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Want to Improve Your Advertising? Align Your Measurement Strategy With the Right KPIs

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The ability to measure nearly every facet of marketing campaigns and websites is nothing new. Solutions have existed for several years now and are continuously receiving updates, improvements, and new features that allow for even more in-depth analysis of customer and visitor trends. Tools like Google Analytics even allow for tracking of everything from your business’s website, to social media interactions, to your television ads (just to scratch the surface). With such a powerful (and free) tool available, there is really no excuse NOT to have insight into your initiatives!

With such a robust arsenal available to today’s marketers, however, it can become quite tempting to report on every available piece of data. While much of this data is indeed important, only a small selection of them does a good job of gauging the impact of marketing and advertising effectiveness.

So your organization chose an analytical tool to measure its campaigns and website: What should your measurement be focused on? Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)!

KPIs and You

KPIs are metrics and insights that are used to measure the success of a website or campaign. These KPIs typically demonstrate the success of your website at accomplishing the tasks it was designed for.
In order to identify KPIs for measurement, you must first determine the purpose of your organization’s website or campaign. In the case of the above visual, the website exists to generate brand awareness, increase leads, and increase sales. Once you’ve identified these high-level goals, you must then look at what your analytical tool can measure and align the right metrics to the appropriate goals. For example, the amount of new visitors and direct traffic to the website are great indicators into its ability to generate brand awareness. Keep in mind that these KPIs shouldn’t always be limited to a single tool! In some cases, they may even require insights into foot traffic (i.e. increases in foot traffic to a branch or ATM).

Want to impress the decision-makers even more? Use those KPIs to demonstrate Return on Investment! The people with the power to allocate budgets and make decisions often glaze over when presented with standard metrics. While they will definitely be impressed with the KPIs you’ve come up with, showing them ROI on the marketing budget will knock the ball out of the park. This requires that you have visibility into profit margins for a given initiative. If that isn’t readily available to you, you might want to find out how to get it!

Conclusion

It is imperative that KPIs are identified with any measurement strategy, as they greatly benefit all facets of your business. They can help individuals in your team identify opportunities for increased efficiencies. Campaign performance can be easily determined by the marketing department, which would then allow for improvements. Your entire business benefits from a solidified base in measurement and improvements, and KPIs can be great building blocks for that foundation.

Looking For Better Insights On Members? Get The Big Picture!

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In past blogs, I have discussed how web analytics can help gain the support of the decision makers and even laid out some great ways to measure traditional marketing with Google Analytics. But how do you get to the point of being able to show the decision makers the right insights in the first place? Today’s blog is focused on some of the most common problems we’ve come across with banks and credit unions that stand between them and gaining greater insights into member behaviors and trends. More importantly, it sets out to show how you can get the most out of your marketing campaigns via analytics and open minds.

The Problem

Institutions often seem to lack visibility into the “big picture”. When I say “big picture”, I am referring to the complete analytical scene: The website, your institution’s social media assets, marketing campaigns (both online AND offline), affiliate sites, and of course conversions (leads & sales) and Return on Investment. There is little-to-no connection between their assets. Why is this?

This fragmented view seems to be caused by several things from internal politics to fears on data collection and security. What banks and credit unions often fail to realize is that tools like Google Analytics do not collect personally identifiable information! Monitoring beyond the main credit union/bank website is often viewed as a risk, when in reality the real risk is in the lack of visibility into the performance of marketing initiatives.

Are you from a bank or credit union that isn’t afraid to get the tools in place to uncover some insightful gems? Want to see how to tie everything together? Read on!

Getting the Pieces in Place

The key to putting this analytical puzzle together is to first establish links between the data points. This means that policies and procedures need to be created for every “fragment” of your institution’s initiatives:

  1. Cross-Domain Tracking – It’s imperative to remove any gaps in the clickstream of your website. Credit Unions and banks often use 3rd party loan application platforms. Luckily, web analytics solutions like Google Analytics feature advanced Cross-Domain tracking functionality to ensure the data is preserved all the way from the time the consumer lands on the site to the point that they submit an application.
  2. URL Tagging – URLs being used for Pay Per Click & banner ads or being posted to your social media assets should be tagged for easier identification within web analytics tools.
  3. Vanity Numbers & URLs – Vanity URLs and phone numbers set up for call tracking can help bridge the gap between web analytics and traditional marketing.
  4. Event Tracking – Event Tracking can be used to identify when visitors to your website complete a desired action (like downloading an informational PDF or paper application).

Conclusion

A seamless view of marketing initiatives not obstructed by the glaring gaps and disconnects in data is every financial marketer’s dream. Luckily a holistic view can be achieved through a combination of tagging, scripting, and good ol’ ingenuity. Connecting the dots using analytical tools can yield opportunities to optimize both traditional and digital campaigns and ultimately increase new memberships and loan & credit applications.

