined value proposition

What organizational challenges do you anticipate regarding the introduction of data-backed recommendations and decision-making and how do you plan to address or preempt them?

5. Conclusion

Your paper should be 10 pages and include 7-10 references from published, reliable sources. All references and citations should conform with APA format.