Web site performance measurement: promise and reality

Purpose ' The purpose of this research is to examine the web site performance-measurementactivities of a range of businesses and to determine whether there are common measures that can besuccessfully applied to rate the performance of corporate web sites.Design/methodology/approach ' Qualitative interviews are conducted with web site managers of25 businesses, exploring web site activities and performance measures used.Findings ' The study demonstrates that web site performance measurement is largely idiosyncraticand/or completely ignored. Retailing and business-to-business companies are more likely to useperformance measures (including sales revenue and web-analytics programs) to determine the value ofa web site to the business.Research limitations/implications ' The study covers a broad spectrum of company types andsizes, mainly based in Australia, but did not focus on the use of the internet by specific industries 'such as retailing or financial services.Practical implications ' The study should encourage managers to measure the financial andnon-financial contributions made by corporate web sites to the overall performance of a business.Originality/value ' The paper provides insight into the current lack of standards in web siteperformance measurement and the need for the development of standards in this area.