Marketing metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) tell your business which methods are successful and which ones need replacing.
Many companies get bogged down in only one or two metrics, such as the number of leads or revenue. However, there are many other indicators of how well your overall branding and promotions work in building a name for your organization.
In a survey by Google and MIT for their Global Technology Review Insights Report, they surveyed marketers worldwide. They found that 89% of leading companies use strategic metrics such as market share, gross revenue and CLV to see how well their campaigns work.
Some marketing metrics are more telling than others. Here are six numbers to pay close attention to if you want to grow your company and your recognizable factor.
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1. Conversion Rates
Figuring out how to optimize your conversion rates (CRO) and turn more visitors into leads is worth the time.
Your internal analytics and resources, such as Google Analytics, help you see clearly how many people click on your calls to action (CTAs) once they land on your page.
If your conversions are low, there may be a couple of reasons for the lack of response.
You may need to tweak your landing pages. However, you also may need to refine your target audience.
If you’re getting the traffic but not the leads, then the people coming to your site may not be as vetted as possible. Look for ways to improve your buyer persona and narrow your marketing focus.
Find your conversion rates by looking at traffic and how many people complete the task you want them to (convert).
For example, if you get 10,000 visitors a day and 1,000 sign up for your mailing list, you have a 10% conversion rate.
Different web hosting companies use different software to track traffic, so find out what your host uses and how to access the information.
2. Returning Visitors
Measure how well your website encourages people to return.
Many consumers must see your product and brand name several times before they decide to buy. How are you interacting with those who come to your site just to gather information? Are you collecting data and reaching out to them via email with offers and news?
Knowing how many of your visitors come to your site again is a key performance indicator of how well you’ve targeted an audience that’s interested in what you have to offer.
It also tells you if you’re engaging people when they arrive on your page and how well your follow-up efforts work.
You’ll need to install cookies and also pay attention to Google Analytics and similar tools to find out how many visitors are first-time ones.
3. Revenue Per Visitor
Another KPI to study is how much revenue per visitor (RPV) you secure.
First-time buyers are sometimes reluctant to spend much until they see how your customer service stacks up and until they know your product is high-quality.
A flood of internet companies with cheap products and lousy customer service makes people leery of buying from someone new.
How much is your revenue per visitor compared to sales to existing clients? What can you do to improve your numbers?
Perhaps a special offer for 30% off the second item would encourage bigger purchases. Maybe you need to remind new customers when you think they are ready to reorder. Look for creative ways to increase income from each buyer.
To calculate this, take sales revenue and divide it by the number of visitors to your site.
Alternately, you can segment the audience into first-time customers versus repeat buyers to get a better feel for how much first-time buyers spend.
4. Lead-to-Customer Conversion Ratio
How many of your leads turn into customers? If your numbers are low, you may want to look at your conversion funnel to find the point at which you’re losing those leads.
Tweak your sales process and the buyer journey until the numbers improve. You may need to try many variations and tactics to gain in this area.
Keep in mind that a lead is someone who’s highly qualified and interested in what you have to offer. It’s worth the time and effort to give this audience special attention and improve their conversion rates.
To figure out your lead-to-customer conversion rate, you’ll need to cross-check your contact list and see how many of those people appear in your ordering records.
Fortunately, this is all internal information you have at your fingertips to see how well you’re doing in this area.
Invest in customer relationship management (CRM) software for more detailed reports and to automate some processes.
CRM solutions even allow you to send an automated email to your leads in order to follow-up with them.
5. Social Media Engagement
How are people engaging with you on social media? Putting an ad on Facebook or Twitter is inexpensive. Unfortunately, you can also spend a lot and not see any real results from your efforts.
For instance, impressions tell you almost nothing. It just means someone saw your ad. Instead, look at how many people shared a post, how many commented and how many clicked on a link with the intent of visiting your website or buying something.
The most engaging posts evoke emotion in the viewer. Think about the pain points of your typical customer:
What is the problem they’re facing that you can solve? How do you present the resolution in an entertaining way that draws your audience and gets them interacting with your brand?
Most social media platforms offer you a backend analysis showing how people engage with your posts. You’ll be able to see how many people are clicking, sharing and visiting your site.
Also, look at your website visitors and where they come from to verify the number of clickthroughs.
6. Traffic Sources
Where is most of your traffic coming from? The strategies drawing visitors need repeating and the ones that aren’t working need to go away.
Focus your effort on what’s successful.
For example, if you add a video on social media and get 1,000 clicks and new visitors, post more videos of the same nature on there and other platforms.
Look at all your traffic sources, from organic to paid, and see not only where your traffic comes from but also what they do once they arrive.
Do they subscribe to a mailing list? Perhaps they linger and look at multiple pages. Do they simply bounce away?
All of this information should prove revealing when it comes to where you should spend your marketing efforts.
Pay Attention to the Details
There are dozens of metrics you can study. Think about the ones that have the greatest impact on your business.
If you have goals for improvement in particular areas, some KPIs are more important than others, although all of them have potential value if you know how to read them.
Pay attention to the finer details of site visitors, conversions and sales numbers.
With some minor tweaks, you’ll see improvements in each of these areas and more.
Want more markeitng advice and guidance? Check out one of our most popular ever digital marketing guides:
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