Defining metrics that actually matter to your digital activity can, at the start, be a tad confusing. No matter what digital activity you are running, you will have a smorgasbord of metrics to analyse. But which metrics actually matter and how do you decide which to measure.
What does success look like?
Firstly, think about what you are trying to achieve with your chosen digital activity. It can be hard to focus on one objective, but this is important to all parts of your strategy and importantly the metrics you measure.
Even though it would be amazing to gain awareness, drive traffic, acquire leads, increase engagement, nurture conversions and retarget warm buyers in one campaign, it just isn’t going to happen… but hey it’s 2020 and you may just prove me wrong. In the meantime, let’s get a clear focus on the objective of your activity.
Hot tip: Make your objective SMART, Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic & Timely
Lock in your Primary Metrics
Now you are clear on what you are trying to achieve, you can decide on your primary metrics. These are your goal posts of success and we want to make sure we are kicking those goals!
This will help guide you on your decisions to which triggers to pull when you need to move the needle. Start with your first goal, as an example if you are trying to increase traffic to your website, Sessions or Landing Page Views is ultimately your goal.
Your second goal post may likely include a cost. For a traffic campaign you might look at your CPC (cost per click) how much is it costing you for each click, or cost per landing page, how much is it costing you to capture that audience and get them onto your website.
Decide on some Secondary Metrics
Secondary metrics are a great way to further validate your data and you can pick as many as you like but to limit digital overwhelm try keep it to no more than 3.
For our traffic campaign, your CTR (click-through rate) is a great metric choice. When looking at your clicks or landing page views at first glance you may think ‘hot damn I’m amazing! I have 100 landing page views and my campaign has only been up a few days. Validate your performance by checking the CTR. If you have 100 landing page views, but your ads have had 100,000 impressions your CTR will be very low at 0.10%. That means for the amount of times your ad has been seen not even 1% have clicked through.
Even though this isn’t great, it is actually great to know this insight so now you can find ways to improve your campaign and increase your CTR! That way you can show your ads less but have a higher result and likely reduce costs!
Hands up if you are not a mathematician – click here for a free CTR calculator
Make your measurement plan with your campaign metrics
There are lots of shiny metrics to choose from and it can be hard to train yourself to make sure you are only looking at the metrics that actually matter to your activity, but it’s really important!
A few tips to help you
- Customise your metrics in the platform you are using and save it. So when you open it you can quickly apply your saved metrics and get a snapshot of how your campaigns are performing.
- Set your metrics at the very start of your activity… right at the start. So that means when you decide your objective. Not when you are writing copy, designing ads or building the campaign.
- Remember to align your metrics back to your objective, if you are ever feeling lost go back to your objective and remember what you are trying to achieve.
- Finally, report on these metrics and these metrics only and then start to look at your data for opportunities for improvement
All metrics matter of course, but defining the ones that actually matter to your business will help keep you focused on the end success!
Get going! Get those insights and when you need a little freshen up of your audience pop on over here to get some powerful tips on targeting from Bobby!