Case Study

 
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 (using http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/digital-marketing-and-measurement-model/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. as a guide) 
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. 
Criteria 
Data Sources  
25.0 pts  
Selects strong data sources and provides exemplary support for those selected. 
KPI’s  
20.0 pts  
The student does an exemplary job of selecting KPI’s and tying them to strong to company objectives 
Customer Segments  
25.0 pts  
Selecting appropraite customer segments, the company’s overarching goals and/or how the segments support those goals are missing. 
Clear Writing Style  
15.0 pts  
There is a strong introductory and concluding paragraph, a well constructed argument and the student is able to articulate their well substantiated personal opinion. 
Grammar, Usage and Mechanics (GUM)  
15.0 pts  
No grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors. Citations follow the prescribed format. 

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