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Autumn Mentch
BUSI 439, Case Study
April 18, 2022
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Introduction
Bath and Body Works website was redesigned using the website development process
using all seven steps. Their website needed new marketing techniques designed to reach a
broader audience and omitted the extra use of tap and navigation bars. Their website was
redesigned by using themes and colors that flowed well together, but still caught the eye of the
consumer. Bath and Body Works’ website will go through the web effectiveness model to
compare the old website to the new one and see how the analytics compare. Usability testing will
be put in place to evaluate how the products are being viewed and bought by customers.
Website Effectiveness Model
The website effectiveness model is used in three different but related ways according to
the textbook. The first one is site usability, which is essential to good customer experience and
business success. This is the way the visitor looks at a site and decides how easy it is to use and
the value it brings to them. If the website is accessible and brings value to the visitor, then there
is a higher chance of the site being used in the long run. This process is benefited by testing the
usability through the usability testing process. The second one is “traffic, audience, and
campaign measurement.” Three terms are used to describe metrics that provide effective data that
is important to marketing and business performance. The third one is site performance. This is
the data that is beneficial to improve site performance whether it be positive or negative. This is
usually more the responsibility of the technical team, but it is important to marketers as well as
they should be familiar with the basic approaches to metrics. In the first perspective of site
usability, there needed to be a better perspective for customers viewing the site. Bath and Body
Works redesigned the website to eliminate a tab and navigation bar to avoid too much “clutter”
on the site. The website has since looked more formal and is more pleasing to the eye. The
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website consists of a color theme of pinks, whites, and subtle blues that correlate to draw in the
viewer to the large fonts that go with the pictures and advertisements. Before, the website had
purples and pinks that did not match and were distracting more than attractive. To test that the
website redesign is more user friendly, there is an optional survey that will pop up after a viewer
has been on the site for more than two minutes. The survey will ask viewers how satisfied they
are with the site by asking three questions; is this website easy to use, is this site eye pleasing or
an eyesore, do you plan to visit this site again?
The second step in the web effective model process includes metrics to determine the
effectiveness of the marketing programs. Determining effectiveness will include determining the
business and website performance. According to The Hartford, using metrics gives businesses
vital information for improving your website and overall ROI. The metrics used by Bath and
Body Works to determine effectiveness include how many page views there are, how many
engaging customers there are through purchases, and recording how many shares there are from
the website. Metrics will also be used to monitor the most frequent shopping time, most frequent
checkout time, the number of shopping visits, time required to make a purchase, and how often a
customer visits a certain product.
The third approach is to determine the site performance. This data was used by the
technical side to determine the site performance. The technical team ran tests to ensure that the
navigation and tab bar change and adding the men’s collection did not affect the website by
making it slower. The test completed is called a Website Speed Test. According to V Digital
Services, if a website has a slow loading time of more than three seconds the business can expect
a 76% decrease in searches after 3 weeks. Google provided a website speed test that resulted in
how fast our website was loading for each tab and landing page.
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Usability testing - Website traffic, audiences, and campaigns metrics
Usability testing is used to see if the redesigned website works in a user-friendly manner
according to the customers Bath and Body Works are looking to retain. Bath and Body Works
will work and interact directly with the website users to determine if the site is doing well and
works efficiently. Bath and Body Works marketing team used emails to recruit customers who
are already signed up to receive emails from the company. The email consisted of a detailed
explanation of what the process will include, the benefits, and the goals of the usability testing.
The participants were given a spending allowance and were told to start on the home page and
order ten assorted products, one of them being a men’s collection product. The participants were
told to take notes on how the website performed based on speed, navigation, design, payment
processes, how easy the site was to use and to keep track of how long it took them to choose and
order products. The team also will track all the metrics to ensure results are accurate.
There are two types of data to consider when tracking website traffic, audience, and campaign
data: quantitative data and qualitative data. Quantitative data will let us know the website traffic
report, customer product use, and customer activities such as the stages in the purchase journey,
while qualitative data will show us why people buy, the perception of brand value, and how
customers talk about the product. Bath and Body Works will be utilizing Tagged Web Pages
which is a technique where a small image is placed on a web page that will track data about the
user activity on the web page. There will be a tag placed on the home page, and the men’s
collection page, since this is where the major redesign occurred. The tag will collect data on the
number of visitors and views on the page, the number of repeat and new visitors, total time on
the site along with the viewing time and visit duration, and how many times the page is visited
during the visit. Website traffic metrics will be used to document site activity. Metrics associated
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with traffic are hits, impressions, page views, and sessions and click throughs. Bath and Body
Works will focus on page views and sessions to determine how the redesigned site is performing.
