Digital Marketing Metrics Every Business Owner Should Know

As any business owner knows, the Digital Marketing world can be complex. Luckily, it is possible to follow a few simple metrics to help determine what is working and what is not, so that you can make informed decisions in the very data-driven world of Digital Marketing. Read on to find out what these metrics are and how you can use them.

What are Marketing Metrics?

Marketing metrics are the numbers which identify how well your marketing efforts are working. Sales are the ultimate metric, but there are various other measures you can use to see whether what you’re doing is working.

Some of these metrics are easy to track, such as the number of visitors to your website. But other metrics require more sophisticated tracking systems, or perhaps a little extra thought on your part. Here are some of the metrics you should be tracking on a daily basis:

Organic Traffic

Organic traffic is the traffic that comes to your website organically — not as a result of advertising, but because people found you through search engines. This is one of the most important metrics because it can tell you more than just how many people are visiting your site — it can tell you how effective your SEO strategy is.

Traffic Sources

You’ve probably heard the term “traffic sources” before, but do you know what it means? Traffic sources refer to the channels from which users come to your website — for example, did they find your site through Google or through social media? It may sound obvious, but understanding where people come from helps you understand where they go once they arrive on your site.

Bounce Rate

A bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who leave after viewing just one page on your website. The lower this number is, the better — after all, you want visitors to stick around and check out more than one page on your site.

Conversion Rate

 A conversion happens when someone completes a desired action on your website, whether that’s signing up for your newsletter, filling out a contact form, or making a purchase. Conversions are important to track because they give you insight into how effective your marketing is at converting new customers. 

The term “conversion rate” refers to the percentage of people who take some desired action. For example, if 1,000 people visit your website and five of them buy something, your conversion rate is 0.5 percent (five divided by 1,000 times 100).

Cost Per Lead (CPL)

This is the average cost of acquiring a lead from your website, social media pages, or other digital marketing activities. If you spend $200 on Facebook ads and generate 10 leads, your CPL is $20.

This metric is important because it helps you determine which online marketing channels give you the most bang for your buck. For instance, if you’re spending $100 on Facebook ads and $100 on Google AdWords per month but only generating one lead from Facebook compared to five leads from AdWords, you know to invest more of your budget in AdWords instead.

Lifetime Consumer Value – LCV 

Churn rate is defined as the percentage of people who leave your service. There are two types of churn:

Voluntary churn – a customer voluntarily leaves your service. This can be due to bad service, a competitor’s offer, or just because that customer was never interested in keeping your service for a long time.

Involuntary churn – the user is removed from your service due to non-payment or some other reason.

The consumer retention rate is so important to know because it helps us calculate our LCV – Lifetime Consumer Value. This is the value of each customer to your business over their lifetime with your company. We can calculate this by multiplying our ARPU (average revenue per user) with our CRR (consumer retention rate).

The higher your CRR, the higher the LCV. This means you’re able to spend more on acquisition and marketing efforts, knowing the return on investment will be positive.

Return on Investment (ROI)

Digital marketing is all about ROI. The better you can measure the return on investment of your website, social media and other digital marketing efforts, the easier it will be to justify future spending.

But if you’re running a small business and don’t have a marketing background, this can be intimidating. Digital marketing is filled with jargon, acronyms and terms that are easy to misunderstand. As an entrepreneur, you might not understand what these terms mean or how to measure them — if you can measure them at all.

Mobile Traffic

Mobile traffic is the percentage of all website traffic that comes from mobile devices. In an increasingly mobile world, it’s critical for businesses to have a website that displays well on smartphones and tablets. If your site looks terrible on a smartphone screen, you’re losing traffic and potential customers.

Mobile is a huge part of today’s internet landscape. You need to know how much of your traffic comes from mobile in order to optimize your marketing and sales efforts. If your website doesn’t have a responsive design, it may not be performing as well as it could be for mobile users. A responsive design automatically adjusts for optimal viewing on any size screen.

Digital Marketing Metrics Are Critical for Business Growth

“Digital marketing metrics are so important because they help you track your progress over time,” said Andrew Schrage, co-owner of Money Crashers Personal Finance. “They also make it possible for you to identify room for improvement, and ultimately make more informed decisions about how you can grow your business.”

Metrics help you determine whether your strategy is working or not. These metrics should be used regularly to evaluate your current strategy, as well as to guide future decisions. “They allow companies to determine which aspects of their marketing strategies are yielding the best results,” said David Worrell, a digital marketing consultant. “This enables them to refine their strategies so that they get the most return on investment (ROI).”

Digital marketing is more competitive than ever, so it’s imperative that you differentiate yourself from the rest of the herd to stand out. Digital marketing metrics can help you do that. These vital statistics and figures can help you understand how you’re doing against competitors and learn where to make improvements. That way, you don’t end up wasting time on digital channels that aren’t producing results.

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