How Can Measurement Plan Help Your Business Succeed Online?

What is a measurement plan and how can it help your business succeed online?

We clear up the importance of translating your business objectives into key performance indicators (KPI’s).

What is a measurement plan?

A measurement plan is a document that translates your business objectives into targets and key performance indicators (KPI’s).

To achieve your KPI’s, a measurement plan provides a framework for a customized configuration of your web analytics and forms a vital part of your digital marketing strategy, and then this determines how your digital channels will play together.

What are your website objectives?

During this stage of this process, start by asking yourself what is the overall aim of your website? Is it to Sell directly? to promote products? Or simply generate leads?

It can be one or all of them, so establishing the overall goals of your website is a good starting point in discovering your objectives.

Once you clearly define your business objectives, logically the next step is to create a successful measurement plan that include identifying the different conversion types that can occur on the website in question.

These conversions can be widely divided into two categories: macro (or primary) conversions and micro (or secondary) conversions.

The macro conversion you’ve set for your website drives every other strategic element on the site: the copy, design, layout, everything.

But for any macro conversion to take place, visitors usually go through a series of micro conversions. These are the small steps they must take to know and understand the value of your offer and gain enough trust to take action.

Macro conversions:

Most website owners focus mightily on tracking and optimizing their major conversion point (or macro conversion); this might be an order completion for an e-commerce website, a subscription sign up for an online software provider, or a completed contact form for a lead acquisition website. These overall conversions are commercial outcomes that achieve the company’s main objective.

Macro conversions can be classified into:

• Revenue based conversions.
• Lead acquisitions conversions.
• Enquiry Conversions.

Examples of macro conversions for business websites can be split into a few different types.

E-Commerce Websites:

The main goal of e-commerce websites is to sell products to users. The most successful websites are neatly optimized to deliver a high percentage of purchases. So, to achieve success e-commerce websites, you have to integrate all of the latest online closing and upsell techniques available which have been proven to increase the prospect that a visitor will purchase.

Macro conversions for e-commerce based websites would usually be:

• E-commerce order completion
• Paid subscription sign up

Service-Based Business Websites:

The aim of a service-based business website is to persuade website visitors that they should become customers of the service company. This is done by placing the company as a reliable, trust worthy and experienced service provider in the target market.

Before making any phone calls, visitors will pre-screen potential service providers by reviewing their websites.

During this stage, they are trying to find the best company that will match their needs. They are trying to realize several points:

• How expert the company is.
• The quality of the work they will receive
• Does the provider have a good reputation?
• How long the company has been in business?

Visitors can be assisted by providing them with information and articles which reveal your awareness, a graphic portfolio of your work, videos, and customer recommendations and so on.

Macro conversions for service based websites would commonly be:

• Contact form completion (for websites without e-commerce)
• Phone call (driven from websites without e-commerce)

Information based websites:

The purpose of an information centric website is to carry specific, supportive information to a specific user so that the reader learns something new or understands a topic in a better way. These websites are about more actionable information and may contain “how to”, fix and repair. tips and tricks, guidance, directions, support information, instructions, etc.

Macro conversions for information based websites would usually be:

• Pages per visit
• Duration Goal

Micro conversions:

Macro conversion performance is so important and essential. Yet, fixating exclusively on this single metric (or any single metric) is not beneficial. This alone will not complete the full picture of performance and in fact there may be a mass of other user actions that point to changes in performance. These actions are usually referred to as micro conversions and mark an outcome on a website that is of less importance than the main, or macro conversion.

For instance, taking an e-commerce website, the macro conversion would be an order accomplishment whereas micro conversions could contain sign up to an email newsletter, a Facebook like, a PDF brochure download, etc. In this case these actions specify user engagement and possibly even lead users to complete an order at some point in the future. Yet, in isolation they do not usually drive profits or customer gaining at the point of their conversion.

Micro conversions could also consist of more standard actions such as adding an item to the shopping basket or viewing a product page. They can also contain less clear conversions such as click-through from search results (CTR could justifiably be counted as a micro conversion rate).

Examples of micro conversions can often be categorized as follows:

• CTR from search results
• Navigation based conversions
• Entering the checkout process
• Viewing a product page
• Reaching an application form

Interaction (or completed action) based conversions:

• Downloading a PDF brochure
• Watching a promotional video
• Email newsletter sign up
• Social actions
• Adding a product to the cart
• Downloading a PDF brochure
• Request a call back

Engagement based conversions:

• Visit frequency
• Number of pages viewed above target
• Time on site over a certain threshold

If you wish to create a measurement plan for your business or need support with putting conversion on the right track, then please don’t hesitate to contact us.