Measurement is what makes marketing a science, rather than a superstition. For many business owners, marketing is a superfluous expense, something to spend money on only when the budget is flexible enough to accommodate it.
This is because the return on investment in marketing is, in many cases, unpredictable. Your advert could be a resounding hit, flooding you with thousands of new interested customers/clients, or it could be a flop, wasting your time and money.
What are Digital Marketing Metrics
Digital marketing metrics are quantitative measures used to assess the performance and effectiveness of online marketing efforts. These metrics provide valuable insights into how well your strategies are working, enabling you to make data-driven decisions that can improve your campaigns.
Importance of Digital Marketing Metrics
There are several reasons for tracking your marketing metrics and they include :
- Performance Assessment: Metrics provide a clear picture of how well your campaigns are performing, allowing you to identify areas for improvement.
- Data-Driven Decisions: When you are running a campaign, you to analyze the right metrics, to help you can make informed decisions about where to allocate resources and how to adjust strategies.
- Goal Tracking: Good metrics help you measure your progress toward specific marketing objectives, and ensure that you stay on track to meet your goals.
- Continuous Improvement: After setting up your campaign, you need to regularly monitor your marketing metrics to optimize campaigns for better results over time.
10 Online Marketing Metrics Businesses Can Use
Solid metrics give you the insight to overcome this hurdle of unpredictability. If you’re just starting out or you need to overhaul your existing marketing strategy, make sure to familiarize yourself with these 10 marketing metrics:
1. Total Visits
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Total visits is a fundamental metric that measures the overall number of times users access your website within a specific timeframe.
This includes both new and returning visitors, providing insights into your site’s reach and engagement.
Your main website should be a primary target for your customers and potential customers, but you can also measure total visits to any location relevant to your strategy, such as a landing page for a pay-per-click campaign.
When you measure your total number of visits, it will give you a “big picture” idea of how well your campaign is driving traffic and identify peak times for user activity. A consistent increase in total visits can indicate effective marketing strategies or successful content campaigns.
Also, If you notice your numbers drop from one month to the next, you need to investigate your marketing channels to figure out why your visit has dropped. In a healthy, steady campaign, you should expect your total number of visits to grow steadily.
2. New Sessions
A metric found in Google Analytics, the total number of new sessions will tell you how many of your site visitors are new and how many are recurring. It’s a good measurement metric to understand because it tells you whether your site is sticky enough to encourage repeated customers as well as how effective your outreach efforts are.
For example, if you change the structure or content of your site significantly and your ratio of recurring visitors to new visitors drops, it could be an indication that your website is losing effectiveness in warranting multiple visits.
When you monitor this metric, it helps businesses assess the effectiveness of their outreach strategies and identify potential areas for improvement.
3. Channel-Specific Traffic
Found in the “Acquisition” section of Google Analytics, your channel-specific metrics will segment your traffic based on their point of origin. The four main channels to keep an eye on are:
- “direct,” which will tell you how many people visited your site directly;
- “referrals,” which include external links from other sites;
- “organic,” which includes visitors who found you after performing a search, and;
- “social,” which includes visitors who found you through social media. It’s an excellent way to gauge the strengths of your SEO, social media marketing, content marketing, and traditional marketing campaigns.
This is especially useful for a full-scale digital marketing campaign because “total visits” can’t give you an indication of which channels are outperforming the others.
4. Brand Awareness
Brand awareness is another key metric that measures how familiar consumers are with your brand and its offerings. It reflects the extent to which your target audience recognizes and recalls your brand, influencing their purchasing decisions.
When you have high brand awareness, it can lead to increased trust and loyalty making it easier to convert potential customers into buyers. Businesses can also assess their brand awareness through surveys, social media engagement, and website traffic analysis. By tracking this metric, it helps companies gauge the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns and identify opportunities for improvement.
5. Bounce Rate
The bounce rate is a measurement metric that shows you what percentage of visitors leave your website before further exploring your website.
For example, if a potential visitor finds your homepage after searching for you and leaves the page before clicking any other links, they will be considered to have “bounced.”
Generally, you want the bounce rate to be as low as possible because the more time someone spends on your site, the more likely they are to convert and perform meaningful action. However, a high bounce rate isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
6. Returning Visitors
Returning visitors are a crucial metric that tracks the percentage of users who come back to your website after their initial visit. This metric indicates customer loyalty and engagement, as it shows that visitors found value in your content or offerings.
A high number of returning visitors suggests that your marketing strategies effectively nurture relationships and encourage repeat interactions. Businesses can analyze this metric alongside new sessions to gain insights into overall audience behaviour.
7. Click-Through Rate (CTR)
CTR is another metric that measures the percentage of users who click on a specific link, such as an advertisement or call-to-action button, compared to the total number of users who viewed it. A higher CTR indicates that your content is engaging and relevant to your audience, driving them to take action. You can use CTR to evaluate the effectiveness of their email campaigns, social media posts, and online ads. By analyzing this metric, companies can identify what resonates with their audience and make data-driven adjustments to improve their marketing strategies.
