6 metrics to measure digital marketing ROI

Data - it's all the rage in every walk of business today and it's at the core of successful digital marketing.

That said, data alone is just a collection of independent numbers and information lacking context. To get the most out of your data, you need to be asking the right questions and looking in the right place for your answers.

If you’re looking to answer the question, "Am I seeing a return on investment (ROI) for my digital marketing?", then you need know which key metrics will show you genuine success.

1. Unique monthly visitors

Just like skipping the opening scene of a movie, glossing over the success of top-level marketing efforts when analysing your metrics means you won't have a proper understanding of the whole story.

The first stage of any customer's journey is brand awareness - knowledge that your website, product or service exists. By looking at unique monthly visitors, you can learn just how many new customers are learning about your brand and arriving on your website.

Google Analytics allows you to segment new traffic by source - giving you further insight into which campaigns are actually bringing in new customers and which are falling flat.

Engagement metrics help us track performance - but ROI lies a little deeper.

2. Cost per conversion

At the other end of the narrative, the cost per conversion (CPC) metric helps you learn how much your investments into paid campaigns like Google Ads are actually earning your business. This requires Google Analytics to be set up accurately according to what your company considers to be a valuable conversion.

It's vital to track this metric when running paid campaigns. A high cost per conversion can turn a positive conversion rate into a negative return on investment.

3. Cost per acquisition

Further to conversions, acquisitions kick in once a lead becomes a bona fide paying customer. Your cost per acquisition metric demonstrates how many marketing dollars you've spent divided by the number of customers you've successfully acquired.

With this information, you know how much it costs you to make a sale. By applying the value of a sale, you can better determine ROI.

4. Goal value

While the above are particularly useful in establishing the ROI of paid campaigns, your lead generation likely also involves content marketing or SEO strategies. In these cases, it's important to apply more lead-based metrics, such as goal value.

This is particularly useful when tracking sales which might close offline - such as in the case of ‘Request a Demo’ style conversion goals. By assigning a value to your goals, you can measure value against other metrics and dimensions to track ROI.

When you successfully track and maximise ROI, you get to celebrate digital marketing nirvana.

5. Page value

Once you have established goal values, you can also track the page value metric. This helps you see which pages are most valuable to your customers journeys, as well as identify what role key landing pages have played in nurturing leads.

If you're investing in content marketing, the value of blog posts and landing pages can help you more easily see the ROI.

6. Goal abandonment rate

Bounce rates are commonly tracked to identify when customers are leaving a page - but they generally lack context. Goal abandonment rate places "bounces" somewhere along the customers journey on your website.

Goal abandonment rate lets you see the success of your lead generation and nurturing efforts by comparing the number of funnels started against the number of funnels abandoned. A high abandonment rate may suggest you need to be taking a closer look at your funnel and identifying which stages require more attention or aren't seeing a return on investment.

Accurate engagement metrics, smart goal creation and - most of all - creative insights are key to developing a successful, high-return digital marketing strategy. For a better way to connect, advertise with realestate.co.nz today.