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Picture this: your brand has designed a magical tool that gives your marketing team insights into consumer preferences, industry predictions, and market trends. Sounds great! If only this magic tool existed. It does! And the best news: no magic needed – just data analytics.
When you look past all the numbers and statistics, the analytics start to make sense. Sounds a bit strange. But, data analytics are at the heart of a strong marketing strategy. The information provided through these measurements can make or break a marketing plan. The good news is that you don’t need any magic to see the numbers. Don’t let this fool you. To leverage strong data analytics, you must use the right tools to transform scattered figures into actionable, relevant information. Dive into how your business can use data analytics to take your marketing strategies to the next level.
5 Marketing Metrics You Need to Be Tracking
The specific analytics you track may vary depending on your business goals. However, we have compiled a list of digital data analytics that all marketers should be tracking. This list is not exhaustive, which can be overwhelming. Your entire marketing strategy becomes more effective when it has strong data-driven insights to back it.
1. Social Media Analytics
The social media universe is constantly changing. This can be good and bad for digital marketers. The most important thing to remember is your target audience. By listening to what your viewers like through metrics such as engagement, impressions, and retention, your business will likely gain an absolute view of what’s working and what isn’t. The difficulty arises from the vast amount of metrics there are to track on social media. Different engagement types provide different information, so it’s crucial to understand what each metric is telling you. Luckily, many social media platforms have in-app analytics that display engagement levels and comparisons between your posted content.
2. Email Engagement Rates
Email marketing still works in this digital age, trust us. However, without measuring the proper analytics, all the work put into a good email can go right down the drain. Keep a close eye on open rates and click-through rates; they tell you exactly what choices your audience is making. Review your past campaigns and compare them to current ones. You never know if a bad subject line or clickable content is why your emails aren’t performing as expected.
3. Conversion Rates
Conversion rates track the number of your viewers who respond positively to a CTA, such as following your social media page, making a purchase on your website, or signing up for your email list. Use these metrics to identify any patterns in how your leads are transitioning into loyal customers. This may take a thorough analysis, but it’s worth it. By using your data to discover what your audience likes to engage with, you can include varying levels of personalization in your content. Consumers love personalization, and if they see something that looks like it is designed just for them, they’re likely to continue engaging with your brand (i.e., higher conversion rates). It’s a cycle and a good one!
4. A/B Testing Results
A/B testing is all about comparisons. If you take the time to compare the variations in your past marketing strategies, you can identify your strongest and most effective elements. Pick a specific variable to change in your marketing campaign, then determine which metrics you want to track for changes. A/B testing can answer your toughest questions and help you see something you were blind to before.
5. Website Traffic
Like social media and email, website engagement requires listening to your audience. Analytics such as web traffic, bounce rates, and time on site provide detailed information about your audience and their behavior and the effectiveness of your digital content. Website data also guides your SEO strategies. Lower engagement levels may come from your SEO efforts, so take the time to identify how your audience finds your site or if they are finding it.
As we stated, this list is not exhaustive. There are numerous other data analytics to track; some will be more important than others for your specific business model. Reflect on where your brand sees its successes and failures to help your marketing team decide which metrics to track. Remember, the answer to your problems may be uncovered through an under-measured metric, so don’t be afraid to take risks to benefit your final audience.
Collecting & Analyzing Your Data: Best Practices
In 2024, there are endless tools your brand can use to collect, track, and analyze your data. When looking at your actionable metrics, it’s crucial to consider the relevance and context of your results. Do the numbers make sense? Do they answer your questions? Are they comparable to past results? This is why collecting your data isn’t enough. The most important part of your analytics process is the analysis. With numbers, statistics, and graphs clouding your vision, pulling the meaning out of the information can be difficult. Check out some of these useful analytics reports that marketers can use to easily track and analyze their digital metrics.
- Content Performance Report: This tool can be integrated into social media applications or accessed through your brand’s CRM platform. It provides insight into impressions, interactions, and engagement on your social media or website.
- Google Search Console: By linking your SEO efforts and website to an integration tool, you can see detailed analyses of your audience's search behavior. If you introduce a tool like this into your website presence marketing strategies, you can track metrics related to landing pages and keywords.
- Funnel Reports: When tracking conversion rates, it can be difficult to identify any bottlenecks that may be blocking users from fully engaging with your brand. By including a funnel report, your brand is provided with a comprehensive view of your customers’ purchase journeys. Determine how effective your marketing efforts are and get insights into any roadblocks.
Many data-tracking tools include real-time analyses of your digital strategies. However, without taking the time to understand the data, you can’t fully know how the different metrics are affecting your brand identity online. We recommend looking into tools that provide your marketing team with all the necessary resources to make sense of the numbers. No one wants hundreds of spreadsheets filled with relevant data if it’s impossible to dissect.
You’ve Got Your Numbers, What Do They Mean?
Read the title again. You must understand that data analytics do not end after collection and analysis. You measured the metrics for a reason, so it’s in your best interest to get some use out of them. What do the numbers mean? Why are they so important? Let’s find out what your metrics are trying to tell you.
1. This is Working; This Isn’t
Data analytics puts your marketing strategies under a microscope. Get up close and personal with your brand to fully understand what strategies are performing the best. For example, if you have multiple social platforms, a website, and an active newsletter, you should compare their performance to determine which messages and content are resonating with your audience. Your data can be analyzed in real-time; take advantage of this and work towards consistent improvement.
2. Can We Reduce Some Costs?
3. What’s Trending…Next Week?
Trend forecasting is one of the most valuable features of maintaining strong analytics. With high accuracy and detail, this information can help your marketing team plan campaigns or develop content that has a high probability of success in the future. It’s all about knowing the behavior of past and current trends and using these insights to make highly educated predictions for upcoming marketing strategies. Gain a competitive edge in your industry by quickly identifying viral trends and new opportunities. This may take some time and practice, but the payoff is worth it when trying to survive in highly competitive markets or nurture new leads.
4. You’re Going to Love This
And finally - the consumer. Is your audience loving what you are producing? By tracking relevant metrics, you are one step closer to understanding your audience on a deeper level. Metrics like engagement rates, follower growth, and conversion rates provide a meaningful picture of what is well-liked and going viral. Using these metrics in the right way is even more meaningful because your viewers gain a more personalized experience from your content. 90% of professional marketers attribute their personalized marketing plans to higher profits. Let your analytics guide you toward more leads, revenue, and happy customers.
The Importance of ROI
What is your digital marketing’s ROI? To determine the effectiveness of your marketing strategies, your business should measure your online marketing campaign’s profits or losses compared to the total costs insured by your digital campaigns. Using reporting tools that track your analytics, you can measure your ROI and alter how you spend your money on marketing. Your return on investment also provides insight into what digital strategies are working and which ones aren’t. Not enough marketers use their analytics to measure their ROI, leading to uninformed decisions and unclear views of their campaigns, content, and marketing tactics. Don’t let this happen to your brand. Your ROI, good or bad, explains details about your efforts that other metrics cannot. If your ROI is positive, it’s proof that you’re doing something right, leading to happy customers and potential increases in funding for your future projects. If your ROI is negative, you may have to take a closer look at some other metrics and discover the root of your underperforming strategies.
Making Data-Driven Decisions
At the core of making data-driven decisions is being an incredible listener. Listen to what your audience is trying to tell you through the numbers. Different metrics will tell you different things; don’t get distracted by or tunnel-vision on specific measurements. Utilize tools that help you easily organize and track your data. Don’t stop listening; remember to take the time to understand the information in front of you. You never know what you’ll discover when sifting through the numeric chaos.