3 Tips to Track Conversions More Effectively

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As analysts, we are taught and bred to have an insatiable desire to track as many aspects of our websites and marketing strategies as possible. We often go out of our way to tag everything with codes and scripts so we can sniff out trends and insights. This hard work usually pays off in the form of content performance and traffic source reports.

More often than not, we like to pay close attention to the conversion report. How many newsletter subscribers did we get last quarter? Did online sales increase or decrease from last year? How many visitors from my target market downloaded an application? Conversion tracking is clearly an important element of marketing as a whole, but how do you do it effectively? Here are 3 tips to help you get the most out of your Google Analytics conversion reports:

  • Assign a Conversion Value: Conversions are usually actions visitors can take that result in some sort of revenue, be it directly or indirectly. Whether the conversion is for a completed transaction or for downloading more information, an average value should be assigned. This is paramount to demonstrating ROI for any digital marketing initiative.
  • Identify & Use Funnels: It’s great to know how many online sales transactions there were or how many new member registrations took place over the past month, but there is a great deal more that can be studied about these conversions. Conversions like these often feature several steps (a checkout process for instance: Add to Cart, Checkout, Billing Information, etc.). Specifying a conversion funnel within Google Analytics for these processes can shine a great deal of light on problem areas where visitors and leads are dropping off and leaving the conversion process.
  • Pay Attention to 2nd and 3rd Degree Touch Points: The conversion process can often pan out beyond just the first visit. In the case of an online purchase, the sales process usually spans across several sessions, as the modern consumer researches your product or service, looks for reviews, and reassurance that this will be a wise purchase. With that being said, do not ignore the first touch point that the converting visitor made with the website! If they initially discovered your site via your company’s Facebook page but completed the sale after returning to the site directly three sessions later, your social media efforts might be paying off more than you think. In the case of paid campaigns on Google AdWords or Bing Ads, the destination URLs can be tagged with “utm_nooverride=1” to ensure the first touch point gets credit for the conversion. The latest version of Google Analytics also makes analysis of multiple conversion touch points easier with its new Multi-Channel Funnel reports.

Knowing how many conversions were triggered on your website is one thing. Having a deep understanding of how much revenue was generated from those conversions, where improvements can be made in the conversion process, and which of your marketing campaigns helped drive them can save your company time and money. Most of all, however, it can help you market more effectively and efficiently to ultimately increase conversions and ROI.

Gain the Support of Your Superiors: Show Them the Right Metrics

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There are countless analytical platforms and tools out there for measuring just about every facet of your website and marketing efforts. From web analytics platforms like Google Analytics, to social media tools like Facebook Insights, the number of metrics and insights that can be gathered may be downright overwhelming to the less-experienced. Even worse: The higher-ups you are pulling these metrics and writing 20 to 30 page reports on visits, Likes, and pageviews for simply don’t understand, and might not even care. This presents a problem, as these are also the people that control your marketing budget.

At this point you are probably scratching your head. Sure, there are plenty of great insights in those 30 page reports on content performance and conversion funnels. You might be able to see which products and services consumers are most interested in this quarter, or that your pay-per-click campaign drove a large amount of targeted traffic to the website. But none of this resonates enough with the decision-makers. They speak one language and one language only: Dollars and cents. So how do you prepare reports that interest them?

  • Show them how time was saved. This could be through how turn-around time for site improvements was reduced or how improved internal policies and procedures led to less problems in the first place.
  • Demonstrate how money was saved. Did a display or banner ad campaign bring in more targeted traffic than a traditional billboard campaign? Show this and the dollar figure associated with the savings.
  • Let them see what efficiencies were created. The whole point of monitoring is to identify problems and determine solutions to create a more effective and efficient web presence. Show these to the decision-makers and you’ll build even more credibility and support.

Getting to the data and insights via your arsenal of analytical tools is only half the battle. Convincing your superiors that what you found is relevant and worthy of their time is the other half. If you can convey the value of your findings via compelling visuals and reports centered on ROI, the time saved, and efficiencies that were created, you will stand to gain the support of the decision-makers and ultimately drive improvements in your marketing efforts.

Enjoy this blog? Be sure to follow DaBrian Marketing Group on Facebook, Google+, and Twitter to stay up-to-date on the latest news and tips for Web Analytics, Search Engine Optimization, PPC, and more. Also stay tuned for details on our webinar on how the latest version of Google Analytics can help drive business success (tentatively scheduled for April 19, 2012)!

