HOW DATA METRICS CAN HELP YOUR MARKETING DOLLARS GO FURTHER

Marketing costs are likely to remain a focus at many firms in 2023. During leaner times like these, the ability to embrace digital transformation and the power of data could give your firm the boost it needs. Metrics help inform sound marketing decisions and make it easier to understand which channels are worth your marketing dollars.

Knowing how and where to spend your marketing dollars can be challenging because of shifting customer behaviours. Have attitudes changed based on people’s current financial situations? Are they facing a wider range of investment options? Do they seek easier ways of doing business with you? Keeping a close eye on how prospects engage with you, and what’s prompting their conversions, will help you pivot your marketing spend to where it can be most effective.

While each campaign is unique, here are some key metrics you should always track to know how efficient and practical you are being with your marketing spend.

SEVEN METRICS TO TRACK

1. WEBSITE VISITOR BEHAVIOUR

With the help of Google Search Console or a Google Analytics dashboard, you can study your web traffic to see visitor numbers, bounce rates, page views, session duration, and more. Look at how long people spend on your website pages, as this will give you an idea of how valuable they perceive the information on your website. At the same time, you’ll want to be aware of your bounce rate – that is, how often people visit your site and then immediately leave.

2. ORGANIC TRAFFIC

While this metric falls under website activity, it’s worthy of its own distinction since organic traffic is free. “Organic traffic” refers to people who already know you and are coming directly to your website, or people who see your listing in a search engine and choose to visit your website. Offering relevant and meaningful content is the key to building a healthy organic traffic flow.

3. SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT

How is your audience reacting to the content posted on your social channels? The point is to engage with them. “Likes,” “Shares” and “Comments” are all part of the metrics you’ll gather, and these metrics will tell you which posts resonated most with your followers. Tracking subscribers, and whether those numbers are increasing or decreasing, will reveal the strength of your content and if audiences are connecting with your brand.

4. EMAIL MARKETING

Anytime you initiate an automated campaign or send an email, newsletter or survey using your contact list, you should check who opened the message, how many recipients opened it, the number of clicks and, of course, who engaged with you based on that reach-out effort.

5. SEO AND KEYWORD RANKING

Tied closely with your website metrics, search engine optimization refers to how relevant or aligned your website copy is to online content searches. Some good tools to show how your keywords rank on search engines include Google Search Console, SEMrush, or Keyword.com. Keep in mind that while keywords are an important part of search algorithms, it’s becoming more important to ensure your content is timely, helpful and genuine to readers.

6. CONVERSIONS

Simply put, conversions refer to the completion of a desired goal by your visitor or audience. If your content or message leads to a new client or sale, that’s ideal. Conversions can also include leads, email signups, form completions, subscriptions, landing page visits or phone calls. Tracking your conversions is important because knowing your conversion rate (percentage of visitors who "convert" after reading your content) reveals how convincing or aligned your message is and/or whether a more suitable call to action should be considered.

7. RETURN ON INVESTMENT

If you want to get the most mileage out of your marketing dollars, identifying your marketing strategy costs and which tactics are performing best will inform your next steps. You always want to invest in tactics that realize higher returns, long-term profit and consistent conversions. One way to measure your return on investment (ROI) is to track your customer acquisition cost – the amount you spend in a year divided by the total number of new customers. Remember to watch your conversion rate as well. If it’s too low, your ROI will suffer.

Economic instability has taught us that paying attention to changes in consumer trends and behaviours can pay off in stronger long-term ROI. When we explore what’s driving customer behaviours, it’s easier to shift tactics to those that might have better traction catering to audience needs. Even in more robust times, it’s always a good idea to be aware of how you are allocating marketing dollars to ensure you can keep growing brand recognition and acquiring qualified leads.

Interested in learning more about why metrics matter and how to use them to grow your business? Please contact us today at 1.844.243.1830 or info@ext-marketing.com