Web Professionals, SMART Goals & ROI
There seemed to be a little confusion after the recent article Link Web Solutions to ROI that justifed some clarification. ROI means the return on investment that is used as a benchmark of success and failure… it doesn’t mean profitability.
Know the Problem to Design a Solution
Underpinning the discussion of ROI there is one small leap of logic or faith that the reader must make – without a set of defined objectives and goals, without a quantifiable understanding of the business problem, the web professional can’t design a business solution for the client.
On that score I can’t put it any simpler. If you’re building websites that have no point where you can say this strategy is succeeding or failing then you’re making Internet beach towels. Make them pretty, make them expensive… but you won’t make them into the business assets that you’re being employed to provide.
Establish SMART Goals
The way to any destination should just about always be to pull out the roadmap. Where are you going? How do you get there?
SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.
So the goals of your client’s website should have SMART attributes.
- Specific enough that you all know what they mean
- Measurable so you can quantify success from failure
- Attainable because it has to be able to come to pass
- Realistic because you don’t just make pies-in-the-skies
- Timely because the goals need start and end dates
Without establishing those SMART goals as criteria you would be hard pushed to design a solution beyond the shallow rote pass of something that appears to function.
SMART Goals tell you about ROI
This is where the sticking point seemed to be in people’s understanding. Once you have your SMART goals then you know your ROI.
Your ROI is the reason the website is being made. It’s the purpose. It’s the business person’s motivation for handing you thousands of dollars to work your expertise. The ROI could be a doubling of eyeballs over the next three months, a 2 per cent increase in conversion or even a 5 per cent reduction in calls to their help line.
Note: I’m not suggesting that a website needs to be profitable before taking on client work. Go back to those SMART Goals.
ROI isn’t about Profitability
What I’m saying is that if your new client lacks goals then they don’t know their ROI (meaning they don’t have any measurable hope of knowing if this project has worked or failed at a given point in the future). ROI isn’t a guarantee that profit lays at the objective’s end… it does mean that at the objective’s end you can say the website is succeeding or failing.
If it’s failing then the strategy of the website changes. If it’s succeeding then you take all those metrics of measurability the web provides and you look at tweaking to improve the outcomes. Develop new SMART Goals, rinse, wash and repeat.
Understanding ROI is Important
Some of these terms can be a little confusing… profit, cash and ROI are three completely different elements that are thought of in common terms as synonymous. But understanding this fundamental idea that all projects require SMART objectives is worth the effort… unless of course you’re happy designing beach towels.
Is it your job to second guess the client’s objectives? No. But without collaboration I can’t see how you can come up with the SMART Goals either. In my eyes the willingness to make it about ROI is essential to gain my participation in any project. I’d rather let the unwilling client move onto other pastures.