8. Total Conversions
Total conversions are one of the most vital metrics for measuring the profitability of your overall marketing efforts. It’s possible to define a conversion in many ways (such as filling out a lead form, completing a checkout on an e-commerce site, etc.), conversions are always seen as a quantifiable victory in the eyes of a marketer.
You can measure conversions on your site directly, depending on how it’s built, or you can set up a goal in Google Analytics to track your progress. Low conversion numbers could be the result of bad design, poor offerings, or otherwise disinterested visitors.
9. Lead to Close Ratio
This has to do with the measure of your marketing efforts and also the measure of your sales success, but it’s important to understand in the context of your total return on investment. Without an efficient and successful sales follow-up, any leads you get from marketing could be useless.
This measurement metric is easy to define: simply divide your total number of sales by your total number of leads, and you’ll get a ratio that defines your sales success independent of your marketing efforts. If your close rate is low, any drop in revenue or overspending could merely be a symptom of inefficient final sales strategies.
10. Customer Retention Rate
Customer retention can be difficult to measure if your buying cycle is long or if your business revolves around one-time sales. However, subscription-based services, e-commerce platforms, and most conventional businesses can measure customer retention by calculating what percentage of customers return to your business to buy again.
A low customer retention metric can be a symptom of a product or service that isn’t sticky or an indication of lacking outreach programs. Customer retention is also an important factor for calculating the average value of a customer.
11. Customer Value
Customer value is a difficult measurement metric to calculate. It isn’t going to tell you the health of your sales or marketing efforts, but it is going to help determine your overall return on investment.
You can use it to quantify the total revenue a business can expect from a customer over the entire duration of their relationship.
To find your average customer value, you have to take into account all sales the average customer will initiate throughout your relationship. For startups, calculating this is next to impossible, but you can generate a reasonable estimate based on the number of transactions you can expect per customer per year.
When you understand customer value, companies can make informed decisions about how much to invest in acquiring new customers versus retaining existing ones.
12. Cost Per Lead
Your cost per lead is dependent on the type of strategy you used for each lead generation channel, so it’s a much more specific metric than some of the “big picture” figures we discussed earlier.
To calculate your cost per lead, take a look at the average monthly cost of your chosen campaign and compare it to the total number of leads you generated with that specific channel over the same period.
For example, if you spent $500 in advertising for a pay-per-click campaign and achieved 10 total conversions over the same period, your cost per lead would be $50. Be sure to incorporate “invisible” costs, such as management time, startup costs, and peripheral expenses.
13. Projected Return on Investment
Your return on investment (ROI) is the most important factor for any marketing campaign because it demonstrates its profitability. A positive ROI means your marketing strategy is effective, while a negative ROI indicates a serious need for adjustment.
To calculate the ROI for your campaign, you’ll compare your cost per lead against your lead to close ratio, and compare that figure against your average customer value.
For example, if you pay $50 per lead and close 50 percent of your leads, you’ll pay $100 for each successful new customer. If your average customer value is more than $100 in this example, you’ve generated a profit and your marketing campaign can be considered a success.
Using projected ROI helps companies prioritize their marketing efforts, allocate budgets effectively, and make data-driven decisions that align with their overall business goals, ensuring a more strategic approach to growth
Conclusion
When you run a campaign, you need to constantly check these metrics to provide an accurate pulse of the health of your digital marketing campaign.
These metrics, such as total visits, new sessions, customer value, and projected return on investment, provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of marketing strategies.
Want to know which online marketing metrics will drive your business forward, you can register for our Digital Marketing Course to gain a comprehensive understanding of how to measure and analyze these metrics effectively.
When you regularly monitor these key performance indicators (KPIs), you’ll be able to refine your tactics, closely examine which strategies work best and why, and end up with a steady marketing rhythm that can generate more than enough leads to cover your marketing costs and deliver a significant profit.
FAQs
What are some key digital marketing metrics to focus on?
Some key digital marketing metrics to focus on include website traffic, conversion rate, click-through rate (CTR), bounce rate, and customer lifetime value (CLV). These metrics provide valuable insights into user behaviour, campaign effectiveness, and overall business performance, helping marketers make informed decisions.
How can I improve my conversion rate?
To improve your conversion rate, start by optimizing your landing pages for clarity and relevance. Ensure that your calls to action (CTAs) are compelling and strategically placed on the page. Additionally, consider A/B testing different elements of your campaigns such as headlines, images, and offers to identify what resonates best with your audience. You can also analyze user behavior through heatmaps or analytics to provide insights into areas for improvement.
How often should I review my digital marketing metrics?
The frequency of reviewing digital marketing metrics depends on the specific campaigns and goals. However, a best practice is to conduct a thorough analysis at least once a month. You can review metrics in order for you to identify trends, make timely adjustments, and ensure that your strategies align with your business objectives.