Digital Marketing Analytics

From smartphones and tablets to laptops, PCs, and gaming systems, televisions, and watches with Internet access, it’s a digital world that we’re living in. And with the services I offer, you’ll be able to reach out to the right customers as they go online to find what they need. One of the most important things for my clients is seeing evidence of their return on investment. Fortunately, this is data I can easily present since when it comes to analytics digital marketing is a form of engagement that’s highly trackable with very specific details.

There’s a lot of info to be gained from diving into digital marketing data and pulling out useful stats. For instance, only 22 percent of businesses are satisfied with their conversion rates. If you’re among the nearly 80 percent of businesses not happy with your results with conversions, leads, website traffic, and online engagement, I can help with digital marketing services that include everything from website development and design to all aspects of SEO and social media and search engine marketing.

Automated reports can make it easier to track trends over any period of time, whether it’s from one month to the next or even from similar periods in previous years. I can personalize their reports so you’ll be able to see stats that matter most to you. Here’s a closer look at what info you’ll have access to with digital marketing analytics.

Tracking Website Traffic Patterns

A good starting point with digital marketing analytics is with your online traffic patterns. After all, most roads online lead right back to your website, so it helps to know where website traffic is coming from. Website traffic can be tracked with incredible detail. I can show you reports that include details such as:

• What devices your customers are primarily using to find your site
• Whether most of your website traffic is desktop-based or mobile
• How long visitors to your site are staying when they get there
• What specific pages are getting the most visits and interactions
• How many visitors are coming to your site and leaving without taking any action
• What specific products or services featured on your site are attracting the most interest
• How many returning visitors are coming back to your website
• Where visitors are coming from

Lead Generation Stats

It’s equally important to know whether or not you’re getting qualified leads. A staggering 80 percent of marketers consider their lead generation efforts “slightly or somewhat effective.” Part of the reason for this may be a failure to properly track leads and make adjustments to lead generation strategies based on what’s seen in data. With lead generation, I recommend tracking the following data:

• Referring keywords sorted by questions searchers are asking to find your business or the products and services you offer
• Social media leads specific to each platform
• Changes in traffic trends that can affect lead opportunities (Google Analytics has an email alert system that will let you know when there are changes in activities)

Armed with this data, I can let you know what’s going on with your lead generation efforts. More importantly, I can recommend adjustments you can make if there are sudden dips in leads and conversions. Another issue with leads is knowing who your audience is in as much detail as possible. Keyword positioning reports and search analytics reports are an effective way to determine if you are actually focusing your lead generation efforts on the right searchers.

Search Engine Optimization Data

Google’s Search Console can provide a wide range of information on how your organic search efforts are working. In fact, your Search Console data can be reflected in your Google Analytics reports if you associate a GA property with a site in your Search Console account.

SEO reports like what’s available from Google are only meaningful, however, if specific goals are in mind. This is why a big part of what I do involves helping clients set realistic goals with search engine optimization. After you’ve set your goals, the SEO metrics you’ll want to pay attention to include:

• Domain and page authority
• Link quality
• Paid and organic traffic
• Conversion rates from all SEO efforts, including external links and optimized content in directories
• Keyword rankings
• Crawl errors
• Desktop and mobile engagement

With SEO, I would also recommend being mindful of data that shows new backlinks and referring domains. There’s research suggesting a strong connection between rankings and number of referring domains. Plus, knowing how many backlinks you’re getting is a good way to gauge how successful your SEO efforts are. Organic traffic can be easily tracked with Google Analytics. I can help you set up reports that show the data you need to track in a way that’s more meaningful to your business.

Quality of SEO Traffic

Quality is important when it comes to SEO analytics. While “quality” may be subjective in some ways, it can actually be measured with an assisted conversions report that’s based on a specific data range, allowing for a detailed comparison between two similar periods. What you’ll get is a month-to-month comparison of conversions directly linked to search activity. I can even identify instances where search played a role (e.g., a visitor did a search to find your site but came back later directly and converted).

On a related note with quality, I recommend identifying slow loading page times by tracking page load times on a page-by-page basis. I can then suggest ways to improve load times that may be negatively affecting your website’s performance.

Social Media Analytics

More than 70 percent of all adult Internet users have a Facebook account. But this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what social media metrics you should be tracking. Specialized platforms like LinkedIn and Snapchat can be just as productive for your brand, as can more visual platforms like Pinterest and Instagram.

No matter what social platforms are right for your business, you’ll want to know what’s going on with each channel. A whopping 60 percent of small business owners report not being able to track their ROI for their social media marketing efforts. If you’re in this group, I can provide some clarity and produce reports that include the following key social media metrics:

• Reach: This is the raw data on things like total followers on each platform.
• Average engagement rate: Followers are only of value to your brand if they’re actively engaged, which is what this particular metric tracks.
• Acquisition and visitor frequency rate: As with engagement, total acquisitions are only meaningful if you’re also getting return visits post-acquisition, which is why I recommend combining these two stats.
• Assisted social conversions: Shows how many conversions you’re getting from social users who end up visiting your website.
• Core social metrics: Social analytics should also include all core digital marketing metrics (e.g., bounce Rate, click-through rate, potential reach, and influence)

All social media metrics, like the ones mentioned above, should be viewed through the lens of your overall goals and objectives. I can help you leverage this information to drive decisions that will be good for your brand and your bottom line.

