The importance of metrics in a good marketing strategy cannot be denied. Having a good analysis of the results is undoubtedly one of the most important factors when you want to take your business to the next level and always continue to grow. And if your business is digital, there are plenty of possibilities for results-oriented testing, analysis and action, because online business is an endless source of good metrics.
And contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be a math or statistics teacher to understand the results achieved. Numbers are easy to understand, as long as you have a good analytical frame of reference.
Knowing this, the question that is in the air is: Have you already designed your metrics plan?
Nope? So how about learning how to set up a metric plan that will help you grow your company?
Step 1: Basic Knowledge Required to Perform Any Result Analysis
Before starting to delve into the subject, it is vital to understand that metrics can be divided into layers, indicators and different formats. A good way to categorize and divide metric levels is to think of three basic layers:
Let’s start with the metric, which is the simplest. Metric is any basic measurable result. For example “inhabitants of a city”, “visitors of a website”, “sales”, “subscribers”, “users” or even the duration of each visit. Metric is any result that can be accumulated and grouped. We have a dimension when we work with several metrics of the same type or group.
The dimension is the grouped set of those basic metrics. Suppose that one of the metrics found is the number of inhabitants of a city. The city is in this case the dimension! Other examples of dimensions could be “browser”, “gender”, “age”, “access by mobile phone model”, “subscribers using a certain email service”. The metrics, when divided into dimensions, help us to have a clearer view of the strongest layer: the KPIs.
KPI stands for Key Performance Indicator o Key Performance Indicators. It is an indicator that instantly informs you of the situation of your business. Each KPI is a key indicator with which you measure each parameter that makes your business work, grow or evolve. For example, the GDP of a country is a KPI, as well as the HDI, or also the income of a company. When it comes to digital business, good examples of KPIs are “conversion”, “retention”, “visibility” and “perception”. In one of our KPIs is “Love”!
Now that you know the three basic layers to carry out a good analysis of the metrics, remember that you always have to arrange your metrics in dimensions, and the latter in KPIs.
Do you want help on this topic? So let’s go to the next part.
Step 2: Elaboration of the metric plan
The practical part has arrived! Designing the measurement plan is the process related to what you are going to measure, how and where you are going to do it. At this point you start to go beyond collecting the results, since it is the starting point towards your future actions. Rest assured that your plan can be done wherever you prefer: Excel, PowerPoint, notepad or even in a notebook. What matters is documenting your plan! The collection is also flexible, because you can get results through Google Analytics, Facebook, Youtube and, of course, reports.
If you already have your company running or at least with a well-structured idea, it will not be difficult to work on the measurement plan. You are going to build your plan in 3 parts: objective, KPI and dimension. Let’s see:
Objectives: What do you want to measure? Why? Is the idea of the campaign to reach more people? Or do you want to know the level of rejection of your current product? Define clear objectives that always make sense for your business. The clearer your goal is, the easier it will be to think of solutions.
The KPIs: What key indicators best apply to your goal? Let’s assume that the objective is to measure the visibility and conversion of a campaign. With this objective in mind, we will define two key performance indicators: conversion and reach. After the definition of the KPIs comes the final part of the structure of the plan!
Dimensions – What are the dimensions of the metrics that should match your goal and your KPIs? We remind you that it is necessary to use relevant dimensions and metrics. The quality of the metric is much more important than the quantity! Here is a basic idea of the dimensions that can be measured when your goals and indicators focus on conversion and reach:
Scope dimensions:
Conversion dimension and conversion metrics:
- converted leads
- Sales
- buyers’ gender
- buyers age
- Region where purchases were made
- Sales timetable
Conversion rejection dimension and metrics:
- Unconverted leads
- Gender of those who did not buy
- Age of those who did not buy
- Region where there was the greatest rejection
An interesting idea is to follow a structure similar to that of Canvas:
In this example, several metrics were inserted that can identify exactly who your audience is in two aspects: buyers and non-buyers. Note that you receive demographic information, the time of the sale, when the lead bought or when they clicked but did not buy, the average age of your lead…, so you can use it to your advantage through a new language or approach! Of course, these are just examples. It is very common to have many more behavioral and reach metrics throughout the plan, so let’s get to the final tips.
Until this moment you have already gone through the basis of your metrics strategy and the creation of your measurement plan, now you have reached the final part of the text where the next steps of your business are defined. Think about everything stated so far if you want to reach the next level!
Step 3: Analysis of the metrics
This is a process that must be done calmly, serenely and sensibly. It must be remembered that each number displayed there in the collection of results is more than a number: it is the result of a person’s behavior. He is a person who decides to buy, or decided to leave your page. Each number accurately represents the flow of your audience’s movement, so it’s good to look at these results with an open mind and a willingness to ask lots of questions.
Before crafting the questions, try to work on a report template that funnels the collected results. A model could be the one we see below:
This step is very important to think about the distribution of your information, to carry out the different analyzes and in the organization of the knowledge that the numbers provide you. And as said, the focus here is on thinking about the questions that will help you grow your business.
A statistician named W. Edwards Deming once said the following:
“If you don’t know how to ask the right questions, you’re not going to find anything.”
On this basis, we advise you to start analyzing your metrics from the questions before doing it from the answers. Here are four basic questions to ask each time you do metric analysis:
- What have been the changes?
- What consequences have these changes produced?
- What investments and experiments are required to improve or change this status?
- Where are the best opportunities?
Have you thought through the answers? Great! Now let’s dig a little deeper and look at some more questions. Have you managed to outline four initial responses to your first analysis? Well, then think about the following points:
- Is my content performing well?
- Is the reaction of the people positive or negative?
- Does my most valuable content follow my plan?
- Does my weakest content also follow my plan?
- Is my audience what I imagined?
- I’m in the correct way?
- Am I following my goals?
- Is my business planning being fulfilled?
- Do I have to reconsider my action?
Virtually all the answers you need will come from these questions. There is no secret, just think well, calmly analyze and follow exactly what the numbers brought as a solution! Remember that one of the main reasons for analyzing metrics is to make decisions, and every choice is a resignation. Over time you will realize that the numbers guide you in the best direction, although it is not necessarily how you do it or that you think it is the best, although it may be the best.
Do you have any questions or doubts about the process? Comment or visit our.
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