Marketing is a science and an art form. Great campaigns happen when there’s a perfect blend of right message in the right place at the right time. But how do you know what the right message is? How do you know it was delivered just right?
Marketing analytics, baby. Having a solid measurement plan when you create a campaign will provide you with foundational information to truly see what tactics deliver a return on investment, regardless of whether our goal is to increase engagement, lead generation or simply, sales.
If you’re finding yourself in the starting position here, we have five key areas we would suggest you start paying attention to. Implement tactics now and set yourself up for success later.
Search Queries That Drive Traffic
Yes, you want to rank #1 on Google. But what does that even mean today? When the search algorithm is so conditioned to each person’s individuals search habits, it’s much more important for you to create content against keywords and phrases people actually use.
One key measurement tool that is usually missing when we perform audits is Google Search Console. This free tool is user friendly, can be connected to your Google Analytics and provides you with enough metrics to give you an idea of where to put your energy.
Pageviews and Actions on Site
If someone were to spend 30 seconds or less on your website – where would you hope they go, and what do you want them to do? That’s what you need to hone in on.
Typically, businesses have some awareness of top pages in Google Analytics. But not all businesses are tracking actions taken on site like form fills, button clicks, video plays or simply scrolling.
Two things you could do to get started is first, engage Google Tag Manager and start tracking those actions through event tracking. The second is to install a heatmapping tool like CrazyEgg on key conversion landing pages to truly “see” what users do when they arrive. You’d be surprised at what you learn.
Social Engagement and Reach
The social media channels only really care about you as a business if you’re driving engagement and helping to keep people on the platform longer. That’s really your only job, and it’s better to make sure that engagement is spent with you.
Each social platform handles this a bit different, but the most important thing that you should consider is how you’re creating conversation. You want those likes and shares. But you also want people to slide into your DMs. Start by checking out what posts give those positive actions – and amplify them.
Email Delivery and Interactivity
Similarly to social media, email gives you a higher preference in someone’s inbox if you create good engagement. It’s not enough that someone merely opens your email – they must click, scroll, reply.
Evaluating your contact list against those opens, clicks and responses will help you understand how to better segment your emails to deliver messages at a better point of relevancy.
Paid Advertising and Real Results
Hopefully you’ve implemented tracking methods on your paid like UTM tracking for links and call tracking for phone numbers. If not – mark this as your to-do for 2022. If so, time to see what really delivered your ROI.
When you have implemented the above tactics, along with tracking for paid advertising you can actually start to correlate return on investment. If you’re spending any sort of money online, this has to be one of your top priorities.
Ready to See Results?
These five key areas are what we would call basics, but these basics give you a ton of great information to help you create a better user experience, increase conversation and engagement and ultimately, lift your bottom line.
If you’re ready to get results but still unsure of how to get started- you’re in luck. We’re here to help with an analytics audit. Give us a shout.