Marketing Analytics Dos and Don’ts of the Holiday Rush

We’re not crazy

Wednesday

That’s a relief

Thursday

Take your time

Tuesday

DECEMBER1 2 3 4 5 6

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Make your own sale time for your customers.

Here’s an

idea:B2C companies looking for a quick fix?

The Season is Underway

B2B companies just trying to close business for the end of the year?

Don’t Do

Wait for the Mayhem to Die Down

Here’s a tip: Wait until you have share of mind and your voice can be heard. Forget about shouting at the busiest time of year. Talk to your customers when they can hear you.

Before the madness begins, make sure you’re measuring what matters. Build smarter campaigns and long term marketing goals

by tracking some of the same KPIs year round.

There’s Still Time to Set KPIs

•Onsite Traffic •Offsite Traffic •Traffic to your site as a whole •Traffic to your site by campaign •First time visitors as a whole •First time visitors by campaign •Total conversions for your content

Traffic Report

Your campaign traffic should be segmented by:

When tracking traffic to your site, make sure you are aggregating views and interactions. Set a baseline to compare across both.

Hint:

•Content groups •Time period •An aggregate of both •Keyword segmentation

Unique Visitors

When setting KPIs for campaigns, watch for unique visitors to your site.

•Track which campaigns are re-engaging certain audiences •Know what is driving new traffic and new visitors to your site •Repurpose the successful campaigns into new channels •Use successful keywords in new content

Set Up Conversions

Set up conversions in your analytics system for multiple points:

For B2C

Shopping cart fill Final Sale

For B2B

Download of white paper

DemoDemo Request Free Trial

TrialFree

Traffic Report

Break out your conversions into these segments:

✴Marketing Channel ✴Campaign ✴Content Type ✴Search Engine ✴Device

Marketing Channel Insights

Gather data to understand how much each of these marketing channels is contributing to conversions.

•Email •Social •Paid Search •Organic Search •Advertising •Referral •Public Relations

Marketing Performance Insights Chart

Your marketing channel data might look something like this:

Conversion by Campaign

Track campaigns to discover:

•Which campaign is converting the most traffic •What campaign to repeat season to season •What campaign to repeat holiday to holiday •What campaign did not perform as expected •Ways to improve next year

Converisons by Content Type

Not all content is created equal. Track content by type:

Website content

Landing pages

Blog

YouTube videos Videos

Static site

Search Engine Conversions

Search engine conversions are those folks that have landed on your page through organic search. Know their journey and amplify it.

Know what converted them Know what content led them to your site Use that content as a new marketing campaign Repurpose for an ad campaign

Don’t lose track of these people. They are self-selected and will be your longest lasting conversions.

Hint:

Conversion by Device

Most everyone has access to the internet all day long through either mobile or desktop devices. Know how these people are coming to your site by percentages.

•Tablet•Smartphone•Wearable•Laptop•Desktop

Set Your Baseline

When measuring the efficacy of this season’s campaign, use baselines set at different intervals:

All of 2014

Q Q Q Q1 2 3 4Quarters Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday

Black Friday

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For most analytics platforms, you should be able to go back and get this information, if you don’t already have it. If you don’t own all this information, break down the silos and share information with other groups in your organization.

Hint:

Holiday Season Metrics

This is a great time of year to update keywords and topics in organic search to match any ongoing campaigns.

Don’t forget to note non-holiday terms that increase traffic to make your ongoing yearly campaigns better.

Hint:

•Track keyword and topic effectiveness this season •Use the comparisons in the future •Discover holiday terms to improve campaigns •Know what type of words describe your product best •Understand what kinds of sales work best for your audience •Focus on terms such as deal versus sale •Focus on descriptions that created traffic

Don’t Overlook Key Discoveries

Sometimes we discover things during this end of year push that could be applied to any time of the year.

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•Keep track of new insights •Review at least 5 things that work •Study 5 things that didn’t work •Look past the holiday season into the entire year •Use key discoveries as part of goals of the New Year

Make Changes Now

If you’re thinking about getting a new analytics platform, adding a new marketing channel, or any other change, why not try it now?

A good time to experiment with your marketing mix is the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. People are so busy that it generally gives marketers time to work out the kinks before investing in changes fully in the New Year.

Hint:

Differentiating Baseline from Campaign

Baseline: The aggregate of all marketing activities and thematic campaigns over a specified period of time.

1 Month

Sun TueMon Thur Fri SatWed

A Week

6 Months

3 Month

A Year

Baseline to Take a Longer View

Use baselines to compare quarters to the year, or months to the year, or days to the year and get a better idea of

traffic and conversions overall. Set your baselines to measure the aggregate of all your marketing efforts.

✴Across channels ✴Across campaigns ✴Across devices ✴Across content type

Get Ready for the Holiday Crush

1. Make sure you have your analytics in place

2. Find 3-5 new KPIs to track across campaigns

3. Try tracking some new things as you learn about visitors

4. Pepper in new data points

All this work now will help you make better, smarter marketing decisions in the future.

Hint: