the devil in details

Sad as it may sound, I actually do own the bed above. Minus the slatted bed base, that is (until the last night). Which got me to thinking not only about the usefulness of the information above, but about the power of details in general. More specifically, about details that lead to (proven) accountability. Things like reminding people that their purchase is not complete until they have all the bed parts shows not only superior customer research (how did they know that people fail to realize this?), but also something else: a realization that each step of the process (of purchase or otherwise) can be observed, managed, and - ultimately - monetized. That is, made accountable. This is specifically relevant for websites which made each step on consumers' journey visible and observable. In this world, the size of a button, the location of the image, a position of the search box or a number of links displayed does matter. And it matters because it represents a "break-it or make-it" point - a moment of truth about a brand. People click or don't. They want to interact or not. They stay or they leave. To say this in the simplest possible way: decisions about the micro-details like above define if you make money or you don't.  Now think advertising or, better yet, some of its most *exciting* formats:  flash banners, advergames, webisodes, minisites, video game ads, and ubiquitous "viral video". The way those are accountable (whatever) is through elusive concept of impressions and engagement. People spend some time, and a moment later, agencies claim to clients that their campaigns made money. Targeting or no targeting, between watching an ad and the actual product purchase is this giant black box, where all the real decisions happen. Matrics is today a big numbers game (number of clicks, impressions) that can maybe describe reality of consumer behavior, but certainly can't explain it. What big numbers - as well as any big picture - conceal are the details of where the clients money is. The question then is: why so few agencies care about this?