Previously, we looked at smarter ways to plan and optimize media placements. The next step is optimizing beyond the click-through rate, with a focus on driving conversions on your website and improving your ROI from digital media.
Create Brand Awareness
In order for any sales-driven campaign to be effective, you need to have already created brand awareness in the market. At a previous agency, I worked with a travel client that wanted to drive sales in a market where they had zero brand recognition. No effort was made to increase awareness, and the budget was specifically focused on driving ticket sales. Needless to say, this did not produce positive results and the client exited the market in the red.
A direct response (conversion focused) campaign is not as effective when it is a stand-alone effort. A sales effort gets the best results when coupled with a brand effort. This is especially true when you are asking a consumer to part with their money.
Improve ROI with Analytics
If you currently use digital media as part of your media mix, then you’re likely using a third party ad sever. Tracking digital media via a third party ad server ensures contracts are fulfilled and tracks user engagement with an ad. To determine your ROI from digital media, you should also use a website analytics tool.
Website analytics are essential to track online activity past the consumers’ interaction with the ad and to help determine if that activity is converting into revenue. These tools track key activities on a website as they relate to your conversion goals (e-newsletter sign-ups, registrations, online sales, etc.).
Having the ability to see the users’ path through your website gives you more control: by knowing what is most engaging and where users are dropping off in the conversion process, you can make tweaks to your call to action in the middle of a campaign, increasing the efficiency of your marketing dollars.
Focus on Revenue, Not Just Conversions
Website analytics can also track the actual revenue from an online sale. This allows you to determine and optimize toward tactics driving the most revenue, instead of focusing solely on conversions.
We applied this strategy to Jay Peak Resort’s digital campaign and evolved the banner and paid search campaign to focus on actual revenue that has been generated from these efforts.
The result? The campaign revenue per ad dollar year over year has improved by 179%.
Your turn: Is your business focused on driving leads or building your email subscription list? Are you using website analytics to measure success?
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