Measurement is at the core of effective digital marketing. With a strategy in place that clearly defines the data you need to measure success, you’ll be able to show how marketing contributes to your organization’s bottom line. When developing a measurement strategy, here are eight must-do steps:
1. Define your business goals
Consider what success means to your business and be sure to collect input from across the organization. Is it to raise brand awareness or increase revenues? Is it to increase customer retention or to acquire net new clients? The critical success factor here is to engage with senior leadership in your company to crystallize the business objectives.
2. Describe your customer segments
Who are your customers and how do you segment them? Clearly document the needs of each segment. It’s critical not to over-complicate. If you are just starting out, begin with a few broader segments and build your measurement strategy around the needs of each one.
3. Understand your multi-channel customer journey
How do your customer segments engage with your business? Do they start on mobile but finish booking on your website? Do they engage with your content on partner sites with the hope of being directed back to your landing pages? What role do social properties play in your online strategy? Be sure you fully understand your customer’s “path to conversion” and how this may differ by segment.
4. Map your business objectives to KPIs based upon your customer segments and their journeys
What are the KPIs needed to measure your customers’ interactions with your brand? Consider engagement versus conversion metrics. Ensure you understand the differences between digital channels and measure the metrics that make sense for each channel. For example, bounce rate is immaterial for mobile applications, but it may be an important measure on your website.
5. Establish the technical infrastructure to collect the necessary metrics
How do you go about collecting the data you need? Investigate and invest in technologies that allow you to measure across different channels. Consider scale, performance and flexibility. It’s also critical to be able to perform collection on any digital device/channel and be able to consolidate all of that collected data into a single unified place – this is necessary to avoid measurement silos and see your business as a whole.
6. Define the reporting needs of the business
Determine the most meaningful and consumable way to report back to the business stakeholders. Ensure that reporting is aligned to the business goals defined in step #1 and that the reports or dashboards are intuitive, accessible and timely.
7. Make it actionable
Incorporate specific recommendations and actions as part of your reports and dashboards. Show how to take action on the insights, rather than just produce another report. This builds credibility with leadership and ensures your measurement strategy is delivering actionable results.
8. Instigate a data governance process
Define a process for evolving and updating your measurement and data collection. Ensure that new measurement requirements are implemented in a coordinated way that does not step on existing processes. Plan for periodic tag audits to ensure data collection mechanisms are working as expected and are up to date. Be sure clear ownership is defined and processes documented.
A measurement strategy is not simply about developing a dashboard or sending out reports every week. Organizations need formal measurement strategies and processes in place that align with overall business objectives. This helps ensure all digital marketing activities contribute to the bottom line.
Whether you take this principles on board solely for your web analytics or incorporate this approach into your testing review we can help you, if you would like to know more please get in touch!
