The Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization (SEMPO) recently reported that spending on search engine marketing (SEM) in North America is expected to hit $26 billion by 2013. And the majority of respondents (70%) said they are trying to generate leads for direct or indirect sales models.
The analysis indicates on MarketingCharts.com however, the only metrics marketers are using include: increased traffic, conversion rates, click-through rates. In addition to these metrics, you should also track “net new” web visitors, known vs. unknown visitors and form abandonment rates.
But what do these metrics tell you? What should you focus on improving? With any metric, there should be an action based on the result. What are these actions?
- Increased traffic
Track volume spikes or peaks to your landing page or website based on when campaigns are launched and overall trend on an ongoing basis. - Conversion rates
For web metrics conversion rates we typically track form submission from suspect to inquiry, however, you should also track conversion rates from other stages of the lead funnel – we need to understand which key words bring in the closed deals vs. which bring in researchers. - Click-through rates
It’s important to understand the increase traffic number and then one level deeper is the click-through rate, how many people clicked on an email or a web link to then get to your landing page or website. This tells you how many people raised their hand to your offer. So it’s a metric that helps you understand if your message was relevant to the audience. - “Net new” web visitors
Having increased web traffic is one thing, but are you bringing in “net new” web visitors from your campaigns? This metric needs to help you understand if you are bringing in leads at the top of the funnel or helping you convert leads already in the funnel. - Form abandonment rate
This metric helps you track how many clicks convert to prospects and how many prospects are not completing the form. This helps you decide whether you need to re-think your form (how many questions are you asking), do you have too much friction? Does your offer not resonate? Or perhaps your key word is not relevant to the offer?
