Marketing Spaghetti (noun): A haphazard approach to marketing activities without measuring results. Like tossing spaghetti against a wall, it lacks direction and accountability, leading to wasted resources and missed opportunities for growth
Did you know, it may take a customer, seeing your brand 24 times before they purchase online. While there is a LOT of scope for building a business independently online, it can also be a wasteful journey if you are putting the effort into the wrong areas. We have all seen the ads for get rich quick schemes, the only formula you need to make sales and the bulletproof plans for selling on Instagram. While some may have their merits, if you are not tracking your marketing efforts, it is hard to know what is, and is not working.
Running a small online business can be both exhilarating and daunting. With the vast array of tools and technologies available, it's easier than ever to launch an online venture. However, it is also easy to get caught up in following other peoples strategies and hoping to replicate the results. You need to make sure you are looking at your own data to see if your efforts are paying off (In time and money).
These metrics provide valuable insights into the health and performance of your business, helping you make informed decisions and drive growth. In this blog post, we'll explore 13 essential metrics every small online business should track and why they're important.
Traffic & Reach
1. Website Traffic: Utilize website analytics tools like Google Analytics to track traffic in real-time. Review traffic data regularly, ideally on a weekly or monthly basis, to identify trends and patterns.
2. Social Media engagement: What are you getting from posting on social media? Is it performing the way you hoped? We have all heard about the algorithm. It directs traffic to your page. The more information you can tell it about your ideal customer, the more it can send traffic your way. But its also important to remember, they are SOCIAL platforms. Meaning communication needs to be two ways. Assess how many new eyes are viewing your page, engagement and views using dashboards provided to business accounts.
3. Email Open : Monitor email performance metrics for each campaign and adjust email content and timing based on open and click-through rates. Platforms such as Mailchimp and Mailerlite will have these systems built in automatically.
4. Unique Visitors: You can add tags from Meta to see who is clicking through your social media, or add tags to your email to see who is opening your website. You can also (depending on the customers cookie agreement) see how many individuals are clicking into your website. It is important to monitor who is coming via google, socials or your email marketing efforts.
5. Conversion Rate: Once you understand where your traffic is coming from, you need to understand, how many are converting to sales and why. Are you running a particular campaign or promotion? Is it because of a piece of content that resonated or did they get a referral from a friend. This can help inform where you should put your focus on in the future.
6. Search Engine Ranking: This may or may not be your biggest focus BUT it is important. If you are concentrating most of your marketing efforts via social channels, it is vital to remember that they act as search engines now too so keeping an eye on your keywords. However, people are still searching for what they want through google directly. Have you checked out your competitors on google? Do you know how your business ranks? Getting to the first page can have an impact on how many are landing on your page.
Conversion & Acquisition
While you are getting started, lets be clear, you are throwing spaghetti at the wall. Until you become more seasoned and get a sense for how long things will take and perfect the process, you do need to test the spaghetti. Keeping an eye on these metrics will help you understand your efforts.
7. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Calculate CAC monthly or quarterly by dividing your marketing expenses by the number of new customers acquired during that period.
8. Return on Investment (ROI): Calculate ROI for each marketing campaign or channel regularly to determine its effectiveness. Adjust your marketing budget allocation based on ROI to maximize profitability. Note: some marketing campaigns may lead to a slower ROI than others but it is important to have the right tools to measure in place.
9. Click through rate: Like we stated earlier, are you throwing marketing spaghetti? Are people opening your emails, engaging with your content but then just not buying? Have you go a clear call to action that helps them click through to buy? Is there an obvious sales journey for the buyer?
Customer Retention & Satisfaction
While you are just getting started, you may be focused on getting some sales in, but how are you nurturing those relationships to keep them coming back for more?
10. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): Calculate CLV annually or semi-annually by analyzing customer purchasing behavior over time.
11. Churn Rate: How many customers have you lost in the last month or quarter? Track churn rate monthly or quarterly to identify any sudden increases or trends that may require attention.
12. Customer Satisfaction (CSAT): Send customer satisfaction surveys after interactions or purchases to gather feedback. Analyze CSAT scores on a monthly or quarterly basis to identify areas for improvement.
13. Marketing qualified leads (MLQ): Have a leads list of those who are engaging but may not be ready to purchase with you yet and create a way to continue to nurture this relationship
Here is a quick guide to help you with your metrics and to start looking at the different avenues you can measure your marketing efforts