In 2022, digital advertising had an estimated value of approximately $210 billion. To get the most return on investment for your marketing campaigns, it’s essential to analyze your marketing analytics.
Not everybody recognizes the importance of this process, though. Let’s explore the key information you should know to make the most of your analytics data.
Improve Customer Experience
Marketing analytics provide a glimpse into customer preferences. You can see what products and services are most popular with your audience. This can also discern customer trends, such as when people tend to make the largest purchases.
For example, you might discover that an unexpected product was your best performing. Your analytics might teach you that your company makes the most sales during certain months.
Using this information allows you to provide a better customer experience. This is great for your brand reputation, and it will help you acquire new customers more easily.
Maximize Return on Investment (ROI)
Without consulting your analytics, you’re likely to spend money on ineffective strategies. In this scenario, you’ll fall short of your financial goals and waste valuable time.
Marketing analytics can help you fine-tune your future campaigns. For instance, let’s assume you’ve created three separate versions of the same landing page. One version performed far better than the others.
Your analytics can illuminate this occurrence, allowing you to discard strategies that don’t work. You can also boost your ROI by improving product development. Your analytics will provide insight into the product features consumers value the most.
Predict Future Results
This is one of the most important attributes of data analysis. Predicting future results will help you recreate successful strategies. This streamlines your marketing campaigns and helps you get the most out of your investment.
Once you’ve configured a strategy, it’s easy to maintain it. As long as no major changes occur, it likely won’t need much modification.
Analytics can also help you pinpoint why your strategy suddenly stops working, though. It could involve a shift in consumer interests. This could also occur if a large influx of competitors enters your industry.
Competitor Comparison
Competitor research is crucial when developing successful marketing campaigns. Take a look at some of the best performers in your industry.
What type of messages do they present to their audiences? How does their website work? Are you able to easily find the information you’re looking for on their site?
Consider other factors, like how they interact with users on social media. It’s not recommended to copy your competitors too closely. This could cause your audience to confuse your brand with someone else’s.
Establish Cost of Acquisition
How much you pay for customer acquisition has a large impact on their lifetime value. Imagine a scenario where you neglect cost of acquisition and only look at what your customers spend.
You might mistakenly believe that the average customer at your business has a lifetime value (LTV) of approximately $1,000. If it cost $500 to transform them from a lead to a customer, their actual LTV is far less. Making this mistake could cause you to overspend in other areas.
Your data analytics can help you minimize your cost of acquisition. You can achieve this by minimizing the interactions they have with your brand before they become a customer. You could also reconfigure your ad campaigns so you spend less money for better results.
Data Analysis Challenges
Dealing with marketing analytics doesn’t come without its struggles. Understanding how to overcome these will help you get the most out of your data. Let’s look at some of the most notable.
Data Quality
Some companies view analytics data as unreliable. Gathering poor quality data often occurs from an unrefined data acquisition strategy.
For instance, let’s assume you send a brief survey to your entire email list. If you don’t ask the right questions, you won’t get the right information.
This is true even if you receive a response from every single user. Instead, you should develop a process that guarantees quality data acquisition. Having a comprehensive understanding of your audience can help you do so.
Data Quantity
Some companies find it hard to get enough information. Others discover they have too much information to work with.
Businesses that deal with big data should have a strategy to structure it. This involves segmenting your data into smaller components you can work with.
In fact, formatting data is often more difficult than analyzing it. Consider the amount of data your company deals with regularly.
If you don’t have enough, come up with ways to get more information from your audience. If you have too much, determine the most important components and find a way to isolate them. This can substantially improve improve marketing campaigns.
Talent Shortages
Many companies find they don’t have the necessary talent in-house. They often have to outsource or hire a professional data scientist.
This can be time-consuming and expensive. It’s not uncommon for a business to experience downtime while looking for the right professional. This is especially true for companies that deal with large data sets.
Data Correlation
This is a challenge of data analysis many entrepreneurs overlook. Determining data correlation is essential when gathering information from multiple sources.
It involves normalizing your raw data to make it comparable. Doing so can be especially difficult when comparing online and offline data. Working with a professional marketing firm can help you overcome this obstacle.
Choosing the Right Attribution Models
Attribution models allow you to evaluate how successful consumer touchpoints are. The best choice for your business will depend on the data you wish to collect.
For example, your company might only be concerned with the first engagement consumers have with your brand. It’s crucial to remember that the model you choose will dictate the data you obtain. Determine what information is most important so you can avoid choosing the wrong model.
Acquiring Marketing Analytics Data
At first, handling marketing analytics data can seem overwhelming. The process is simpler than most people anticipate, though. Here’s how to get started.
Determine Your Goals
Before moving forward, it’s crucial to establish your goals. Figure out the metrics you need to reach so you have a target to aim for.
Don’t get caught up in maximizing sales numbers. Higher sales and revenue will come with time once you target your audience appropriately. Instead, focus on maximizing customer satisfaction.
The ways you do so are contingent upon your company’s needs. Some businesses need to provide better services. Others need to work on their customer support policy.
Once you set your milestones, you’ll have an easier time sifting through analytics data. In some situations, you might only need to focus on a small percentage of your consumer data analytics.
Set a Benchmark
You should have a solid idea of what a successful campaign looks like. This will help you figure out what type of data you need to collect. For instance, your company might need to improve its brand awareness.
In a case like this, you wouldn’t be concerned with click-through rates or impressions. You would focus more on brand loyalty. As time goes on, your marketing campaigns will begin to look more like the ones you envision.
Assess Your Capabilities
Be honest with yourself about your company’s capabilities. You should also consider your business’s weak points.
Doing so will help you create an actionable plan for improvement. This goes a long way toward developing effective marketing messages.
Use the Right Tools
Using the right marketing analytics tools can dictate whether you get the right information. Raw data is notably difficult to work with, and analytics tools make it much easier to understand
It may require a bit of research to find the right tools for your needs. With enough due diligence, you can significantly improve how you analyze your customer data.
Finding a Professional
A professional can help you hit the ground running and avoid issues you may have otherwise encountered. They have the tools and resources to achieve the best results. When looking for someone to hire, see what past clients have to say.
There should be no shortage of stellar feedback. The professional you hire should also understand your company’s needs.
If they don’t often work with businesses like yours, continue your search elsewhere. Ask about their pricing structure before making your choice.
They should be fully transparent about their rates and fees. If they attempt to dodge questions about pricing, this is a red flag you can’t ignore.
Never hire someone who isn’t easy to get in touch with. There are few things more frustrating than being left in the dark during a marketing campaign.
Don’t Overlook Marketing Analytics
At first, dealing with marketing analytics can seem overwhelming. The good news is that the process is much simpler than most people expect. As long as you stay vigilant, you can leverage your marketing metrics and take your performance to the next level.
46Mile prides itself on helping businesses target their audiences more effectively. We create campaigns that are 100% based on consumer data. Get in touch with us today to see how we can bring your vision to life.
