Many small business owners aren’t just the boss. They’re the secretary, janitor, and marketing department all rolled into one. They wear a lot of hats, spin a lot of plates, and juggle a lot of knives—sometimes all at once!
Small business owners have to be everything, which makes specializing in one area difficult. But, you don’t have to be a master marketer to track your marketing campaigns’ successes.
Marketing metrics for small business
You want to track certain metrics to be sure your website is helping your company. After years of marketing my payroll software and accounting software, I’ve learned that tracking digital marketing metrics can help you get the most out of your website.
These five digital marketing metrics can help you measure how effective your business website is.
1. Brand queries
Have you ever wondered how often people search for your company on the internet?
A brand query is an instance when a potential customer searches for your business on the internet. The person typed your name, or a word related to your company, into the search bar.
Most likely, the person had curiosity or a question about your business. That is a good thing. After all, you maintain your website for your potential customers to learn about you. One of the first steps of digital marketing is getting potential customers to your website. By tracking brand queries, you can see how many people seek out your site.
Any analytics platform will be able to tell you this information. There are free website analytics platforms available online.
A large number of branded queries means you are successfully building brand awareness. The more brand awareness you spread, the more likely you are to gain customers. Track brand queries to see if the number of people who search your site rises.
2. Website visitors
You can find out how many people actually visit your website by tracking website visitors. You can track website visitors with an online analytics platform.
Website visitor data tells you how many customers visit your business’s website. Website visitor data also reveals the amount of time each person spends on your site.
The more users are on your website, the better. You want target customers to spend time on your website. The longer people stay on your website, the more they interact with your brand.
Website visitor data could help you see if your digital marketing efforts are successful. For example, website visitors might increase after you launch an advertising campaign. You can see a correlation between visits to your website and the advertising campaign. Ideally, the campaign would cause a rise in website visitors.
Engaging your target audience is a great way to avoid the dreaded failed startup. Website visitor data helps show if potential customers are engaged with your business’s online presence.
3. Conversion rate
You design your business’s website to convince potential customers to take a specific action. For example, you could have a button for users to sign up for your email subscription.
These calls to action, or CTAs, are a large part of your website’s purpose. The CTAs help gain customers, and eventually drive sales. That is why it’s important to know how many people take the action you suggest in your CTAs.
When we talk about customers taking the action we want, we’re really talking about conversions. A conversion just means someone saw your CTA and took the action, converting into a customer.
You can find your conversion rate by comparing conversions to the number of people who use your website. The conversion rate is the percentage of people on your website that took your desired action.
For example, you send an email to 50 people containing a discount off their first purchase. One person uses the discount. Your conversion rate is 2% (1/50 X 100 = 2%).
You can use free, online analytics platforms to find your conversion rate. You need to set up conversion tracking the website first.
The larger your conversion rate is, the better. Over time, an increased conversion rate means more people are interacting with your business.
Like small business financial ratios for your finances, website visitor data and conversion rates help you determine the health of your digital marketing operations.
4. Average customer value
The average customer value helps explain how much each customer is worth to your business. Of course, all customers are valuable. But, the more customers return to your company, the higher your average customer value.
Businesses with subscription-based customers will find the average value of customers helpful. Subscription-based companies rely on customers to continue subscribing to their products or services. The continued subscription generates recurring revenue. The average customer value is important for software entrepreneurs to use for improving their advertising strategies and budgets.
Non subscription-based businesses find the average customer value with each customer’s current and past purchases. You look at how long customers remain loyal buyers at your business.
The average customer value helps you decide which marketing efforts to focus on. Direct your campaigns towards the market that is most profitable to your business.
5. Cost per acquisition
Along with the conversion rate, track how much it costs you to convert customers. Cost per acquisition is a marketing metric that tells you how much each customer costs.
You can find out how much it costs to gain a new customer by using this simple formula:
Total cost to advertise / Number of customers gained = Cost per acquisition
For example, you spend $80 on an online advertisement. The ad results in four clicks that turn into customers. Using the formula for cost per acquisition, you can see your cost per new customer is $20 ($80 / 4 = $20). That means it costs you $20 to gain one new customer.
If the cost per acquisition is low due to a high number of conversions, the advertisement might have been successful. If the cost per acquisition is high due to a low number of conversions, the ad may not have been effective. You may have made less money than you spent on the ad.
You should compare your average customer value with what your cost per acquisition is to determine if your digital marketing campaign was successful.
Small business digital marketing metrics
Use a combination of digital marketing metrics and analytics to set and track goals. It’s important to know if your strategies are both cost effective and create new customers.
One metric alone will not give you all that information. But, by tracking several metrics, you can see the big picture of your digital marketing. The figures you come up with should give you an idea of how to budget future digital marketing campaigns.
