Are you interested in learning more about digital marketing metrics?
Then you’ve come to the right place. Did you know that a 20% to 40% bounce rate on your emails is considered good? 40% to 55% is considered average.
But how are you supposed to know these things if you’re not a digital guru? Which metrics should you follow, and why? It’s a challenging course to navigate.
But, worry no longer. You don’t have to be a tech savant to unravel the complex world that is digital metrics. All you need is a comfortable reading position and the article below. Oh, and possibly a drink.
Are you cozy now? Do you have that drink in hand? Excellent, then read on.
What You Need to Know About Digital Marketing Metrics
Wouldn’t it be nice to take the guesswork out of your marketing? To know why your campaign works, so you can repeat the process with a different product or target market? That’s what metrics are all about.
They replace guesswork with reliable, current data.
Do you want to know how many people open your emails? There’s a tool for that. Do you want to know whether those emails are being read on a desktop or mobile device? There’s a tool for that too.
The most challenging part of today’s current digital revolution is knowing which sets of data are the most important. And, how to interpret them.
User Traffic
Marketing experts agree. Understanding your customers is the most critical component of any campaign. The more you know about them, the better you can satisfy their needs. The more you understand how they speak and what they think, the easier it is to tailor your message specifically for them.
Metrics can provide you with a snapshot of your ideal customer. Then you can build a buyer persona to guide your marketing strategy. You can even build more than one buyer persona if you plan to segment your customers.
Demographics such as gender, age, and location are now available at the click of a button. Tracking the type of user who lands on your site will give you a clearer understanding of who you’re selling to.
You can then leverage that information to learn even more. Use that data to find out where your customers hang out on social media. Afterward, go listen to their conversations. You’ll be amazed by what you discover.
Content Traffic
There are two things to pay attention to here:
- Page views (by page)
- Bounce rates
When you understand which pages on your site receive the most views, you know which pages are working. Then you can figure out why they’re working.
Do those pages offer insightful information on a particular topic? If so, why not write other pages on a similar topic.
Are you writing in a snarky tone on only those pages? Then perhaps you should write in a snarky tone in all your articles. Find where the traffic is going, and search for patterns worth reusing.
Bounce rates are another marketing metric used to analyze web traffic. They help you understand how many of your visitors leave immediately after landing on your site. Why is that important?
It’s a sign that something is screwed up.
For instance, let’s assume your bounce rate is high. Let’s also assume all your traffic for that page is coming from an ad you posted in social media. From that, you can deduce said visitors aren’t getting what they expected when they land on your page.
Maybe there’s a problem with your load times. Maybe it’s a problem with the information in your ad. Or perhaps the problem is with the content on your page.
You can figure out where the problem is coming from with a little research. The important piece is that you know where to look. That’s what data is all about.
Channel-Specific Traffic
How did your readers find your page? Where were they before they landed on your site? When you understand where your readers came from, you better understand what’s going on in their head.
For instance, let’s assume a potential customer follows a link from your social media ad to your site. Yes, that tells you that your ad is working. But more importantly, it gives you insight in which stage of the sales funnel that customer resides.
They’re either in the “problem aware” or “solution aware” stage. You can figure out which one by reviewing that particular ad.
When a potential customer types your web address directly into their browser, on the other hand, they’re “most aware.” That is the final stage of the sales funnel, of course. If most of your visitors were coming to your site by this route, you’d want to design your landing pages differently.
A solution aware customer, for instance, would need to consume more information before she is ready to buy. You’d need to provide that information through emails, videos, photos, podcasts, or text.
A most aware customer wouldn’t need any of that information. It would only be a distraction, making it less likely they’d make a purchase.
Keep a sharp eye out for the following:
- Direct traffic – people who typed your address directly into their browser
- Referral traffic – people who use links from another site to find yours
- Organic traffic – people who find your site from a search engine
We spoke about direct and referral traffic above. Organic traffic will likely also fall into the “solution aware” category. Spend some time interpreting the data to make certain.
Social Media Traffic
Why does it matter whether your visitors are finding you through your social media channels? One simple reason: it’s working.
It takes hundreds of hours to design a strong social media presence. Isn’t it worth it to discover whether your efforts are paying off? If not, small adjustments to your strategy could change your success rate overnight.
Conversion Rates
These bad boys are the mother of important metrics. They tell you what is the percentage of potential customers who visit your site who actually buy something. Conversion rates indicate whether your customers are taking action.
Do 50% of your visitors fill out your email subscribe form? Then you have a 50% conversion rate.
Do 3% of your web visitors purchase your digital product? Fantastic, you have a 3% conversion rate.
Clicking a button, signing up for a newsletter, leaving a comment. They’re just different types of conversions. Each time your visitors take an action, it’s a conversion.
When you measure how many people are converting, you can gauge whether your system is working. Simple as that. If not, you have a hole somewhere.
What’s Next?
It’s time to integrate those digital marketing metrics into your online strategy. Use the above metrics to find the holes in your present strategy. Only then can you create a plan to fill them.
Did you discover what you needed in the section above? Excellent. Please, also take a look at the vast assortment of digital content and marketing articles on our website.
So long and good luck!