SEO Results for Regulated Industries in 2012

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There have been numerous predictions on what changes will be seen in 2012 for SEO. We are predicting that more companies in highly regulated industries such as Credit Unions, Banks, Pharmaceutical Companies, and Independent Insurance providers will start to proactively engage in SEO, Social Media Marketing and measurement of internet marketing tactics. Major factors determining marketers’ budget allocations to these initiatives will be the economic conditions and the marketing managers’ abilities to demonstrate the positive influences on ROI.

SEO & Social Media in 2012

As many have predicted in 2012, the days of implementing SEO campaigns without a thought or allocating resources to Social Media are over. This should be the catalyst needed to encourage Banks & Pharmaceutical companies to consider their presence online. Last year, SEOmoz and other industry internet marketing blogs displayed a correlation between high ranking companies and social media metrics. We assume the launch of Google + as well as the modifications to Facebook and Twitter promotions will be more relevant to the equation in the future. Metrics from these platforms have even been added to SEO software as a result.

Figure 1: SEOmoz Facebook Metrics Report

Internet Marketing Challenges for Regulated Industries

One of the biggest challenges for these industries is the interpretation of the financial services laws or the lack of a specific guide by organizations such as the FDA. There currently is a list a specific list of dos and don’t for online marketing provided by the governing organizations. In addition, privacy of customers’ or prospective customers’ information will continue to be a challenge. It is highly recommended that you have someone with marketing experience within the industry overseeing the marketing efforts who understands internet marketing tactics, and has a history of ethical practices. Otherwise, you will increase the probability of experiencing issues and public scrutiny.

Measurement & Privacy go Hand-in-Hand

The measurement of internet marketing is a cause of concern within these industries as well. All of the backlash from retargeting campaigns, the collection of personal information and the use of 3rd party cookies is understandable. But it is critical that all of the internet marketing tactics be measured and aligned to the organization’s goals and objectives. Otherwise budgets and personnel will be cut, because without measuring the marketing efforts there is no way to show how they impacted ROI.

In the case of Banks and Credit Unions, many of these organizations have websites with two different sections that included a secure domain for applications and an unsecure domain for product/service offerings. Many financial service companies do not track the secure domain due to privacy concerns. Generally speaking, as long as you are not collecting personal information within the analytical solution, you legally can measure if visitors completed a specific task (i.e. loan application submission). Since you can accomplish this, you will be able to measure the impact on ROI and demonstrate to senior leadership the value of your internet marketing tactics.

Figure 2: Even Google Analytics has the able to track secure pages.

Remember that SEO results go beyond keyword ranking. Consider the impact that SEO has on new visitors, on-site metrics, landing pages, and other marketing tactics such as PPC cost. Part of the process of SEO for regulated industries is to educate those that are less informed. As marketers, we do not just deliver reports; we must deliver the message and insights, as well as show ROI in a form that senior management can understand.

Selecting a Sensible Web Analytical Platform For Your Organization

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There’s countless blogs, articles, and studies out there that preach about how web analytics is the greatest thing since sliced bread and how it can tie together virtually any marketing effort for an organization and measure their effectiveness side-by-side and against each other. All the features, reports, visuals, metrics, and alerts are great…but only if your organization can dedicate the time, talent, and funds to properly implement and support the platforms.

There’s been more than one instance where we’ve seen a large organization invest in a big and flashy analytical platform like Omniture and WebTrends, and not dedicate the necessary resources to properly implement, support, maintain, or even use it properly. It almost seems like some organizations view these platforms as set-and-forget endeavors, when in reality they are no different than the machinery that is used to make their products or the buildings in which those products are sold. Just because it isn’t tangible does not mean it won’t need ongoing support.

One of the driving reasons these platforms and strategies are improperly executed is because of a lack of budget. Most of the larger analytical platforms use a pay-per-pageview approach to their billing, which for well-traveled websites can add up quickly. After figuring in servers and databases, the total cost for the year can easily stretch into the tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars a year. This usually swallows up the majority of an analytics budget and doesn’t leave much more room for bringing on talent for proper implementation and usage. So this brings us to the driving point of this blog: Choosing a web analytical platform that your organization can actually afford to support (via either internal talent or external agencies) is a critical step that should not be overlooked.

For some of the aforementioned organizations, selecting a cheaper (or even free) platform like Yahoo! Web Analytics or Google Analytics would have yielded much better insights. We even saw this with one client, as they had both WebTrends and Google Analytics, and the latter platform offered exponentially deeper and more insightful reports.

So whether you are the individual or an agency pitching to the higher-ups of an organization why they should go with analytics, make sure you ask the right questions: What do we really need, and what can we actually afford to support moving forward?

Keep your eye on DaBrian Marketing Group’s website for a more in-depth article on this. Also be sure to follow DaBrian Marketing Group’s new Google+ Page!