Think of metrics tracking as the sleeves-rolled-up hard work of conversion optimization. It’s using AdWords and other credible sources to crunch the numbers that tell you whether or not your digital advertising is working.
The key is knowing which numbers are important and, from there, what you can do to improve results in subsequent campaigns.
Start with a Benchmark
How would you get the weight loss results you’re looking for if you don’t know what you weigh now? That’s benchmarking. Tracking metrics that represent your current results, so you’ll know whether you’re improving (or getting worse) as you launch additional campaigns.
Crunch the Relevant Numbers
Don’t get lost in the spreadsheets. There are endless ways of measuring campaign results. If you spend all of your time generating data, it might freeze you. All you’ll see is the potential risk of taking any further steps.
Here are what we think are some of the most basic metrics to be following as you track campaign results.
How Many Visitors Came to your Website
This is simply a traffic metric. It doesn’t tell you what those visitors did, how they got there in the first place, or how long they stayed. But it’s a starting point. Keep frequent track of site visits, and you’ll know immediately when one of your marketing efforts makes a difference—whether right or wrong.
Did most of your visitors stumble on you organically? That means they referred to a search engine and used keywords that put your site at or close to the top of their results page. That’s good news. It’s also good news if they came via social media or other websites. Not so much if they ignored the ads you paid so dearly for–but it’s information you have to know.
How Long They Stayed
A visitor who lands on your site and immediately leaves probably got there by accident. If they stick around only long enough to take a quick look around and then head for the exits, it could be that your social media ads or landing page copy are more promising than what they find on your site. On the other hand, if they stay awhile but don’t respond to your call to action, maybe your CTA is weak. You can learn a lot from this metric.
How Many Visitors Left
Bounce rate measures what visitors do when they get on your site: leave after viewing a single page or visit additional pages. A viewer who leaves immediately after visiting that first page has “bounced.”
If you owned a retail store, this would measure the shoppers who came through your doors, strolled throughout, and seemed to take in everything versus those who bounced immediately after a quick look-see.
An excellent bounce rate for websites is in the 25-30% range. That means that only about one in four of your site visitors immediately left. Anything over 70% usually gets considered pretty bad. It means your website isn’t “sticky.” Few feel compelled to hang around and take a serious look.
Of course, you don’t know what was in the heart of a visitor. They might have lost time but bookmarked your site for later investigation. Nevertheless, bounce rate remains a pretty good indicator of how well your efforts pay off at making our site stickier, so visitors stay longer.
What They Did When They Got There
This is where the rubber meets the road. It’s also where your CTA and response mechanism comes into play. Your conversion rate is a measurement of the percentage of visitors who responded positively to your CTA.
Let’s say you had 10,000 visitors following a digital marketing campaign, and 100 of them subscribed to your newsletter, requested a brochure, or otherwise took the action you steered them toward. Your conversion rate is, therefore, one percent.
Your goal is always to make conversions as easy as possible. That’s where we come in. At 800.com, we’ll get you a toll-free vanity phone number that will help your target audience take favorable action. That’s because you remove one of the biggest barriers to taking action by giving respondents a number they will remember and one that relates to the message you’re sending them. For instance, imagine you run an employment agency with (800) EMPLOYEED as your response phone number. Think your prospects would remember it?
We’ll also show you how easy it is to track your toll-free phone number to learn valuable metrics about your campaign. Let’s get to work on your next digital campaign. Visit 800.com or call us at (800) 800-4321.
