 In these tightening economic times, we take comfort in knowing that online marketing is the most measurable medium available. While budgets for other media may shrink, our superior ability to show ROI provides protection. But is it enough just to possess this data? How can you use the numbers to continuously improve your bottom line?
Reporting or Analysis?
It all begins with the right approach to your campaign data and Web analytics . There’s a difference between creating reports and analyzing data. Static reports generally tell a high-level, quantitative story about what has already happened. Analysis involves digging deeper to uncover specific, qualitative data that can be used to improve future performance. Reporting isn’t bad. It’s just not enough.
Key Performance Indicators
The data available is literally endless, so before diving into the deep end, it’s important to establish your objectives. What key metrics drive your business? You shouldn’t have just one answer to this question. Whether the end goal is revenue or lead generation, the sales process is rarely a single step. How do you measure the warmth of “researchers” who aren’t yet ready to purchase? How do you measure the engagement level of existing customers as you attempt to up-sell or cross-sell to them? Establish KPIs by aligning metrics such as goal pages and time-on-site with various stages of the buying cycle.
Segmentation
The key to aligning these metrics with the buying cycle is segmentation. Create groups of visitors based on common factors such as campaigns, search keywords or whether they’ve been to your Web site before. Then determine the best metrics to measure your success with each group.
Find Winners & Losers
Finally, use comparisons to uncover your winners and losers. Depending on your focus, you can “slice” your data in different ways. What are your best and worst campaigns? Referrers? Search keywords? Entry pages? Navigational steps? It’s often helpful to slice the data from multiple directions before drawing conclusions. For example, you might find that a group of search keywords are underperforming not because they’re poorly targeted, but because those visitors are entering at poorly targeted pages.
Take Action
The easy answer is to simply cut underperforming campaigns or keywords. But that might not always be best. Can you learn anything from the “winners” that can be applied to the “losers”? Are there opportunities to refine your targeting or message? That’s the beauty of having all this data. You can try some changes and test your results.
Data driven marketing is a continuous process of measuring and improving performance, which is especially important in a difficult economic environment. Lyris HQ gives you the tools, and our Professional Services team can supply the expertise.
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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.
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