CRM Analytics (Sales Data)

Many companies today, both big and small ones, use a CRM (customer relationship management) system to drive their business. Yet 40 percent of salespeople are still using Excel and similar tools to track leads and store customer data. A better way to leverage your CRM/sales data is with detailed reports that focus on the right metrics. If you’re up to your ears in data your CRM system collects or having trouble interpreting your spreadsheet data, I recommend opting for reports that present your CRM data in a more organized way. Pay particular attention to:

• Sales calls: Data can be tracked for different periods to identify trends.
• Sales closing rate: Measures how many leads were converted within certain time periods. Close rates can be calculated for each member of your sales staff.
• Length of sales cycle: Shows how long it takes to close a sale from the time a prospect is first identified.
• Customer retention rate: With this metric, you’ll quickly see how many customers keep coming back after you’ve acquired them.
• Marketing campaign ROI: This stat breaks down what you spend on attracting and retaining customers with your various marketing efforts. Data can even get as detailed as showing which campaigns were the most effective in terms of leads and conversions.

Paid Search Analytics

The beauty of paid search is the ability to carefully track results with ads right down to specific times of the day. Different industries have different benchmarks that will determine what’s an acceptable return on investment. If pay-per-click is a big part of your marketing strategy, you’ll want reports that show averages with:

• Click-through rates (CTRs)
• Cost per click (CPC)
• Conversion rates
• Cost per action (CPA)

Other Online Advertising Reports

While a potentially cost-effective form of online advertising, PPC is just one way to put your products, services, and brand in front of the right audience online. If paid search is only one part of your marketing strategy, you’ll appreciate reports that include a detailed summary of results from:

• Mobile advertising (including any text messaging campaigns you may be running)
• Display advertising
• Video advertising

Nearly 80 percent of consumers say they would prefer to either block or filter ads. But are blocked ads seriously impacting your bottom line? Google’s Tag Manager is one way you can check ad block usage. If this is an important metric for you, it can be included in your reports. The results can be used to determine whether or not you’ll want to consider less-intrusive ways to keep your brand front and center online.

Email Stat Tracking

Three-quarters of all companies say email marketing has an “excellent” ROI. Once considered a relic of the 90s, email has become a preferred form of engagement for many searchers thanks to the many mobile devices that make it easy to check messages. It’s expected that there will soon be more than 3 billion email users worldwide. Of course, all of this engagement needs to be carefully tracked if you want to see if you’re actually getting a good ROI for your efforts. The key metrics to watch with email marketing include:

• Open rates: How many of your emails are actually being opened.
• Conversion rates: Percent of recipients who clicked a link within your email and complete the desired action.
• Bounce rate: Number of emails sent that are successfully delivered to an inbox (as opposed to ones sent directly to the spam folder).
• List growth rate: How fast your email list is growing based on number of email address adds within specific periods.
• Sharing/forward rates: Percentage of recipients clicking the “share this” button to post your email socially along with those who clicked the “forward to a friend” button.
• Overall ROI: Whether or not you are getting enough conversions or increased website traffic from your emails to justify your expenses.

Video Marketing Analytics

Four-times as many consumers would rather watch a video about a product than read about it. Plus, nearly half of all online users search for video content related to products or services before visiting a store. So, you’ll definitely want to keep track of your video content is performing. Key metrics to keep an eye on with video marketing include:

• View count: Raw numbers showing how many times your videos have been viewed.
• Play rates: How many people actually clicked “play” to watch your videos?
• Engagement: This is an important video marketing metric because it shows how much of your video content is actually being watched.
• Social sharing: Are viewers actually sharing your video content with their social followers?
• CTA click-throughs: Whether or not viewers are actually clicking the CTA (call-to-action) that accompanies your video content.
• Conversion rates: Shows how many leads and conversions you gained through your video content.
• Feedback: How viewers are reacting to your video content based on comments. This is useful info because it can let you know if you’re actually providing video content your audience finds useful.

Marketing Technology Stats

Technology plays a bigger role in your online engagement than you may realize. This is why I provide my clients with reports that consider the technology people use to find the products and services they need. For instance, users of mobile devices spend more than 90 percent of their time in apps. So, if part of your digital marketing strategy includes engagement via apps, you’ll want reports that show things like how many conversions you’re getting from your apps – or even how many customers are using an app to do a check-in when physically visiting your store. Other technology that should be reflected in digital marketing analytics includes:

• Voice search activity: Google estimates that about 20 percent of all searches are done via voice. This data will determine which keywords/phrases you use since people speak differently than they type when looking for something.
• Artificial intelligence: Programmatic ad buying is an example of how AI activity can be tracked.
• Mobile device search: There will soon be more than 6 billion smartphone users worldwide and Google is fully rolling out its mobile-first policy in 2018, so you’ll absolutely want to track all forms of mobile interaction.
• Augmented/virtual reality: AR and VR aren’t exactly separate metrics, but it is possible to track the results of content that uses this type of technology (e.g., a webpage that includes a virtual seating chart).

Showing clients proof that their investment is paying off is a top priority for me. With customized analytics digital marketing results from my efforts can be clearly documented, illustrated, and tracked. What you’ll end up with is the peace of mind you deserve when trusting me with your digital and online marketing needs.