Picture this: you’re spending thousands on an advertising campaign to bring people to your business. You’re running a compelling TV spot during prime-time, the perfect radio campaign during morning rush-hour, and you have a targeted billboard with a dramatic presence at a high-traffic intersection. Your phone is ringing off the hook and customers are coming in droves to your location – you couldn’t ask for any more, right?
What if, when they got there, the store was closed during peak hours? Or what if they got inside and were greeted by a messy atmosphere, merchandise scattered all over, and an angry salesperson demanding “so whaddaya want??”. Or, even worse, what if instead of all that, they navigated your store, picked out the perfect merchandise, made it to the dressing room, tried everything on, stood in line, and then were so turned off by something that happened at the register that they dropped everything and left? And what if this happened to 90% of the customers that walked in your door?
Would you blame the advertising? Or would you look deeper into what happened at the point of sale to turn these customer experiences into negative ones?
This is exactly the kind of thinking you should have when analyzing your search marketing or social media campaign. I can’t tell you how many times a search or social marketing program has delivered customers to a website, ready to make a commitment; and something on the website has turned them away. And at this point, many website owners have virtually no idea what the reason was that they lost these potential customers – because they weren’t tracking the proper metrics.
Never before has it been so incredibly simple to measure conversions online, especially when you’re running an online advertising campaign. The tools exist, at virtually no cost, to measure everything from the immediate impact of a campaign to the long-term effects. You can track where and how/why potential customers found you, what they did when they got there, and where/why they made a purchase or left. If you knew that 90% of your customers were taking a quick glance at your homepage and immediately clicking off, you’d know that your homepage probably needs a facelift.
You can’t fix what you don’t know is broken. So track, analyze, test, analyze, test again. Don’t stop until you’ve reached goals far beyond you can imagine. And then do it all over again. Otherwise, you’ll be changing your mind for years to come and will never have an answer.
The Discovery Communications Group is an award-winning, fully-integrated marketing agency located in Salem, NH, that specializes in professional web design, search engine optimization, and social media marketing strategy. DCG also provides printing and mailing services to meet every advertising need, servicing clients throughout New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
Written by: Rebecca
Rebecca is the Digital Marketing Specialist at the Discovery Communications Group, and focuses on search engine optimization (SEO) and social media marketing strategy. Prior to joining the Discovery Communications Group, Rebecca worked as a Human Resources executive at companies such as Sokolove Law, LLC, Staples, Inc. and Dunkin’ Brand. Her passion for technology and using inbound marketing techniques for talent acquisition and employee engagement was the catalyst for her career change into digital marketing. Rebecca is a Hubspot Inbound Marketing Certified Professional and holds a Bachelor of Arts in literature from Simmons College. You can reach Rebecca at RebeccaS@discoverycomm.com or call her direct at 603-685-2918, and be sure to follow her on Twitter @RebeccaSlosberg.
Let Us Know What You Think