Value of a few metric or importance of a measurement plan – Metricsbyte

Value of a few metric

The digital world generates tons of data every day. Tons of data means tons of metrics to keep look at. Do we need all of them? I don’t think so… Do we need 10 metrics to measure our web performance? I don’t’ think either.

I believe we need 4 metrics only. Don’t get me wrong of course there’re different scenarios for every business but generally speaking all goes down to the company resources and actual value these metrics provide. Basically why would you measure something that you can’t change?

Metrics by themselves don’t tend to provide any value, moreover they are super demanding timewise to keep an eye on all of them. More metrics we have, more time we spend on analysing them. Something will ALWAYS go up even though the majority of metrics show otherwise.

Metrics are valuable only when we take real actions in order to improve them, so we leverage our data, we make data driven business decisions.

What should we do?

Chose only 4 of them and make them perfect then move to the new ones. Always pick goals which can make real business impact. You have a led gen campaign? Focus on only one macro goal – Conversion rate on a Landing page (users submit something).

Find a couple of supportive metrics to measure the steps in the middle of a customer journey. What are those metrics?

For example % of users who visit a pricing page (in your case it can be any page which shows an intent to buy) you can name this metric whatever you want. Segment these people and check the conversion rate for them. The idea here is to leverage the page which is crucial in customer journey.
You can use scrolling events to find average scroll depth on that page, this can be a good metric to see the level of engagement.
And last but not least is how people click on our offer.

Now you have only 4 metrics to worry about and it’s time to make it perfect.

A/B tastings (test different CTAs, Hero images, colors, offers)
Change offers and see how people click to find more
Constantly improve content and see how it affects average scroll depth and contribute in our offer clicks
Try different marketing channels and see which gives us better quality audience (based on the same metrics)

Focus on ultimate goal – Conversion rate

Improve it to the level where the cost of improvements can’t be justified by return on these changes. For example if you feel that further optimization will increase our conversion by 5% only and it means $5 in revenue versus cost of these changes is $10 will mean that it is time to change your metrics.

Value of a few metric

The digital world generates tons of data every day. Tons of data means hundreds of metrics to keep up with. Do we need all of them? I don’t think so… Do we need 30, 20 or 10 metrics to measure our web performance? I don’t think so either. 

I believe we need 4 metrics only. Don’t get me wrong of course there are different scenarios for every business but generally speaking, it all come down to the company resources and the business impact. Ultimately we just care of the value these metrics can provide.

Why would you measure something on everydaybasis if you don’t have resources to change it? 

Metrics by themselves don’t provide any value, moreover, they are super demanding timewise to keep an eye on all of them. More goals/metrics/KPIs we have, more time we spend on analyzing them.

Something will ALWAYS be up even if other metrics show everything is down.

Metrics are valuable only when we take real actions in order to improve them, so we leverage our data, we make data-driven business decisions. 

What should we do?

Chose only 4 of them and make them perfect or close to perfect then move to the new ones. Always pick goals which can make a real business impact. Do you have a led gen campaign? Focus on only one macro goal - Conversion rate on a Landing page (users submit something). 

Find a couple of supportive metrics to measure the steps in the middle of a customer journey. What those metrics are?

For example % of users who clicked on a video if this video explaina concept which is crucial for your business (it shows an intent/engagement), you can name this metric whatever you want. Segment these people who clicked and check the conversion rate for them. Most likely the conversion rate will be higher. Is it lower? Then change the video. Not many people click on it? Well, play with the caption. The idea here is to leverage the video as much as possible and make it fit in the customer journey. 
You can use scrolling events to find average scroll depth on that page, this can be a good metric to see the level of engagement. Not many people scroll even once? Change the template, change the order of the elements on the page. Compare different marketing channels.
And last but not least is how people click on our offer. Click Through Rate on our Landing Page. Which marketing channels, what time, what day of the week?

We can get a lot of insights just from these 4 metrics.

Now you have only 4 metrics to worry about and it’s time to make it perfect. 

A/B tastings (test different CTAs, Hero images, colors, offers)
Change offers 
Constantly improve the content and see how it affects these metrics

Try different marketing channels and see which gives us better quality audience (based on the same metrics)

Focus on ultimate goal – Conversion rate

Improve these 4 METRICSto the level where the cost of improvements can’t be justified by the returnon these changes. For example, if you feel that further optimization will increase our conversion by 5% and it only means $5 in extra revenue versus the cost of these changes is $10.

Find new metrics to focus on and make an impact there.

Never forget the initial purpose of analytics is to help business decision making.

Measure – Analyze – Improve – Impact 