How to start using online marketing statistics

Online statistics can be overwhelming! Many things can be measured when it comes to your website, Facebook page, email newsletter, or any other number of services. You may have a vague idea of what you need to be looking at, or you may not. You’re not alone!

You need to start by setting an online marketing goal that ties directly back to a business need. Then, you can establish relevant benchmarks to measure that show progress toward that goal.

So what does that look like?

Goals and Benchmarks

In an ideal world, the goals for your online marketing are S.M.A.R.T. goals, meaning they are:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Realistic
• Time-Bound

However, that’s often simply not possible. In those cases, you need to set up and track benchmarks toward those goals, to track how you’re doing.

Even if the goal itself can’t be S.M.A.R.T., the benchmarks can.

Example Goals

Let’s take a look at a few possibly goals for your website, along with some potential benchmarks.

Goal: Get good, qualified leads from your website

Potential Benchmarks:

• Number of form entries
• Number of visits to the form’s page on your website
• Number of visits to your website
• Number of fans/followers on social media
• Number of subscribers to email newsletter

Goal: Make online sales or get donations

Potential Benchmarks:

• Number of completed payments
• Number of visits to the the store section of your website
• Number of visits to your website
• Number of fans/followers on social media
• Number of subscribers to email newsletter

Goal: Build email newsletter subscriber list

Potential Benchmarks:

• Number of email newsletter subscribers
• Number of visits to your email newsletter sign-up page
• Number of visits to your website
• Number of fans/followers on social media

Goal: Get people to call you on the phone

Potential Benchmarks:

• Number of visits to your website
• Number of fans/followers on social media
• Number of subscribers to email newsletter

Of course, the sky’s the limit. Your goal may not be listed above. Or even if it is, different benchmarks may apply to your situation.

The Trends

Did you notice a trend in the benchmarks? In general, they started very specific, with benchmarks tying very closely to the goals. Then they became more broad, with a greater degree of separation between the primary goal and the benchmarks. As they became more broad, there was more and more overlap.

In part, what that means is increases in one are of your online marketing can often help with multiple goals. If you start posting on your social media more frequently, for example, you have the potential to help with all the example goals listed above.

Need Help?

You may be frustrated and need help establishing your goals, seeing what benchmarks you need to track, or setting up the tracking. Or maybe you’re worried you missed something during the process.

We’re not always the right fit for everyone, but we can typically get you started on the right track. Feel free to contact us and see if we might be able to help.