It’s easy to become hyper-focused on the numbers. Numbers pay the bills. Numbers keep your doors open. But what numbers really matter when you’re trying to assess the success (or failure) of your marketing efforts?
Here are some things to consider when you’re trying to identify measurable marketing outcomes.
Success is Relative, So Know Your Goals
Before going down the road of measuring performance, you need to know exactly what you’re measuring and why. Define success based on the goals you’re trying to achieve. Are you looking to generate more leads, convert more leads, increase revenue or improve email marketing performance?
You can measure just about anything. The point is that without understanding the goals and strategy behind your efforts, the data you pull will be nothing more than numbers. Make the data meaningful by tying them to strategic benchmarks. Then, once you’ve identified your priorities, you can then begin tracking data.
Marketing KPIs to Track
The key performance indicators (KPIs) you choose to track will be tailored to your goals, but below are several general metrics many marketing pros find helpful.
- Email marketing performance – Email is one of the most effective lead-generation strategies, and it can be even more effective when done well. Tracking things like open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates and unsubscribes can tell you how helpful (or not) your content is.
- Website traffic and performance – Another important place prospects learn about your business is your website. Paying attention to which pages people are landing on and how long they’re staying is insightful in and of itself. Tracking conversation rates is even better.
- Cost per lead (CPL) – Spend enough money and you can have just about any customer in the world, but that’s not a very cost-wise strategy. On the whole, you want to keep your CPL low. That means a lot of leads for not a lot of money.
- Lead-to-customer conversion – How many leads are turning into customers? An understanding of this data point will help your team know if you need additional support, better leads or a larger volume of leads to meet your targets.
- Marketing qualified leads (MQLs) – MQLs are those leads the marketing team hands off to sales. A lead is classified as “marketing qualified” if the person filled out a web form or took some other step toward conversion that was based on the marketing team’s efforts.
- Sales qualified leads (SQLs) – This is the number of customers who become sales opportunities. The data point helps you understand how well your sales team is doing overall, as well as assess the effectiveness of the tools and resources they have at their disposal.
And the list goes on. As you look to measure success in marketing, consider how the data points you’re tracking are meaningful to your overall strategy. If your marketing efforts are not meeting the mark, refine them and remeasure. It may take time to see results, but a consistent, strategic approach will yield the results you’re after. To learn more about building a successful marketing program, give our team at The Found Gen a call today.