10 Marketing Performance Metrics That Won’t Get You Fired

Marketing online can be cutthroat. In a world where customers have a voice that can be heard, marketers are trying to find ways to keep up and interact with them. From Facebook analytics to Google review,s the way we measure our marketing efforts online are constantly evolving. So, what are the important metrics to measure that your boss ACTUALLY wants to hear about? Below are the top 10 marketing performance metrics to measure – and the advantages and disadvantages each.

#1: Social Shares & Retweets

Shares and retweets can be tricky metrics to measure on social media platforms. While some argue people share content without actually reading it, we still find value in shares. When a Twitter user retweets your video or photo it shows they are intrigued by your company’s content. Now that they've shared your content, you are able to find out more about someone who is interested in your company, and interact with them in the future. Monitoring your shares also provides insight into the types of content that captivates your audience.

#2: Comments & Mentions

The most reliable metrics for measuring engagement: comments and mentions. When a user comments on your post, you can assume they have read the content and are starting a conversation with your company AND other users (so make sure you join in). Their voice and thoughts are displayed to your followers and the billions of people on social media, allowing for even more engagement. Comments also give you an opportunity to engage with your online community and build a stronger connection with them.

#3: Organic Reach & Impressions

Your organic reach on Facebook and impressions on Twitter are great metrics for you to monitor and know. However, I wouldn’t share these with your boss, unless asked. While the numbers are usually impressive, reach and impressions aren’t as accurate as comments or retweets when measuring engagement. Organic reach on Facebook is determined by the amount of users who saw your post in their newsfeed, and impressions measure the same for tweets on Twitter. Here’s the catch: users don’t have to interact with your content for your reach to be sky-high. Nevertheless, understanding your social media reach gives you an idea of how many people are seeing your company online and can increase your brand awareness.

#4: Website Bounce Rate

What exactly is website bounce rate and how can you calculate it? Have you ever searched for a new Moped and clicked on a website link that brought you to a blog about a boy who moped around work? So what did you do? You left the website right away – because that’s not what you’re looking for (or it wasn’t engaging enough to keep your attention). That’s what a bounce rate is. When your bounce rate is high, something needs to change. While you can’t change users’ typos, you can create a webpage that draws in and engages your consumers; that lowers your bounce rate.

#5: Time Spent On Webpage

There are pros and cons to measuring the amount of time spent on websites. The pro: traffic to and time spent on your website is good. Measuring the amount of time spent on your website can inform you whether or not your content is enticing and visually appealing to your readers. It can also tell you WHICH blog post, offer, or pages are getting the most attention and for how long.

So, what’s the con? Have you ever forgotten about a website that was piled up behind five other applications opened on your desktop? Even if users aren’t actively interacting on your website, their time spent is still accumulating and affecting this metric.

#6: Inbound Links

Does your company care about search engine optimization (SEO)? If so, you’ll want to pay attention to your inbound links. If not, then you should start. Inbound links are links to your website that others use in their own blogs, website, and social media sites. Having inbound links gives your company a sense of “popularity”, but even more importantly, it showcases your website content as accurate and trusted by others. Search engines like Google and Bing look at how much your content is shared to determine where to place your website in the list of results from a user’s search. The key here is paying attention to where your traffic is coming from.

#7: Email Clickthrough Rates

Your emails should contain links to keep the conversation going beyond the email itself. When readers open your email and click on one of those links, it is called a unique click, or a clickthrough. Your clickthrough rate (CTR) is a great way to measure engagement and gauge how your users interact with your emails. If they're opening your emails but not clicking on anything, you should dig deeper into why people aren’t clicking and try some new things. Find out what your click rate should be according to industry benchmarks here. The benefit of using CTR is its proof of engagement (in comparison to open rates).

#8: Email Bounce Rate

Your bounce rate isn’t just used in website performance metrics; it can also be used in email marketing. Soft and hard bounces are the two types of bounce rates important to measuring email marketing effectiveness.

A soft bounces occur when the receiver who provided a valid email address doesn’t get your emails. The good news: they are usually temporary and are caused by a problem out of your control. Remember not to stress and try re-sending the emails later on.

Hard bounces you need to worry about. They are concrete reasons for why your content wasn’t delivered. The cause of a hard bounce could be due to an invalid or fake email addresses. The biggest risk you’re faced with is the potential damage to your company’s credibility and reputation. When you receive too many hard bounces, your company could appear as a spammer. When you get a hard bounce, record it and then get rid of that email address from your list permanently.

#9: Conversion Rate

Online users are clicking on your emails, engaging on social media, and visiting your website. Now what? The next step is converting these leads into customers. What exactly is a lead? A lead is someone you've had previous communication with (on any platform) who actively shows interest in your company. If you’re looking for a way to turn leads into customers and promoters, a custom inbound marketing strategy is your solution.

After converting your leads into customers you’ll want to go back and track how it happened. Did someone open an email and click a link that prompted them to fill out an offer form? Calculating your conversion rates from sales to website leads will give you the best insight into understanding your audience and what makes them tick. Customers are the peanut butter to your PB & J marketing sandwich; without them it just wouldn’t be the same.

#10: Satisfaction Rating

Customers’ opinions are one of the biggest performance metrics you should have on your mind. The only way to determine what your customers think about your website, services, and company as a whole is to ask. Knowing your customer satisfaction rate is not only beneficial for you, but also for potential clients and the continued contentment of current ones. By asking your current customers in a survey or in person how their experience was, you’ll be able to learn and grow as a company.

If your customers aren’t satisfied and give you a poor rating on Google or Yelp, don’t worry. This is the perfect opportunity to engage with your customer and have a conversation. What problem did they have with the service you provided? How can you address it? How can your company learn from this users’ experience? If you receive a high rating, do a little happy dance. Then, continue to communicate with your customer. Use your customers to learn about what your company does well, and what still could be done to blow their minds.