Analytics is the driving force behind digital marketing. Understanding data is one thing, mastering it is what separates the pros from the rest of the group. Tracking user-activity gives marketers key insights such as
- How much time the user spent on the given page
- Where the user eventually clicked
- What page(s) they visited after your landing page
- How much was purchased
This is all valuable information required to craft the most effective emails because they indicate the strengths and weaknesses of your messaging or discount. Without the right data, how can you be confident that you’re allocating your time to the right cause?
Step 1: Collect the Right Data
This is a straight-forward step. With software like Google Analytics, you’re given the resources to read how your websites are performing. After setting your website up with Google Analytics (for free) you’ll be able to track and modify campaign codes to get the stats needed to optimize your email marketing.
Step 2: Analyze Your Data
The next step is to analyze the data to find what is or isn’t working. For instance: if your emails are showing promising open and click-through rates, but low conversions, there is likely a problem with the calls-to-action or the overall design of your landing page(s).
Step 3: Implement Changes
With potential problems identified, you can now use your data to make a change. Implementing small changes based on your data is a sure way to improve results over time. Just note that you should only change one thing at time, so you can measure what is having the biggest impact.
Step 4: Test
The best way to get actionable data is with proper A/B testing. Test just one thing at a time, and identify the purpose and parameters of the test before you start. Let’s say you move in another direction with your subject lines – this should directly impact your open rate. If you see an increase or decrease in open rate during A/B testing, you’ll know exactly why. Just be sure to keep send times, contact lists, and other potential factors constant to ensure that they aren’t influencing your results (think about independent and dependent variables).
Step 5: Repeat
The importance of repetition cannot be overstated when it comes to testing. The larger the sample size, the more reliable your data will be. The performance of some emails will astound you, while others will cause you to scratch your head – it’s important not to sweat the small stuff.
When it comes to long-term testing, you should be looking for consistent changes that come as a result of the tweaks you have made. These shifts in data will give you additional information for making even more changes. These slow, yet steady changes will lead to constantly increasing results.
Data Drives Profits
By following the data, you can increase sales, and your emails will gain effectiveness over time. Email marketing is not only great for increasing sales to new customers; it will also turn some of them into repeat customers. With everything said and done, effective email marketing is only possible when you analyze the data and utilize it to implement positive changes overtime.
