Measuring your digital marketing efforts will help you to determine which strategies – including SEO, PPC and ad campaigns, for example – are producing results, and which are in need of improvement. In order to measure this, data analysts turn to key performance indicators (KPIs). These are the metrics which result from your digital marketing strategy.
KPIs vary from business to business because each one has varying goals and objectives for their company and campaigns. Before you determine which KPIs you should measure, you’ll need to identify your goals. These might include revenue growth, ROI, customer retention and so on. So, for example, if you’re looking to increase your revenue, your KPIs might include conversion rate, search engine rankings, and leads.
To help you get a head start on tracking your KPIs, below are some of the most common that are sure to help you improve your digital marketing strategy:
Engagement
Increased engagement on your website might point to a positive user experience and potential for increased brand awareness. You can measure engagement easily by monitoring the following KPIs:
- Unique site visitors: These are first time users on your site. Digital tracking and reporting can help you determine strategies to increase your brand visibility and boost your number of unique site visitors.
- Time spent on site: The amount of time a user spends on your site would indicate if your content is engaging.
- Return visitors: Returning visitors would indicate that your site provided a positive user experience. Tracking return visitors will help you to see which areas need improvement in your digital marketing efforts.
If you’re looking to measure engagement on your social channels, you would measure interactions such as “likes” on Facebook, mentions or retweets on Twitter, and so on.
Traffic
Understanding how users come to your site can help you to determine which digital marketing strategies are most effective. If your marketing objective is to increase sales or acquire new customers, these KPIs are valuable:
- Direct traffic: Users who come to your site directly by entering the URL.
- Referral traffic: Users who come to your site through another source.
- Organic traffic: Users who come to your site by entering a term in a search engine.
- Bounce rate: The percentage of users who visit your site and leave before exploring further. A high bounce rate might indicate a poor user experience.
Tracking these KPIs will help you to determine how users are coming to your site so you can work to improve areas that are lacking. For example, if all your traffic is direct, consider adjusting your SEO strategy to boost organic traffic.
Conversion rates
Conversion rates provide an overview of the ROI on your marketing efforts. You can use data tracking and analysis to track this KPI and determine which areas of your strategy are causing a drop in your conversion rates, such as landing pages and website design.
Even if you’re meeting a few of your company goals, monitoring your KPIs will ensure you’re getting a ROI from your digital marketing strategy. KPIs, as well as tracking and analytics, can help you to pinpoint issues in your marketing efforts, and help you to resolve them quickly.
