‘After more than 20 years collecting and analysing data for marketing and communications departments, I’m firmly convinced that we’re finally at a turning point. Generative AI is opening up a new path: it’s making it possible to cross massive volumes of data, capture emotions and intentions, reveal personas and explore thematic nuances with unprecedented finesse. A new era is dawning for dircom.
The time has come to prove, with figures to back it up, the real impact of communication.’ Caroline Faillet, GM of JIN.
The Barcelona Principles: the foundations of communication evaluation
The International Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communication has established the Barcelona Principles, an internationally recognised reference framework to guide communication professionals in their evaluation processes. The Barcelona Principles 3.0, updated in 2020, focus on :
- Setting clear objectives: Planning, analysis and evaluation must be based on clear and measurable objectives.
- Distinguishing between different levels of results: It is crucial to differentiate between outputs (what is created and disseminated), outcomes (how messages are received), results (the changes brought about in stakeholders) and impact (the consequences of these changes for the organisation).
- The importance of considering all stakeholders: The evaluation must take into account the impact on stakeholders, society and the organisation.
- The combination of qualitative and quantitative measures: It is necessary to use a combination of quantitative data (figures) and qualitative data (perceptions, opinions) for a complete understanding.
- The abandonment of Advertising Value Equivalents (AVEs): AVEs are not considered a valid measure of the impact of communication actions.
- Measuring all channels: The evaluation must include all relevant channels, both online and offline.
- Integrity and transparency: Measurement must be conducted with integrity, recognising the need for transparency about context and potential bias.
These principles form the basis of any serious evaluation process are a reminder that measurement should not simply be a collection of data, but a source of learning and continuous improvement.
Overview of existing communication indicators
There are three types of indicator used in business communications, each with its own specific characteristics and limitations.
Indicators on the strategic objectives to be achieved (brand tracking, reputation monitoring, awareness)
- These indicators are derived from ad hoc studies carried out once or several times a year.
- They are described as strategic and easy to understand for General Management.
- They measure the long-term impact of actions, but are not actionable because they do not reveal the reasons why objectives are not achieved.
- They are top-down, as they use questionnaires to measure whether the public’s representation of the company is in line with expectations, by means of closed or open questions based on criteria determined in advance and therefore not spontaneous.
KPIs for actions taken :
- These indicators come from the agencies and are limited to spin-offs: media clippings (PR), reach and views (influencers), visitors and leads (websites), followers, fans and engagement (social networks), open rates and click-through rates (campaigns), and so on.
- They are considered to be operational rather than strategic, and therefore difficult for senior management to understand.
- They are considered actionable but within a family of levers (PR, websites, social networks, campaigns, emails) and are oriented by what the agency wishes to highlight.
- They are purely quantitative.
- As they do not take into account all the channels, they make it possible to monitor the actions carried out in each lever, but do not provide an overall view of the performance and contribution of the lever to the company’s overall objective.
Target behavioural data :
- This data comes from social listening, research and analytics tools: volumes of searches on the brand, volume of quotations from the brand, tone of voice on social network mentions, most visited sections on the site, number of forms filled in, and so on.
- They are both quantitative and qualitative, as they can also be used to track the spontaneous expressions of targets (verbatim, keywords most searched for on the site or on Google, etc.).
- They are considered to be technical, non-strategic and difficult for General Management to understand, apart from lead generation.
- This data is considered actionable, but within a family of contact points, and bottom-up because it provides insights to help decision-making.
- With the exception of e-commerce, where the bottom of the tunnel is conversion, these indicators do not provide an overall view of communication performance.
General limitations of current reporting
An analysis of these three categories of KPI highlights several important limitations:
- Lack of overall vision: Indicators are often compartmentalised by tool or by data source, preventing an overall view of communications performance.
- Difficulty in linking actions to impact: It is difficult to understand how the actions taken (the means) really contribute to achieving the strategic objectives (the impact).
- Vision too fragmented: Technical indicators do not provide a vision of the value and ROI of communication.
- Indicators that are too ‘top-down’ or ‘bottom-up’: strategic indicators are top-down, i.e. they only assess what you want to look at, whereas behavioural data are bottom-up, i.e. they only provide a source of insights without helping to guide action.
In summary, each of these three types of indicator has advantages, but also limitations that underline the need for a more integrated, strategy-led approach. The Impact Factor by Jin methodology seeks to fill these gaps by providing a more holistic and actionable view of communications performance, focusing on impact objectives and linking actions to results.
The Impact Factor approach: an innovative method
The Impact Factor, developed by JIN, offers an innovative approach to measuring the ROI of communications by structuring the strategy around an impact objective, sub-objectives and resources.
The originality of the Impact Factor lies in :
- An impact-focused approach: this allows you to move away from a vision limited to the tool and concentrate on concrete results.
- A structured method: this provides a clear framework for defining objectives, sub-objectives and resources, enabling communication initiatives to be better managed.
- Hybrid measurement: cross-referencing all sources of data for a global, multi-channel view of performance.
- The introduction of qualitative measurement: this uses artificial intelligence to create new types of indicators that are truly specific to the company and cannot be substituted, by working qualitatively on the messages and the reactions expected from the target communities.
- Insightful’ indicators: it also uses AI to create new indicators that are not limited to measuring performance, but also help to understand what is not working.
- A collaborative approach: its cross-functional approach and initial methodology ensure that all teams are aligned with the strategy and work together.
Impact Factor is an innovative solution for companies wishing to assess the ROI of their communication in a rigorous way, based on the Barcelona principles, relevant indicators and a structured approach. It’s time to move on from communication based on tool indicators to communication based on concrete results and impact on the organisation.
