How B2B Marketing Leaders Can Transform Click Data into ROI Insights

How B2B Marketing Leaders Can Transform Click Data into ROI Insights:from Sales Force Effectiveness Blog by John Koehle
Most companies are only getting a fraction of the value that is possible from Web Analytics.  It’s likely that your team is snow-blinded by click metrics. Activity means nothing without understanding how the clicks translate to acquiring new customers. In fact, sales leaders are tired of hearing about traffic stats when all they care about is if any of it is generating leads for the sales force.  Refocusing your Web Analytics effort will enable you to drive results while setting the foundation to improve results.

Your company has likely implemented some level of web analytics through Google Analytics, Web Trends or Adobe Omniture. In addition, you are probably using a marketing automation system that tracks leads and viewing history. These foundations provide rich data input. Guide your team to build reports to measure the effectiveness of your Content Marketing and Demand Generation campaigns at driving leads.
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Executive’s Guide to Web Analytics – Everything you need to guide your team to success.
Below you will find an executive definition as well as a ‘Why do you care?’ description for the top 9 Web Analytics insights to capture:
Internal Search Tracking

• Definition: Tracking the particular words most commonly used by visitors on your website’s own search box.
• Why do you care? Reveals your prospects' interests. Enables you to develop the content they are searching for and title navigation to map to a prospects view. This drives increased conversion. 

Visitor Source Tracking

• Definition: Tracking the source (ie. name of search engine, social network, referral site) of how a visitor found your website.
• Why do you care? This is a measurement to understand what’s working, and tracking that source all the way through to the end sale.  This visibility is a cornerstone of proving a return on investment.

Campaign Tracking

• Definition: A more granular approach to source tracking by identifying visitors driven from specific Demand Gen campaigns such as Pay-Per-Click campaigns.
• Why do you care? This segments your traffic to measure campaign effectiveness against your campaign goals.

Multi-Channel Tracking:

• Definition: The ability to track multiple sources and campaigns attributed to converting a lead.
• Why do you care? Typically general analytics reports only credit the first or last sources the visitor clicked prior to converting.  The ability to see how every marketing ‘touch’ attributed to help convert a lead helps prove the effectiveness of channel mix.  This capability provides tangible metrics on the combined impact of multiple touches attributed to pushing a visitor through to a conversion.

Bounce rate:

• Definition: Measures the quantity of potential customers entering your website to view only one page before leaving your website.  This is calculated by dividing single page view visits by the number of entry pages.
• Why do you care? This is an indicator of quality. Is your content marketing strategy working? Are you paying media partners to drive activity, or are they driving results?

Average Page Depth

• Definition: Captures the depth of page views an average person navigates into the site. Calculation of page views divided by visits.
• Why do you care?  This is a barometer of how relevant your content is to the visitor.  Adding user-centered content at key points on the website will drive deeper engagement.

Page Visit Flow:

• Definition: Provides a graphical representation of the top paths through your site that visitors commonly follow.
• Why do you care? Understand the top paths that result in successful conversions.   Diagnose issues to optimize a quicker path to the end goal.

Technology Type

• Definition: By what means are visitors accessing your site? Access through laptop, desktop, mobile, tablet, and the corresponding browser types.
• Why do you care? You need to know how customers are viewing your website to optimize content for their viewing device.  A great piece of content has zero value if it looks awful on a mobile device. 

A/B testing

• Definition: Compares a control sample to other samples in order to discover how to optimize response and conversion rates within a website.
• Why do you care? A/B Demand Generation testing is used to fine-tune and optimize click-through rates, conversion rates, and cost-per-leads.

Sign up here for SBI's Make The Number research review to get an expanded guide to web analytics.  In addition to the executive summary above, the expanded guide includes guidance for your team to turn the corner on a measurement & implementation plan.
In addition, receive an executive Q&A with John Koehler, Director of Demand Generation.  I’m offering 3 free assessments of your current Demand Generation web analytics tracking program.  You can reach me here to discuss how you can improve it heading into 2013. Who should take me up on this offer?

• Marketing leaders who want a personalized executive briefing on transforming click metrics to ROI insights through web analytics
• VP of Marketing who needs to generate leads for the sales field
• Head of Marketing who needs to establish a strong foundation to prove a return on marketing

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