5 Digital Marketing Metrics You Should Be Watching

If you're working on marketing a brand, you probably have a number of balls in the air at any given time. Any solid marketing strategy will include a variety of different channels, but this can make it difficult to know which metrics are important—and which are simply white noise. Which analytics should you use to determine which actions will move the needle? There are more data analytics tools available than ever before, but if you and your team don't know which metrics are relevant, it's impossible to find actual insights within this data. Related: Why brand equity is important & how to measure it A report by CMO Council found that just 7% of marketers surveyed agreed that they could deliver "data-driven, real-time experiences across both physical and digital engagements and across all customer touchpoints." For many, it's easy to assume that digital analytics & metrics are found solely in their Google Analytics dashboards. While this can give you plenty of insight, you still need a comprehensive view of how well your efforts are working in each marketing channel. If you want to start building that bird's-eye view, here are five digital marketing metrics you should keep an eye on. 1. Conversion rates When you create a digital marketing strategy, it's easy to become a little too obsessed with traffic and page views. Of course, you want to know that your website's audience is growing and that your social media and emails are encouraging visitors to click through. The problem? You could have thousands of page views—but if those visitors aren't converting into leads and customers, those views are irrelevant. Instead, you should take a look at your conversion rates. Spend some time narrowing down exactly what you want your site visitors to do once they land on your website. Then, track what these visitors are doing and how many are converting once they reach your site. Do some A/B testing to see which tweaks increase your conversion rate and, ultimately, your bottom line. 2. Social media shares Not only can social media be hugely time-consuming, it can also be tempting to focus on the wrong metrics. When you post on social media, only a small portion of your followers will ever see that post. Facebook is a good example of this—the more your followers engage with your posts, the greater the reach those posts will have. It's easy to feel like social media is a popularity contest; the more likes your business has, the better. But, social media is really all about engagement. If you have thousands of followers who won't ever be interested in your services, it will be more difficult for you to get your posts in front of potential customers. Instead of diluting your message and trying to appeal to anyone and everyone, focus on counting your social media shares. This increases your reach and makes it easy to see how appealing your content actually is. When your followers are sharing your posts, it's a good sign that they find them funny, relevant or interesting—which is why this metric matters. 3. Click-through rate Email marketing continues to be an excellent way to reach your target audience. It might seem like your open rate is the most important metric. After all, who doesn't want their target audience to open their emails? Unfortunately, your email's open rate is simply an indication that you used a compelling or interesting subject line. That's great, but you should also pay attention to your click-through rate. Consider how many of your readers are actually clicking the links in your emails and heading to your blog posts or landing pages. Which types of content resonate with them the most? What about subject matter? What else can you experiment with to increase this rate? Thinking about your click-through rate leads to thinking about other areas you can change to improve the efficacy of your email strategy. 4. Page bounce rate "But I'm already paying attention to my bounce rate," I can hear you saying. Sure, you may be focusing on your overall bounce rate, what does this metric actually tell you? A bounce is considered to be someone who's landed on your website and left after they've only viewed one page. But, it's important to consider exactly which page they landed on, so you can understand why they might have left. For example, if you have a high bounce rate on your "Contact us" page, this could mean visitors are simply getting the information they need and leaving. If you have a high bounce rate on your landing page, however, you probably need to tighten up your copy or improve your design. Focus on providing your website visitors with an immersive experience, so they'll want to stay on your website. For example, you can use digital marketing templates by Lucidpress to create branded visuals that engage your audience. Then, you can track key metrics and tweak your content accordingly. 5. Return on investment (ROI) Ideally, every marketing action you take should have a direct link to ROI. It's foolish to throw a bunch of money at your digital marketing efforts without being able to see where that money is going. When your ROI is positive, you know you've created an effective marketing strategy. If you're losing money, you need to make adjustments sooner rather than later. To calculate ROI, you need to see how much it costs to attract each new customer. Then, calculate how much your average customer spends with your business. Here's an example. If it costs you $40 to convert someone into a lead and finally into a customer, and they spend $60 with your business, you've generated a profit of $20—and you have a successful marketing strategy. Key takeaway With more business data at your fingertips than ever before, it's common to feel overwhelmed. Before you know it, you and your team have no idea how to measure a successful campaign or know whether your digital marketing efforts are actually working. Don't get discouraged and give up on digital marketing too early. By pinpointing the metrics that actually matter, you can effectively nurture your leads through the buyer's journey. You'll cut out the distractions and make your marketing budget go much further. Digital marketers: See how Lucidpress can streamline your creative process & keep your brand visuals consistent across all channels.