Measuring Automation Success With Data
Evaluating Digital Marketing Metrics Like A Pro
In every type of industry, data is used to evaluate the status of a concept, product, or idea. From politics to the red carpet, data is used around the world to measure what works, and what doesn’t.
Data is particularly important for those in the marketing world. Data can show whether customers like a company’s marketing, or show companies that their marketing is ineffective.
Data analysis is particularly important for marketers using marketing automation. Because experts believe that the future of marketing automation depends on data, marketers should implement data into their marketing strategy.
Drawing relevant, helpful conclusions from data sets can be difficult. With so many numbers and digits, its easy to get overwhelmed with different rates and percentages. But never fear – NectarOM is ready to make metric evaluation simple. There are certain metrics one should consider when measuring the success of marketing automation.
When evaluating automated email success, marketers should look at several different rates. First, marketers should use a bounce rate to determine how many emails actually get to the intended recipients. Inaccurate email addresses, poor server connection, or full inbox may prevent email subscribers from receiving emails. Establishing why a consumer might not receive emails can be helpful, as marketers can work to fix the bug in their email automation system. Bounce rates distinguish ineffective marketing from inaccessible marketing.
Using a calculated bounce rate, marketers can find the open rate. An open rate is the amount of emails opened as out of the total emails that were delivered to inboxes. Open rates can be useful in determining the attractiveness of a subject line, or the accessibility of a customer through the time the emails were sent.
To determine how successful email content is, marketers should consider click-through rates and conversion rates. Click-through rates reflect the amount of times a link inside of an email was clicked, directing the subscriber to the company website. Conversion rates measure the amount of subscribers who have made a purchased, registered for a new program, downloaded a file or attachment, or signed up for a contest via the email. Both of these rates can show marketers how effective their content is in creating customers or maintaining relationships.
Marketers should also examine their subscriber lists to gauge how effective their email marketing campaign is. Determining whether a list is generally growing or shrinking can indicate strong or weak email marketing. Campaigns that host high unsubscribe rates are obviously not doing email marketing the right way.
Websites are another platform that can use data metrics to evaluate marketing success. Like email automation, certain metrics (e.g. bounce rates and conversion rates) can be useful in measuring a website’s success. However, websites also can consider other metrics as indicators for success.
Shopping cart abandonment rate is a website-specific metrics. Ecommerce companies should be aware of the amount of abandoned shopping carts compared to actual purchases. Knowing this can help a company make necessary adjustments to keep abandonment rates low. For example, an ecommerce company might use its abandonment rate to determine whether it should implement an automated abandoned shopping cart email into its marketing strategy.
Marketers should also look at their site’s churn. Churn measures the amount of customers that come back or leave the company each month. Companies with a high churn rate may want to reexamine their marketing strategy, and make necessary improvements to their marketing strategy.
Regarding both email and website automation, marketers should evaluate their ROI rate. ROI (return on investment) is another key way to measure the success of marketing. This measurement shows the company’s net profit compared to the company’s investment.
As marketing digitally continues to change, marketers should keep a steady eye on their ROI rates. A dramatic increase or decrease in ROI signals that marketers are doing something right or wrong.
While these are a lot of numbers and metrics to consider, taking the time to evaluate each data set can be a huge marketing asset. If number crunching isn’t your strong suit? Learning more about data management platforms is a must!
