I thought today I would talk a bit about Metrics and which ones you should consider. No, not the Matrix, although that was a good movie, I’m talking about all the different measurable actions a customer can have with an ad or web site.
Unlike Neo who only had two choices, the red or blue pill, you have a lot more options to choose from. In my blog today, I’m going to explain what Metrics really are and which ones are a right fit for you.
Analytics and Metrics are the same right?
Some people mistake metrics and Analytics for the same thing. It’s easy to see why because one is composed of the other. A metric is a particular standard of measurement. Like time on site, pages per session, number of new sessions, or click-thru-rate (CTR).
Metrics also include data like cost per click, cost per thousand, and cost per acquisition. These are all pieces of information that can be used to determine the return on your investment (ROI). We’ll get into how you can figure out which metrics give you best ROI in just a little bit.
The main point is that metrics are the measurable elements connected to your ads and website. Analytics on the other hand is the analysis of all those measurable pieces to look at historical trends and forecast future trends or activity. With out the individual metrics you wouldn’t have anything to analyze.
What metric is right for me?
That’s the million-dollar question. While each metric gives insight into your customer’s behavior and activity, some information is going to be more relevant than others. Because of this, understanding the goal of your campaign will tell you which metric to look at. For instance, if your goal is to drive traffic to your site, then the metric “click to site” would tell you how many people are clicking on your ad to go to your site.
Here’s another example. Click-to-call is a feature that you can include on your ads that give people the option to contact you with only one click. Now if you have call tracking setup, you can start collecting data like the person’s geographic location, how much time they spent on the call, and the time of day the call was made. All of this data can be then used to optimize the performance of your ads.
Looking at how people use the information on your site can help you evaluate what they’re looking for and help you fine-tune the content on your site. You can work on keeping them engaged longer or look at whether you are sending them to the right information on your site based on their engagement.
Other things to think about
As technology continues to improve, different metrics are being developed to track off-line activity. Tracking like this lets us as marketers create a detailed purchase journey for individual customers. You’ll be able to build a road map that your customers follow while they engage with your advertising material.
How do people find out about your business? What do they do before making a purchase? Where do they veer off the road map and how can you get them back on track? These are all questions that can be answered by analyzing the right metrics.
This sort of data is invaluable to marketers, because it lets us optimize your campaign to meet your goals. We can then make sure that your ads are reaching the right people. Once those people engage with your ads, we can then take them on a customized purchase journey that will lead them to make a purchase. All of this can be achieved just by analyzing the right metric.
How do I decide?
Before deciding which metric you want to start using, I’d advise you to take a step back and try to define your goal. What is the best thing a person can do for your business? Maybe the answer to this is that they could make an online purchase, or maybe you need them to call you.
Understanding what you want your potential customers to do will tell us which information is vital for making that happen.
I hope this at least got you thinking about your options and may even lead you to look at your analytics, and the metrics that compose it, a little differently. It’s never to late to review, which metrics you’re currently using to gauge success or even evaluate your goals compared to those metrics.
If you’re interested in learning more or taking a deeper look into the rabbit hole, send us a message and we would be happy to help. You can also check out our ad ops team on Fridays with our KMS10at10 Facebook live video where our team discusses new trends in digital marketing and will answer your questions when you comment.