Marketing Analytics for Data-Driven Decision-Making

Analytics are often used in decision-making related to digital marketing, customer acquisition, social media strategy, and customer insight. Are people using this data to make decisions?

In the most recent edition of The CMO Survey, Chief Marketing Officers in the U.S. reported that they utilize marketing analytics to make project decisions nearly half the time (48.9%). This is an all-time high in the survey’s history, up significantly from last year’s 37.7%. Earlier this year, The CMO Survey found that over three-quarters (77.5%) of respondents reported investing in analytics to help boost their digital marketing efforts, up from just over half in last year’s reporting.

How Are Marketing Analytics Used for Decision Making?

Marketing analytics are essential for today’s marketers. The collected and analyzed data allows marketers to make better decisions about how to optimize campaigns, improve customer experience, and ultimately increase the return on investment (ROI) of their marketing spend.

Failing to monitor key marketing analytics means that companies can’t accurately evaluate whether their efforts are performing well, which may mean they fail to produce the desired ROI. Marketing analytics track and analyze key performance indicators so marketers can better understand campaign performance, customer behavior, ROI of marketing content, as well as other insights. Knowing this information allows for better, more informed decision-making, taking the guesswork out of marketing strategy – or at least reducing it.

Which Marketing Analytics Should You Measure?

It’s important to monitor essential metrics to make data-driven marketing decisions. But there are so many different metrics that can be tracked that it’s hard to know where to start. Lead, website, email, and social media/content metrics are good areas to start for digital marketing purposes.

Lead Metrics

Lead metrics are related to lead magnets and content offers. Start with tracking the following:

• Generated Leads to Marketing-Qualified Leads – the ratio of qualified, or a good fit, leads to the total number of generated leads
• CTA Click-Through Rate – the percentage of clicks on a call-to-action compared to the total number of site or page visits
• Form Submissions – the percentage of site visitors who filled out and submitted a web form
• Leads to Close – the percentage of converted leads compared to the total number of leads

Website Metrics

Website metrics are associated with website activity. Many of the following can be viewed on Google Analytics:

• Visitors – the number of people who visit the website
• Session – the sequence of a visitor’s activities on the website (pages viewed, events, CTAs, etc.)
• Page Views – the number of times a web page is loaded on a browser
• Time on Page – the average length of time visitors spends on a page or site
• Traffic – the total number of website or page visits over a specific period of time
• Interactions per Visit – the actions visitors took while on a website
• Bounce Rate – the percentage of people who visited a site but took no action
• Traffic by Channel – the total number of website or page visits by referral channel

Email Metrics

Email metrics relate to email marketing, and they include:

• Open Rate – the percentage of opened emails compared to the total number of sent emails
• Click-Through Rate – the percentage of clicks on an email link compared to the total number of opens
• Unsubscribe Rate – the percentage of people who unsubscribe from the email list over time
• Bounce Rate – the percentage of undeliverable emails out of the total emails sent

Social Media and Content Metrics

Social media and content metrics to watch include:

• Follows and Subscribes – the total number of people who have followed or subscribed to your content
• Engagement Rate – the number of engagements (clicks, likes, comments, etc.) compared to the total number of post/page views
• Shares – the total number of times a page/post has been shared somewhere else

What Are the Benefits of Using Marketing Analytics?

There is no doubt that marketing analytics help you make data-driven marketing decisions, which is an important benefit. Decisions that are backed by data will produce far better results. In the past, a big part of marketing strategy was based on the gut feelings of the marketer. With analytics, decisions to modify a website, execute an SEO campaign, publish a post, or something similar, the options are based on the analyzed information.

Additionally, marketing analytics allows marketers to:

• see how people find their companies
• identify which channels engage their audiences
• tailor marketing initiatives to meet the needs of their audiences
• learn how visitors interact with their websites
• eliminate channels or campaigns that are not producing desired results

Final Thoughts

Marketing professionals are under great pressure to produce significant results and a strong ROI. With analytics, you see the big picture and can make actionable modifications and improvements to marketing activities based on data. You can prove that you are spending your time and marketing dollars on the things that will increase your ROI and the bottom line.