In order to succeed in your digital marketing endeavors, you need to base all your campaigns on data, not intuition. And then keep evaluating your success regularly to ensure you are progressing as according to your forecast.
However, choosing the right set of metrics to observe is critical. With so many different metrics to observe, you need to choose the right KPIs that will inform you of what matters the most in your online business.
If you don’t focus on the right metrics, you may waste precious time focusing on ‘vanity’ metrics that won’t really provide you with the insight you require, or may actually mislead you entirely. Here are eight metrics that will help you keep track on how the site is performing:
1. Bounce Rates
Targeting the right audience is just as important as getting the visitors’ volume you want. The bounce rate of various pages on your website will inform you on how engaging the visitors are finding your content. If the pages fail to engage your visitors’ interest, the bounce rate will be high. Posting content that is relevant to the target customers will be a big help in attracting more traffic. A high bounce rate is a sign that the content is not in line with the visitors’ wants and needs.
2. Customer Retention Rate
This is an important metric that helps you know whether your content is good enough to retain the interest of visitors over time. You need to keep posting fresh and engaging content to provide visitors with a reason to visit your website repeatedly. Apart from content quality, design elements like usability and consistent branding are also key factors in customer retention.
3. Where Visitors Come From
The acquisition section of Google Analytics helps you determine which channels your visitors are coming from. It is a useful practice to identify the channels that convert your marketing dollars into a steady stream of visitors/users. High organic results suggest your SEO campaign is doing well. High social traffic, on the other hand, indicates the efficacy of your social media advertising and so on.
4. Click-Thru Rate (CTR)
CTRs have been traditionally used to gauge the efficacy of display advertising. Although the CTR of display ads such as banner ads has decreased progressively over time, there is always a chance that banners are actually helping your branding efforts – something that the CTR won’t reflect. You need to use CTR along with other metrics to determine how effective display advertising has actually been.
5. Conversion Rate
The percentage of visitors to your website who complete a pre-set goal is conversion rate. This is the most important and actual bottom line of a digital marketing campaign. Different actions of visitors can constitute a conversion: leaving their information in a form, sharing content on social media, downloading content, installing an app or even making a direct purchase.
6. Cost Per Click
A higher cost per click/lead translates into higher costs in your pay-per-click marketing campaigns. Your cost per click is influenced by several factors –maximum bid, Quality Score of ads, and the ad rank. You need to continually work on improving the Quality Score of your ads in order to keep the cost per click/lead low.
7. Cost Per Lead
Advertisers opt for Cost Per Lead (CPL) pricing model when they are not expecting a direct purchase by visitors, and the product requires further interaction with a sales person. More complex products like life insurance policies fall into this category.
This metric makes your advertising campaigns more scalable. A company pays only for successful acquisition of potential customers and not for intangible results like banner impressions.
8. Social Metrics
On social media, you may use metrics such as volume, reach, exposure, and amplification to gauge success, but make sure you keep paying attention to how much this social media engagement actually turns into conversions and sales.
Summing Up
Being able to keep the hand on the pulse of your business by observing the right indicators will enhance your chances of success. Make a plan on how you are going to gauge your progress accurately and take another step towards your success.