As a business making significant investments in online marketing, it is your responsibility to understand what is working and what isn’t. The reason more and more businesses are increasing online marketing budgets is because of the endless data that can be collected and measured. You simply don’t get that from “traditional” media such as TV, Radio, and Print. When analytics support the use of websites, SEO, and PPC the results can be incredibly powerful.
But understanding how to collect all this data and what to do with it can be a daunting task. You first must collect the right data that supports your predefined goals and Key Performance Indicators. Then you must glean insights from the data in order to make informed decisions to continually improve ROI.
Here are some key things to keep in mind when implementing analytics and using the data to make educated business decisions.
Define Your Business Goals and The Core Purpose For Your Websites And Landing Pages: Before spending any time or resources driving new traffic to your website, first define your objectives so that you can project a desired return on investment. What do you want to track and how do you want to track it?
Ensure Proper Implementation: Make sure that your development or analytics team implements the analytics code properly, on the correct pages, and runs test to make sure everything is tracking properly.
Establish Initial Benchmarks: Run benchmark reports for rankings, traffic, average conversions, average cost per acquisition, and anything else you will be focusing on during the life of your campaign.
Set Goals And Create Funnels: Using your analytics platform (i.e. Google Analytics, Omniture, etc.) you can set specific goals and create funnels. An example of a goal could be a complete lead form, an email capture, or a download. A funnel will define the path the user took to complete that goal.
Create Multiple Types Of Conversions: You will want to try different methods for generating your defined conversions. Use different types of forms, varying calls to action, and test for what converts at the highest rate.
Track All Of Your Campaigns: Make sure you are tracking all of your online media channels.
Combine Quantitative Data With Qualitative Data: Segment your data. Look the aggregate measure of metrics to spot trends but don’t forget to dig deeper to understand WHY users are performing certain tasks. Not all pages have the same purpose and not all users come to your site for the same reason.
Know Your Reporting Audience: Adjust your reports to show data that people care about.
