How To Measure Marketing ROI
One of the longtime benefits of digital marketing is you can measure ROI from almost every angle.
Are you sure your budget is being spent to its fullest? See our checklist to learn how you can make sure your campaigns are measuring up.
Measure marketing ROI checklist
✔ Google analytics
Probably the most basic, but if you have a website you should have Google Analytics. The amount of information you can find out from this free tool is breathtaking. You can go from the basics: how many users are visiting your site, what pages are getting the most traffic, what are the most valuable sources of traffic; to the advanced: at exactly what time interval did someone leave a page or a site, who clicked a key button or link (done with an event goal), or who visited an important page (destination goal). You can even use Analytics to build custom audiences, which you can use to continue to market to your web users across other Google products like Adwords and YouTube.
✔ UTM tags
If your campaign includes a lot of pay per click media, make sure you use UTM Tags in your creative. A UTM tag is a free Google tracking URL allowing you to attribute a user’s post-click activity on your site to your marketing campaigns. Click here to set up your free UTM tag.
✔ AdWords/analytics linking
If you are using Google AdWords chances are you also have Google Analytics code on your website. Through this easy process you can link the two. Then you can see the performance for each of those AdWords clicks you are paying for. It is critical to know what keywords, ads, search queries, etc. are driving engagement and conversion (not just traffic). That’s how you optimize!
✔ Conversion pixels
As Google Analytics is to having a website, conversion pixels are to running an online campaign. A small piece of code that fires after your desired conversion action happens (often through a thank you page), conversion pixels are the best way to track and optimize your return on investment. Different conversion pixels can tell you different things. For instance, one conversion may be for a newsletter sign up or white paper download, while another counts a purchase.
We most often use conversion pixels with our programmatic advertising platform, but the Facebook pixel is also a heavy part of our measurement rotation.
✔ Post-view conversions
Gone are the days when all you needed to measure was a click. Most of the time (especially in Online Display) the click does not matter. A post-view conversion is when someone simply sees your ad (does not click), then takes a conversion action later by visiting or site directly or through an organic search click (often using your brand name). Using post-click conversion tracking only negates the influence your display campaign had in driving the conversion. Check to see if the publisher or agency you are running your Online Display Campaigns with is tracking post-view conversions.
✔ Marketing automation
Google Analytics and traffic statistics are great, but wouldn’t you like to know who exactly is on your site and what they’re interested in? With many marketing automation tools, when a user fills out an inquiry form you can then match their contact information to their browser history on your site (IP Addresses are the best!).
Based on that information, you can set up automated marketing communication to specific prospects through email, social, or even display advertising. For instance, if a user was on a resort’s website viewing a 2-person room and the spa, you could send an automated email with an offer for room and spa together (completely customized to that prospect’s interests).
✔ Dynamic trackable phone numbers
Dynamic trackable phone numbers use a piece of javascript code to identify all of the phone numbers on your site (at least the ones you ID), and replace them automatically with trackable phone numbers when a user enters your site from a specific marketing channel – paid search, organic search, or display. This allows you to monitor phone activity regardless of what page the prospect calls from. You can also record those calls to verify their quality or to use a as a sales training tool for your team.
Next time you start a campaign make sure you have all your boxes checked to measure and optimize your campaigns!