Analytics = Results

In a data-driven world, it is vital for businesses to look at quantitative and qualitative data in order to improve efficiency and generate results. As the world evolves digitally, marketing just isn’t what it used to be anymore. Today, things are highly advanced and targeted hence, the focus has now shifted to being more result-oriented.

Gone were the days where generic approaches in businesses worked. In this digital age, consumers prefer a more personalized experience be it from a small-scale/large-scale business, which is why having access to the right data is exceptionally crucial for marketers today.

A Forbes article by Nicole Martin suggested that “utilizing past data and predictive analytics, businesses can now generate better return on investment (ROI) and provide insights that can lead to effective business strategies and decisions within an organization.”

A good example would be how Starbucks utilizes their data collected from their app to determine the busiest hours, most ordered drinks during certain times of day, seasonal trends, customer habits and preferences and much more. Such information were used to build marketing campaigns and promotions based on their customers’ demographics and locations.

I also recently watched a TEDTalk by Gary Kovacs on how online tracking can be dangerous in today’s context. Although slightly irrelevant, the video mentioned an important point on how within minutes, businesses are already tracking consumers’ online behaviour through the sites they have visited; and over a span of just ONE day, a whopping 150 sites have already been tracking Kovacs’ information. This goes to show how saturated the business of data collection is, in the current digital era.

So now we know how valuable data can be, how can businesses leverage on digital analytics to maximize their returns then?

Here are 3 steps to consider:

#1 KNOWING YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE AND CHANNELS

Having data allows you to know who you are communicating with and who are your potential prospects. Digital analytics allows businesses to track what kinds of people visits their website or social media platforms and what kinds of interaction these users have with them.

Some useful metrics to consider would be:

1. Pages per Visit – number of website pages viewed by an average user before they left
2. Average Visit Duration – average amount of time users spent on the site
3. Bounce Rate – the percentage of users that left your website after visiting only page

As seen from the info-graphic from Hootsuite, device usage differs amongst the adult population in Singapore; different demographics uses different methods of accessing online information. Taking into account the traffic source of users helps in identifying the correct channels to reach your audiences, which can make a huge difference in your digital marketing strategy.

#2 IDENTIFYING AND USING THE RIGHT KEYWORDS

Having data allows businesses to know what are the keywords your audience use to search for your product or service. Thus, enabling targeting and re-targeting of such keywords to drive more traffic to your channels.

Google Adwords is a great platform in determining potential keywords for your business. The software also allows businesses to determine what are their competitors’ keywords and use such data to generate a better strategy to propel their business further.

Most importantly, to consistently track and analyze these data to optimize the the business’ digital marketing strategies. A great tool to use would be Google Analytics. This tool allows businesses to monitor the data collected on many levels which can derive several results based on their needs.

At the end of day, the idea is to collect relevant data for improvement purposes, in order to reel in more traffic to your channels.

#3 SHOWING RETURN ON INVESTMENT

Stakeholders would want to know how the advertising money is being spent and whether the value has brought in profits also known as return on investments.

Some useful metrics to consider would be:

1. Conversion Rate – the percentage of visitors to your website that completed a desired goal out of the total number of visitors
2. Frequency – how frequent visitors come to your website
3. Time Gap of Transaction – time gap between the first time visitors visit your website till the date of transaction

Tracking the conversion rate allows businesses to analyze whether their traffic sources are targeted enough. Conversion rate comes in several forms based on business needs. For instance, it can be users filling up a form or users purchasing a product. The key is simply to attain a higher conversion rate.

Tracking the frequency allows businesses to analyze whether users are constantly coming back to your website be it for information/purchase a product etc. They key here is to attain a high frequency as the opposite would mean something might be wrong, causing users to leave. While analyzing the frequency, it is also crucial to identify the number of loyal users to know what are you doing right, and apply it to your channels as a whole.

Tracking the time gap of transactions allows businesses to analyze user much better. One way would be to segment your main channels. As different users visit your channels for different reasons, the key idea is to identify what are the channels that drives traffic. The higher the traffic, the smaller the time gap of transactions.

With that, digital analytics can be very essential if used correctly and efficiently. While it is a good quantitative indicator of success, utilizing it wrongly could put all your marketing resources to waste.

Now, let me leave you with a food for thought, what are the drawbacks of digital analytics then? Share with me your thoughts below!

Cheers.