Burke's Secure Surfer Index^® provides an overall measure of Web-site satisfaction and loyalty, while Webnostics^® allows for measurement of the site on an extensive battery of tactical performance attributes. The Webnostics database contains more than 50,000 evaluations of more than 50 Web sites.

Burke Web-site evaluation questionnaires rely on the Nth Visitor Methodology (N-Viz™ and N-Viz on Exit^®), which systematically invites a selection of Web-site visitors to participate in a site evaluation survey - either when arriving at a particular page, or when exiting from your Web site. Such a sampling method builds the base for a reliable dialogue with visitors.

The Secure Surfer Index is Burke's overall measure of Web-site commitment. It grew out of Burke's extensive experience and research measuring customer loyalty in a wide range of industries. Instead of simply asking site visitors if they like a site or were satisfied with their visit, the Secure Surfer Index is built upon a combination of three questions:

• Overall, how satisfied are you with this Web site?
• How likely are you to return to this Web site in the next month?
• If you were asked, how likely would you be to recommend this Web site to a friend or colleague?

Visitors are defined as "Secure Surfers" only if they say they are "very satisfied," are "definitely" going to return in the next month, and are "definitely" going to recommend the site to others. The Secure Surfer Index consists of the percent of respondents who clear all three hurdles and are considered secure. Secure Surfer Index reports can be provided for a site as a whole or for a subdirectory within a site.

While the Secure Surfer Index works at a macro level, Webnostics consists of in-depth measures used to evaluate a Web site at a micro level. Unlike Web site ratings by professed "experts," Webnostics ratings rely upon real feedback provided by visitors to your Web site.

The Webnostics attribute battery is derived from Burke's extensive research efforts to understand how surfers evaluate Web sites. Starting with a set of 60 attributes, Burke used factor analysis to uncover the core dimensions and reduce attribute redundancy. Regressions were performed to ensure that dimensions related to the Secure Surfer Index, and discriminant analysis showed that the final set of 16 Webnostics measurements could differentiate between Web sites.

Webnostics evaluates Web site performance based on attributes that define the following dimensions:

• Technical Performance
• Usability
• Content
• Visual Appeal
• Magnetism
• Pizzazz and
• Accuracy

Burke not only provides visitor feedback about your own Web site, it also puts this information in the context of other Web site evaluations contained in the Webnostics database. The database contains more than 50,000 evaluations covering more than 50 sites, including portals, e-commerce sites, corporate online product catalogs and entertainment and news sites. Although Burke cannot compare your site directly to other specific sites, it can provide an indication of your relevant performance in the battle for eyeballs.

A leading provider of programming for basic cable television needed to better understand visitors' perceptions of its networks' Web sites to ensure that the sites were strengthening the company's core brands instead of turning off valuable audience members. The company used Burke's Nth Visitor Methodology to intercept visitors to six different network sites and ask them to take a Webnostics site evaluation survey. Cooperation rates ran as high as 41%, and information provided helped designers of the various network sites make changes based upon user feedback. The company as a whole not only received consistent Secure Surfer Index measures across its various network sites, but was also able to include on surveys valuable questions relating to the effect of the Internet use on television viewing habits. Of the almost 12,000 visitors completing surveys in a 16-day period, 69% agreed to participate in future research projects.