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How to Use Web Analytics to Make the Right Decisions

Posted by Carole Mahoney on 1/24/11 10:32 AM

Step 3 of 3 for Inbound Internet Marketing

One of the greatest things about inbound internet marketing is the ability to measure just about everything that happens with your marketing.

The bad thing is that you can become easily overwhelmed in data.

Is Your Internet Marketing Strategy Working?

To make your data manageable, actionable and relevant, it is important to lay out in Step 1 what you will measure, who needs the information, and how it will be used.

Here are some examples of the types of things you want to measure and learn in Step 3.

From the marketing perspective:

  • Cost per lead or CPL. Which channels deliver the lowest CPL as compared to other channels?
  • Social media reach. Where does your brand have the most influence and how does that contribute to leads?
  • Campaign ROI. Which campaigns delivered the most traffic, leads and customers?
  • Blog Analytics. Which articles get the most attention and contribute to leads and customers?
  • Competitor Analysis. How does your site compare to your closest competitors?
  • Traffic Sources. How do different sources drive traffic, leads and customers?
  • Visits by Page. Which pages on your site get the most views?

How to Use Your Web Analytics

"The goal of education is not just knowledge, but action."

The goal of measurement is not just to know what happened. Understanding who did what and where is just the first step to learning why it may have happened and what can be done through testing to improve on results.

  • Increase conversion rates on marketing campaigns with A/B and multivariate testing. (Ex: Does a blue button get a higher click rate than the green one? Will switching out images effect the conversion rate on your landing page?)
  • How can you move traffic deeper into your website from the most popular pages? Is the next step unclear? Does there need to be a bolder call-to-action?

Don't stop with just measuring your marketing. Review with your sales department and use your combined metrics to:

  • Maximize the quality (and quantity) of leads delivered to sales with lead scoring.
  • Measure online and offline campaign results based on sales metrics beyond the lead.
  • Which campaigns and channels are delivering the highest average order amount (AOV), or the best customer lifetime value (CLV)?

Ultimately what you want to accomplish is an alignment of sales and marketing so that the message not only matches the customer experience, it becomes a part of it. Working together with your sales department will help you to know what leads are the easiest to close and are the most valuable. 

Join me for my first live webinar where we will talk about each of the 3 Steps for Inbound Internet Marketing. Bring your questions, invite your sales people!

And share with us, how do you use web analytics to review the results of your sales and marketing efforts?

Topics: internet marketing strategy, web analytics