Metric's Guide to Analytics and Reporting - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Creating a Measurement Plan

The most common causes of failure in digital marketing campaigns is the lack, or limited structured thought towards clearly defined business objectives and how those business objectives are tied to website or campaign goals. When it comes to a website for example, ask yourself “what do I want the user to do?” - maybe it’s to fill out a contact form, purchase a product or read an article. Your answer to that question will help define your online goals.

Identify relevant, executable business objectives

Work with senior executives before to define the parameters for the work you’re about to undertake, ensuring that each objective is concise, measurable and easy to understand. Executives should lead the discussion, marketers playing a contributing role at this stage.

Define goals for business objectives

Defining goals for each business objective is the next step. This is a collaborative approach between executives and marketers.

Identify key performance indicators (KPIs) that will accurately evaluate your objectives

What actions signify goal success? A PDF download, a phone call to your call center, a contact form submission, email promotion sign-up or online purchase are examples of actions we may want users to take. This should be done with a digital or data specialist, if you have one at your organization.

Set KPI Targets

You cannot truly measure the success of a campaign, without clearly defined KPI targets. These can come from historical performance (relevant previous campaign’s data) or from your competition. For example, your conversion rate target might be 5 per cent based on last years’ numbers.