Page views will report the number of times the web page was requested and will report which of
the products were clicked on or requested. The sessions metric will report the amount of activity
on the site during the viewing period. This is especially important to the marketing team because
it will show how long on average a customer spends viewing the site. Audience will be measured
by collecting data about the viewers who visit the website. The key metrics involved in this
include the total number of visitors on the site, whether they are logged in with an account or on
the site anonymously. Bath and Body Works provide a login tab at the top of the website and has
a “join the email list” popup appear when the home page has loaded. They will encourage
visitors to login to better track how long those visitors are on the site. The audience is also
measured by the behavior on site method which will track the number of pages the visitor views
in one session, their session time, shopping cart abandonment, and if they entered through a page
other than the home page. The campaign measure will provide the most important data - the data
on the effectiveness of marketing efforts. This measure will show Bath and Body Works how
many visitors came to the site through an advertisement, a promotional email, or through a
keyword placed in the marketing strategy.
Utilizing the SMART rubric and Google Analytics
The SMART rubric, standing for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time
specific, is used to accurately measure the results of the website redesign. According to the
textbook, “marketers can only know that a website works if it is meeting website objectives.”
The first objectives of the website redesign are to increase the men’s collection sales by 25% in
the first three months of publishing. This objective is specific to the men’s collection, it is
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measurable by collecting data from the sales report, it is achievable in the period provided with
the extra and easy access to the men’s collection landing page, it is realistic as they are starting
out with a small percentage goal to learn if the landing page is effective, and it is time specific of
three months post publishing date. The SMART rubric will be an excellent way to determine if
the new page is effective for consumers. Google Analytics will be used by the marketing team as
well. Google Analytics provides site usage data consisting of visits, page views and pages visited
in one visit, bounce rate, average time on site, and the percentage of new visits during a specific
period. Google Analytics allows the team to select the three-month period that is being measured
and compare it to the previous three months pre website redesign. Google Analytics will also let
the marketing team know which search engine was used to access the website, and if it was
accessed via shared link, email, or advertisement. This is especially beneficial to the team
because it helps determine if the marketing advertisements are being used.
Segmentation and conversion metrics
Segmentation is used to help determine which segments are most significant for the
business. Bath and Body Works will use Google Analytics to segment data over the three-month
period post website redesign. For example, segmentation will show Bath and Body Works which
visitors are new and which ones are returning. The analytics for segmentation will also show if
those visitors, new or returning, accessed the website through an email campaign, an
advertisement such as one for free shipping, through an affiliate network, or advertising partner.
Bath and Body Works sell candles through their sister company White Barn; so, if a customer
found the Bath and Body Works men’s collection candle through White Barn’s site then this
would be reported on the segmentation metric report. According to an article written by
WebTrends, “Segmentation is most powerful when you can divide your audience into the
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smallest number of groups to which you can reasonably provide targeted content.” The last
metric used will be conversion. Conversion will use the funnel method to report the number of
visits on a page, and what behaviors were completed during that visit. For example, if 20,000
people visit the website on a Monday, the funnel method will show that 10,600 of those added
something to the shopping cart, and 2,000 of them left something in the shopping cart and
completed the order, and the remaining 7,400 visitors did not add anything to the cart and or did
not complete an order. This metric will help determine why the customer left without completing
a purchase, and what the marketing team can do to improve the number of visitors that added
something to the cart but did not follow through with the purchase.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Bath and Body Works will effectively use multiple metrics to determine
how the website redesign project went. The metrics will show how many visitors, returning and
new, visited the site, if purchases were made, how much time was spent on the site, and most
importantly if the visitor found the site through a marketing campaign such as an advertisement.
Bath and Body Works will track and report the metrics in three-month periods and adjust the
website as needed.
References
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Measuring digital success through Key Metrics - The Hartford. (n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2022,
from https://www.thehartford.com/business-insurance/strategy/web-analytics/key-analytics
says:, D. G., says:, L. M. A., & says:, P. B. F. S. (2021, July 23). Webpage speed test & load
time: How to test site and page speed: VDS. V Digital Services -. Retrieved April 14, 2022,
from https://www.vdigitalservices.com/how-to-test-site-speed-and-improve-web-page-
load-time/
WebTrends guide to web analytics - product.webtrends.com. (n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2022,
from
http://product.webtrends.com/WRC/OnDemand/ResourceCenter/rc/Library/PDF/WGWA/
Guide_to_Web_Analytics.pdf
Zahay, D. L., & Roberts, M. L. (2018). Internet marketing. Cengage Learning.
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