Comparison of Owned, Earned and Paid Website Visitors: a Case Study

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dc.contributorAalto Universityen
dc.contributorAalto-yliopistofi
dc.contributor.advisorRossi, Matti
dc.contributor.advisorPinjamaa, Noora
dc.contributor.authorKetonen, Jesse
dc.contributor.departmentTieto- ja palvelutalouden laitosfi
dc.contributor.schoolKauppakorkeakoulufi
dc.contributor.schoolSchool of Businessen
dc.date.accessioned2017-05-30T05:45:05Z
dc.date.available2017-05-30T05:45:05Z
dc.date.issued2017
dc.description.abstractThis thesis explores website traffic and visitors by analysing website customer behaviour. The thesis expands the current research on web analytics to consider the rising categorization of media into owned, earned and paid media types. The research is first of its kind to further explore if there is significant difference between owned, earned and paid website visitors measured by web metrics. In addition to academic contributions, it is desired that the research helps marketers and publishers to invest their resources between generating each type of traffic in order to reach their individual goals and maximize the return-on-investment. In this paper, a framework for measuring owned, earned and paid website visitors is created. The research framework is tested in a case study where owned, earned and paid traffic is driven from Facebook to a fashion magazine’s online articles. Data on visitor-level website behavior of 2739 visitors is collected from the case website using Piwik analytics. The data was analyzed using two quantitative methods: chi-square test of homogeneity and one-way analysis of variance. These methods were used in order to determine whether statistically significant differences in website between owned, earned and paid visitor groups exists. Further, the case study demonstrates how to use the framework and appropriate techniques to effectively collect, extract, and analyze website visitor’s web behavior and the differences between owned, earned and paid website visitors. The empirical research reveals that significant differences between different types of website visitors exists. The chi-square test of homogeneity indicated a statistical significant difference of binomial proportions of ‘new / return user rate’, ‘bounce-rate’ and ‘mobile / desktop rate’ variables. One-way ANOVA indicated a statistical significant difference between the means of owned, earned and paid visitors of “visit count” and “actions”, but also a non-significant difference of “visit duration”. Thus also the usability of the research framework is confirmed. This thesis expands the research on clickstream data into social networking and earned media in media and journalism, and so contributes to the existing research on web analytics. This thesis also contributes to the existing literature on owned, earned and paid media and web analytics by adding owned and earned social media exposure to clickstream research and comparing them to paid social media exposure it in assessing user’s behavioral response in a cross-site context. Thus the thesis also combines social marketing with web analytics and expands the use ‘owned’, ‘paid’ and ‘earned’ jointly in a digital environment. This study is also first one to apply ‘heart rate monitoring’ measurement, redefined visit duration and bounce-rate metrics. The thesis provides useful technical and methodological information about website visitor tracking and web metrics for both academics and businesses seeking benefits from web analytics and online channels.en
dc.ethesisid14999
dc.format.extent102
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.urihttps://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/26370
dc.identifier.urnURN:NBN:fi:aalto-201705304973
dc.language.isoenen
dc.locationP1 Ifi
dc.programmeInformation and Service Management (ISM)en
dc.subject.helecontietotalousfi
dc.subject.heleconpalvelutfi
dc.subject.helecondigitaalitekniikkafi
dc.subject.heleconinternetfi
dc.subject.heleconkuluttajakäyttäytyminenfi
dc.subject.heleconmediafi
dc.subject.heleconarviointifi
dc.subject.heleconkäyttäytyminenfi
dc.subject.keywordweb analyticsen
dc.subject.keywordclickstreamen
dc.subject.keywordowned mediaen
dc.subject.keywordearned mediaen
dc.subject.keywordpaid mediaen
dc.subject.keywordsocial mediaen
dc.titleComparison of Owned, Earned and Paid Website Visitors: a Case Studyen
dc.typeG2 Pro gradu, diplomityöfi
dc.type.ontasotMaster's thesisen
dc.type.ontasotMaisterin opinnäytefi
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