With the amount of data that businesses collect, it can be difficult to know exactly how marketing analytics can translate to ROI. Here are five tips on how you can maximize your ROI.
Plan For ROI
Value comes from quantifying expected outcomes. Knowing what to measure, when to measure, and how to measure can help in the long run, and establishing explicit steps to help achieve your goals can also help.
In order to know what to do, you need to find clarity by making an outline. Historical data can also help track trends and flesh out the outline so it can become a detailed plan. Then, you should figure out how you can add analytics to your current process.
Avoid Vanity Metrics
Vanity metrics, such as followers, views, etc, don’t aid in maximizing ROI, as they don’t correlate to revenue. Turning the focus towards engagement metrics–metrics that help you understand how much impact social media has on your presence as well as how users engage with you– that can equate to ROI is more effective. Collecting the correct data can help you make better predictions. Methods that can help in the process:
Creating customized reports with the necessary data.
Tracking customers’ behavior on a consistent basis.
Analyzing data before, during, and after a marketing initiative.
Sales, Sales & More Sales
Nowadays, consumers like to make purchases based on blogs, reviews, and social networks. Your business has access to the same information as your consumers but often doesn’t understand how to mine the data or translate it into revenue.
Gathering a holistic view of your true ROI when your team focuses on how marketing can impact sales can be helpful.
Knowing what marketing programs are also useful as well, and can be even more useful when:
Basing analytics on strategy, not budget.
Understanding the decision journey to purchase your product or service.
Discussing ROI with the entire organization, not just the marketing and sales teams.
Experiment, Exper Frequently
By experimenting, you gain opportunities for your business to speed up growth, and by testing, you’ll gain both insight and alternatives. An easy way to start experimenting is with the test-and-learn approach, where the process is simple, and the outcomes are obvious without too much hassle.
Test and learn approach:
Take one action with a targeted group.
Then different action (or no action) with a control group.
Compare the results.
Here are also some general tips on how to improve returns for your marketing:
Setting aside a portion of the budget for experimentation.
Picking one focus area.
Quickly moving on from failed experiments.
No Decision Regret
Reporting your marketing analytics is necessary for your business’s success. More importantly, your team should focus on making an informed decision from those reports.
So, what’s stopping management from taking action? They may have a case of analysis paralysis.
Analysis paralysis is common in all types of businesses. ASK: How are you measuring your actions?
Possible ways to measure your analysis:
Boundaries on when data collection should stop.
Having analytics reports include action items.
Creating a subcommittee to follow up on decisions made after analytical reports.