Making Your Metrics Count
Since the beginning of digital advertising, the industry mostly used clicks and click through rate as the premier way to measure successful campaigns. As any digital ad buyer knows in 2020, the industry is, and has been, much more sophisticated in its measurement and strategy capabilities than just clicks. We’ve uncovered that there is a gap between the measurement tools available to digital marketers and what clients traditionally know and feel comfortable seeing on their reports. Now some digital agencies have added a “conversion” metric to their reports, but too many agencies do not have the expertise to explain what that number means and where it came from.
Look at the cell phone technology of 2010 (ten years ago now!), which is comparable to the start of modern digital advertising. The iPhone 3GS was the newest Apple technology and Nokia cell phones were still a top contender for new tech enthusiasts, while Android was claiming its market share with the HTC Droid Incredible. We wouldn’t be caught dead with these cell phone models now. We’d complain about the battery life, clunky design, and outdated software. Why are we quick to accept change in certain aspects of the digital sphere, such as cell phones, but hesitant to keep up others, like advertising technologies? If we are not using the same cell phones as we did 10 years ago, we shouldn’t be keeping the same digital advertising KPI’s either.
So how do digital marketing experts and clients bridge this gap? First is education and conversations between agency and client about campaign goals. Your agency should work with you to understand the challenges and goals of your business. How does an agency expect to measure accurately if they don’t know what a client is working toward? However, clients have to understand the digital landscape, including why campaigns are going to look wholly different than they used to look depending on goals. Goals might change to reach, CPA, or conversions…eclipsing the need to measure success via clicks and CTR. If you’re running a reach campaign why would you base your KPI on whitepaper downloads? If whitepaper downloads were the goal it should have been the KPI. Second is setting expectations. Reworking metrics is an exciting conversation! However, agencies must set expectations, and clients must accept, that although digital campaigns can work harder to measure new goals like leads and conversions, it doesn’t magically double or triple your lead count. Clients should not expect, nor should agencies promise, an instant lift in the goal simply because it’s now being measured. Lift of any goal is a product of clear and meticulous strategy, optimization, and measurement.
At Quantifi Digital, we’re equipped to bridge this gap between technology and practice, actively working to provide cutting-edge, authentic digital reporting and never selling a standard package. If custom digital marketing plans appeal to you, give us a call today.