Hardwood Flooring February March 2018

• Conversion rates – defined based on your goals; may be filling out a lead form or checking out on an e-commerce site Any email marketing service or marketing automation platformwill provide you with this information. See the article titled “Content Marketing…It’s All About the Customer” on page 44 for a list of service providers. Turning numbers into insights The real value is analyzing metrics to determine what they mean, then using those insights to improve your business. For example, if product page visits are low, it’s possible that visitors are not getting past the home page. Consider re- evaluating the home page’s content, design, or navigation. Or if conversion rates are low, the sales teammay need additional resources or training. But to fully leverage the value of metrics, start with a business plan and strategy that clarifies what’s most important to the company. Based on the business plan, develop a marketing plan that outlines the year’s goals, objectives, strategies, and tactics along with metrics whenever possible. Give management the data they need regarding key performance indicators (KPIs) and track the metrics that will help you make better decisions and improve your marketing efforts. Katrina Olson is a freelance writer and principal of Katrina Olson Strategic Communications. Reach her at katrina@ katrinaolson.com.

SocialMention.com, or Addictomatic.com. Or, for a more robust, paid tool, try Mention.com. Website engagement Another indicator of marketing effectiveness is website engagement, or the quality and quantity of interactions visitors have with your website, which is measured by: • Users – an individual person browsing your website • Sessions – a session is a visit to a website; a user can have multiple sessions, and viewmultiple pages during a session • Page views – when a page has been viewed by a user on your website • Pages per session – the average number of page views in each session • Average session duration – average time spent on a website by users • Bounce rate – percentage of visitors who leave your website before further exploring it These metrics are available through Google Analytics. Work with your website developer or visit: support.google.com/analytics/ to do it yourself. If that’s too technical, search for YouTube videos, take a Lynda.com course, or Google “How to use Google Analytics.” Email marketing effectiveness Sometimes, you’ll want to measure the effectiveness of a specific tactic, such as an email campaign. To evaluate an email campaign, look at: • Email delivery rates – the percentage of emails that were actually delivered to recipients’ inboxes, calculated by subtracting bounces from the gross number of emails sent, then dividing that number by gross emails sent • Unsubscribe rates – the number of recipients who cancel a service or to eliminate oneself from a digital email list • Open rates – percentage of successfully delivered campaigns opened by recipients • Click-through rates – the percentage of people who click on a link in an email

Photo by Carlos Muza

the magazine of the national wood flooring association

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