If you doubt the importance of marketing analytics for your business growth, you do so at your own peril.
As the ad spend on every major digital marketing platform is projected to grow in 2023, according to an iab report, it will become even more valuable to leverage the data this delivers.
Not only that, there will be more data to sift through as these platforms pick up speed and more people shop online than ever before.
The pandemic may have skewed the stats slightly, but Statista reports that more than 2 billion people now shop online.
That’s roughly one quarter of the world’s population with the ability to purchase your product, so long as you have a presence online and a strategy to reach them.
You may think you have the perfect business – maybe you outsource copywriting and design while focussing on sales and account management or vice versa – but if marketing analytics isn’t part of your strategy, there’s work to be done!
If this blog doesn’t open your eyes to the wonders of analytics, get in touch and Agency Stack can walk you through how it looks in practice.
Popular Analytics Tools
First things first, you’ll need to know how this magical data is compiled for analysis.
Fortunately, there are plenty of options to satisfy your cravings for business growth.
These include Google Analytics – easily the most popular tool on offer – HubSpot, Adobe Analytics or Moz Pro.
It must be said that these tools can be used in conjunction with each other to make the most of their unique capabilities.
For example, Google Analytics is great for granular insights into the intricate behaviours of users once they reach your site. This can be used to tinker with your strategy and understand what interests your audience click by click.
On the other hand, HubSpot has been designed to increase leads and conversions while also improving the rate at which people are funneled to your site.
What to Measure
We’ve now touched on some of the things that can be measured in a marketing analytics strategy – buzzwords such as leads, conversions and traffic are common because they are so important.
However, deciding what to measure and what will be a waste of time will depend on your overall goals.
If you aim to increase sales for a business, you’ll want to note your shopping cart abandonment rate, customer acquisition cost and revenue by source.
If lead generation is your metric, click-through-rate and email subscriptions are great places to start.
If you don’t know what your goals are or how to measure them, it may be worth talking to the expects to nail down these vital parts of marketing. Agency Stack has an expert performance team who have taken countless businesses from zero to hero and they are sure to have some insight into how you can grow your clients’ businesses.
How to Use the Data
A study by the CMO Survey and Deloitte in September 2022 found that “marketing analytics is now being used in nearly half of all marketing decisions, rising from 38% just before the pandemic”.
The challenge comes when companies attempt to leverage the data to find actionable insights and apply them to ongoing marketing strategies. Promisingly however, the CMO report found that businesses are spending an increasing amount on this obstacle and will continue to do so.
Spending on marketing analytics as a percentage of total marketing budgets hit an all-time high of 8.9% in 2022, with this figure expected to pass 14% in the next three years, according to CMO.
So, how should you use the data and get on the right side of the statistics in the future?
As we’ve mentioned, setting some strong marketing goals is pivotal to guide your data analytics. Without direction, you’ll be collecting data haphazardly and wasting time on figures that won’t become measurable results.
It may sound simple or obvious, but it’s important to make sure you have an expert responsible for collecting the data. Human error can be an extremely costly mistake in the data collection process, which can lead marketing teams down poorly informed rabbit holes.
If your team is ever stuck in a heap of data and can’t find a way out, try looking at the same data in different ways. Something as simple as a different type of graph; swapping the axes; broadening or narrowing your timeframes; or getting a different pair of eyes on it can all work wonders.
Trust the Experts
If you get super stuck and can’t make anything of your data, or if you don’t even know where to start collecting, get in touch with the Agency Stack team.
We’ll confidently analyse your clients’ and deliver clear insights into their marketing opportunities.