Measuring the return on investment (ROI) is a challenge for many businesses investing in digital marketing. Nearly half of businesses investing in digital marketing have no procedures in place, and if they do, they are ineffective.
After all, it can be difficult to determine when a lead is converted to a sale/new customer, or whether someone is a customer but does not engage online. It can be difficult to decide which factors should be monitored at all. For example, how do you account for someone buying your product six months later after seeing a post on a friend’s site? It is difficult to establish direct links and influences.
However, this does not mean that no effort should be made to track the success of your digital marketing campaign.
To begin measuring ROI, you must first establish a set of ROI objectives. Increased purchases, followers on a social media platform, and leads are just a few examples. Once a monetary value is assigned to these objectives, they become measurable.
However, according to Stride Managing Partner, there is no set formula for setting digital marketing goals.
According to San, the key performance indicators (KPIs) of a company vary depending on which stage of the customer journey the brand is attempting to influence.
Brand searches, search impressions, keyword rankings, and traffic are examples of top-funnel metrics. Repeat visitors and social engagement are examples of mid-funnel metrics (e.g., likes, follows, community participation). Subscribers, calls, inquiries, appointments, bookings, sales, cross purchases, and cart recoveries are examples of bottom-funnel metrics.
“However, for SEO, the expectation is generally between 12x revenue versus spend,” he explains. “Of course, the higher the profit margin on a sale, the lower the multiplier must be, and the lower the profit margin, the higher the multiplier.” For example, if you invest P10,000, your revenue should be between P120,000 and P210,000.
Why should ROI be measured in the first place?
Even if your page or website receives a lot of likes or shares, this does not always translate into sales and revenue. ROI measures the success of your social media marketing efforts and tells you which campaigns are working (and which are not), which platforms are beneficial, and where you should invest more.
Sales, email subscribers, traffic, downloads, brand visibility, and customer trust can all be used to calculate ROI.
San Juan adds that tracking ROI is important because “profits pay for marketing spend,” despite the fact that it can be difficult to do at times. “I believe every business, at the very least, wants to break even or turn a profit from their marketing because it is an investment activity in the business,” he adds.
What Are the Obstacles to Accurate ROI Tracking?
Measuring Digital Metrics Using Media Metrics
Some entrepreneurs underestimate the importance of ROI due to a misunderstanding of the value of digital marketing. Others, on the other hand, are more concerned with achieving a specific goal regardless of the cost (i.e., reaching a specific number of followers).
“The most common misunderstanding I encounter, particularly with first-time digital marketing efforts,” San Juan says, “is confusing traditional media metrics for digital metrics.” “I’ve seen and been asked about the campaign’s ‘CPM’ (cost per mil). CPM is a media metric, not a digital metric. I don’t think it’s so much a’misconception’ as a lack of comprehension. “Because most businesses are unable to link the digital metric to the business goal, they settle for the ‘doing’ rather than the results,” he concludes.
Not Making Use of Tools
Another impediment is a lack of tools, which can be easily remedied by using free and simple online tools. When used correctly, Google Search Console, for example, can make your site more “Google-friendly.”
Here are some useful options for measuring ROI.
Google Analytics
This tool monitors web performance in a variety of ways. It collects user data through page tags that run in each visitor’s web browser and then sends it to one of Google’s data collection servers.
Its most popular metrics are:
- Consumers (unique or new visitors)
- Rate of recurrence (percentage of those who looked at only one page)
- Meetings (visitor interactions occurring within a 30-minute window)
- Session length on average (how long each visitor stays)
- The proportion of new sessions (rate of first-time visits)
- Page count per session (average number of pages viewed per session)
- Goal accomplishments (number of times visitors performed the desired action)
- Number of pageviews (total number of pages viewed)
Hotjar
This tool visualises user behaviour by displaying “heat maps,” which show where users are clicking and scrolling on the site. These also aid in determining how they behave after a change is made. The tool also allows you to see how your behaviour changes when you use different devices. Recordings of user scrolling are also enabled, allowing you to see where users spend the most and least time. SEMRush, Hotjar offers live user feedback as well as a question bank or templates for on-site surveys.
This software suite assists businesses in implementing digital marketing strategies such as SEO campaigns. It audits your on-page SEO, identifies critical keywords, and determines which keywords your competitors are using. Those with little or no experience or knowledge of digital marketing will find this simple to use. SEMRush also offers monthly and yearly plans.
Ahrefs
This section contains tools for link building, keyword research, competitor analysis, rank tracking, and site audits. Small business owners, SEO agencies, and in-house marketers, among others, frequently use it. It, too, offers monthly and yearly plans, similar to SEMRush.
Hard-to-Measure Values
Another issue is the ambiguity of ROI factors. Some data points are inaccurate in representing the effectiveness of your strategy because they do not always translate to your actual ROI.
Another factor is the amount of money you spend on marketing. Aside from your marketer’s (if you have one) upfront fee, calculate how much time is spent on administration and other factors that cost the company money.
Then there are unquantifiable effects, such as brand visibility and reputation.
What Is the Verdict?
ROI measurement is one of the most important tools for tracking the effectiveness of your digital marketing campaign. Tracking your ROI tells you whether your efforts are having a positive impact on your brand. While ROI factors can be difficult to determine and even measure at times, certain parameters can be set to help you gain a clearer and better visibility of your efforts, allowing you to better form digital strategies in the future and better respond to the needs of your customers.