If most businesses have a multi-step buying cycle, why do most marketers focus only on conversions? Doesn't it make sense to measure how effective we are at nurturing customers throughout their decision-making process? With the right Web analytics tool, such measures of success are easier to track than you may think.

For example, Lyris HQ Web Analytics has a tool specifically made to apply different measures of success to different types of visitors. The timeline at the top of most reports enables you to establish Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and measure them over time.

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Segments

If you’re focused solely on measuring email marketing or search engine marketing campaigns, you can begin by grouping your campaigns by objective. For example, you might have separate email campaigns for lead nurture, conversion and cross-selling. Create segments in Lyris HQ Web Analytics to classify your campaigns by these groups.*

*NOTE: You’ll need to download the Web Analytics Viewer, then select Tools > Advanced Segments to create your segments. When you’re finished, select Tools > Edit Segments and select the segments you want to share. Those segments will then appear on the Lyris HQ Reports dashboard after overnight analysis.

Metrics

Next, match appropriate metrics to each group of visitors. For earlier stages, you might use Average Time on Site, Page Views per Visitor or Short Visits to measure general engagement. You can also use your Funnel Report configuration to establish non-conversion goals, such as white paper downloads, product comparison pages, etc. This will enable the Reached Goal metric.

Segment + Metric = KPI

The timeline controls allow you to track up to four KPIs at a time. For each KPI, simply select the desired segment and the metric you want to use to measure it.

KPIs are a great way track performance against business goals, but only if they’re tracking the right goals. Be sure to use segmentation with your KPIs to ensure you’re setting the right expectations for each type of visitor.

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About the Author

Dan Miller is professional services and sales engineering manager at Lyris. He helps companies adopt data driven marketing techniques to improve their ROI.  

Related Resources:

• Subscribe to Inside Lyris HQ our monthly online-marketing newsletter.
• Download free online-marketing guides, tools and webinars in the Lyris Online-Marketing Resource Center.

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