Analytics
Collecting, measuring, analyzing and understanding the data and doing something with it.
After learning how to design and build websites I learned how to understand website data and was an early adopter of Google Analytics after it first launched in late 2005. I've seen too many website reports that talk about the number of visitors, how long they stayed on the website, and which pages were most popular. "So what? Why is that important?".
This type of reporting is just vanity metrics. The data should be reported in a way that connects to higher business goals. WHAT did those website visitors do that moves them down the conversion funnel? WHY did they stay on the site or bounce away? DID the popular pages bring conversions or sales? Why or why not?
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
- Albert Einstein, Physicist
Website (on-site) Analytics
Google Analytics is a fantastic tool if you don't mind sharing your data with Google. No matter which website analytics platform you use the key is to understand what each metric means and understand the patterns of data in a way that lets you create actionable insights and strategies.
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Social Media Metrics
Each social media platform has different things that it measures. Facebook business pages will let you measure your fans, the time of day they are on your page, where they are in the world, and other data points while Instagram provides less data which can be useful if you know how to massage the data. Being able to tie social media behavior to your website metrics gives a better understanding of social media ROI.
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Paid Advertising Data
Robust CPC platforms like Google Ads provide so many different measurement data points that it can be overwhelming and running a campaign can seem like it's half art and half science. Just like all other data point the key is understanding how each metric is measured and understanding if the information is useful or just interesting but useless.
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Keyword Search Data
There are two types of keyword research, organic search keywords and paid advertising keywords. Each type has similar data like search volume and competition but good keyword research goes beyond just those metrics. Here is where we have to go beyond the data and ask what the intent is behind the keyword phrase. A search for "natural gas grills" could indicate a desire to learn more about that type of grill while "gas grill comparison" could indicate that the searcher is closer to making a purchase.
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Case Study
Email Analytics
While working for Skeepers.io, a multi-national marketing company with multiple SaaS products I was asked to create lead-gen email campaigns that would be sent to targeted lists of people in various industries.
I wanted to know which past email campaigns were successful so I created the following document and reviewed it in a meeting with the Marketing Managers in each region. For ethical reasons I redacted the actual numbers.