How to Develop a Measurement Strategy: Data, Observation, & Insights

Are your digital efforts accomplishing everything you intend for your business and brand? If you are not sure, it is probably time for a measurement strategy. At Americaneagle.com’s 2021 Forum, our Digital Strategist Simon Mandel shared the following introduction to measurement strategy as well as a five-step process to help get it right. 

What is measurement strategy?

A measurement strategy is a thorough plan that establishes the ways business goals will be measured. It begins with a top-line business objective that gets broken down into measurable goals, key performance indicators (KPIs), metrics, and ways to analyze those metrics to inform business strategy.

Why does it matter?

According to an annual survey of chief marketing officers, companies spend around 12% of their overall budget, every year, on marketing. Certainly, almost all of those companies will ask, “were our marketing dollars spent wisely?”

Clarifying website business objectives should run parallel to, and be recognized as critical to the success of, overall business objectives. Lessons learned from website measurement strategy should inform future marketing efforts and priorities, both online and offline.

For the website, excellent data analysis improves search engine optimization (SEO), content, paid traffic, email, conversions, and every other aspect of digital marketing. User and conversion trends should inform content development. Smart, user-centered content development builds SEO success. 

Digging into the data - follow the steps of your important site visitors

Utilize Google Analytics and any other website analytics measurement resources available to help decide what you need to measure. If we want to mine datasets to discover insights that fuel business performance, we need to identify the key data and implement the right tracking to capture it.

Google Data Studio is a free tool that can help uncover specifics about who is doing what on your website and why. You may want to run a leak-finder report within Google Data Studio to show the top pages of your site where users are dropping out.

Digging into the data - personas

Personas are not a marketing fad. Understanding the people with whom business is done has been a fundamental practice of every successful business from the beginning of time. Personas provide businesses an opportunity to sharpen their focus on their audience(s). As personas are considered, identify ways reach, engagement, and conversions occur. For each, what should be measured?

Data examples:

• Website Traffic
• Social Media Likes, Comments, Shares
• Video Views
• Contact Form Completions
• Event Registrations
• Subscriptions (e-newsletter)
• Content Information Submissions for Gated Content
• Transactions
• Revenue

Five Steps of Website Measurement Strategy

1. Why do you have a website?

Unwavering confidence in the answer to that fundamental question is a great place to start. Identify what is important. Once that is clearly determined, you are on your way toward a successful measurement strategy.

Examples of “Why do you have a website?” answers:

• Sell Products Online
• Create a Relationship with Customers
• Provide a platform for software or service
• Sell Placements for Ad Revenue

2. Create goals

Goals are what drive the achievement of established business objectives. Do you want to increase brand awareness within new demographics? Do you want to increase new users to the website by 20% next quarter? Do you want to increase ecommerce revenue by 10% next holiday season? Goals should be all of three things:  1. Actionable 2. Measurable 3. Understandable.

3. Select KPIs

Your KPIs should be digital outcomes that help you gauge the success of your goals. Pick KPIs that matter to your business.

Examples:

• Goal: Increase Lead Volume Via Online Form Completions
  • KPI – Form Abandonment Rate
  • KPI – Cost Per Lead
    
    
• Goal:  Drive Online Revenue Via Paid Subscriptions
  • KPI – % of New Users
  • KPI – Application Starts
    
    

4. Set benchmarks
Benchmarks (or Targets) are a numeric value that enable measurement of goal success. Use historical data to choose benchmarks.

• Goal:  Increase Lead Volume via Online Form Completions
  • KPI – Form Abandonment Rate
    • Benchmark – 10% Form Abandonment
  • KPI – Cost Per Lead
    • Benchmark – 5% Cost Per Lead

       

• Goal:  Drive Online Revenue Via Paid Subscriptions
  • KPI – % of New Users
    • 10% New Subscribers
  • KPI – Application Starts
    • 15% Application Starts

5. Create segments
Define segments that help you uncover additional insights and causation.

• Goal: Increase Lead Volume Via Online Form Completions
  • Segment - Acquisition Channel (Paid, Organic, Direct, Email)
• Goal:  Drive Online Revenue Via Paid Subscriptions
  • Segment - Device Categories (Desktop, Mobile, Tablet)

Finally, make adjustments from analysis!

Now it is time to maximize your measurement strategy to make informed data-driven decisions that will propel your business forward.

Is measurement strategy an area where you and your business could use some help?

• Analytics Technical Audit
• Google Analytics Set Up
• Tag Management Set Up
• Measurement Strategies
• Dashboards
• Third Party Service Tracking and Reporting

Americaneagle.com is here for you. Our team has extensive experience working with clients to set up the right measurement strategies to support business success. Contact us today to get started.