How to Get the Most from Your Digital Marketing Performance Report

Do you want to create a digital marketing performance report, but you're not sure where to start?. Understanding how your (or your client's) marketing strategies are performing is a vital component to your company's success. The better you understand what's working (and what's NOT working), the faster you can create a plan that will set your business up for success.. That's why, in today's post, we're going to talk about why digital marketing performance reports are so important, what you should include in yours, and how to automate the entire process.. Ready to get started? Let's dive in!. What Are Digital Marketing Performance Reports?. A digital marketing performance report is a document that outlines how your company's online efforts are performing, and usually includes all of the most important metrics in one place.. For example:. How many visitors did you get last week? What was your conversion rate this month? Did you meet your website traffic goal for the month? These are all important metrics that you'll want to report on and analyze so you can make better-informed decisions about your business.. The most common types of digital marketing performance reports come from Google Analytics, Facebook Ads Manager, LinkedIn, or any other type of social media management platform you're using.. But you can generate a performance report from any data source, as long as it's quantitative and shows your company's progress over time.. It's important to understand that if you're not using these tools, then the data points in your report may be less accurate.. For example: If a visitor clicks on a Facebook ad but doesn't subscribe or make a purchase from it, then the click alone doesn’t necessarily make this a strategic marketing channel.. This doesn't mean you should stop using Facebook ads, either, but it does mean that you might not be getting the complete picture.. One way to create a digital marketing performance report is by exporting data from your favorite analytics tool or social media management platform (like Google Analytics, HubSpot Sales Connector, LinkedIn Sales Navigator) and then turning it into a spreadsheet or Google Docs.. But building these reports by hand is time consuming, tedious, and prone to human error. That’s why, in a minute, we’ll share an even EASIER way to create your digital performance marketing reports.. Before that, let’s look at what should be included in the report.. What to Include in Digital Marketing Reports. It's important to note that each company will have its own specific needs, so you'll want to tailor your report according to what matters most for your business.. For example: Some companies want more information about their social media performance or website analytics and others don't care as much about these metrics. If this is the case, then you can exclude those sections of the report.. The most common metrics to include in a marketing performance report are:. Website traffic and conversions (usually from Google Analytics) Social media engagement, conversion rates, and followers/following frequency Email engagement rates and open/click-through rates PPC Advertising We’ll take a look at each of these in more detail.. Website Traffic & Conversions. Here are the most common KPIs for companies when it comes to their performance reports with regards to website traffic and conversions:. The number of visits to your website in the past month How many visitors went on to make a purchase, sign up for an email newsletter, or other conversion goal? You would need Google Analytics to track this. What was your conversion rate for the past month? Understanding your website traffic's growth is important because it's indicative of how well your marketing strategy is working.. For example, if you are getting a lot of traffic but not converting that into sales or subscribers, then it could mean one of three things: Your landing pages might need some work; there may be something preventing visitors from completing their goals on the website (like too many barriers); or the visitors might just not be interested.. It's also important to understand how many of your new website visits are repeat customers, and if they're coming back often enough for you.. Social Media Engagement, Conversions & Following Frequency. Social media engagement is important to track. That’s why you’ll want to address the following questions in your digital marketing performance reports:. The number of followers you have on all social media platforms and how often they engage with your content How many potential customers did you get in the past month? What was your conversion rate for all of your social media channels combined over the last twelve months, or however long it's been since you started tracking these metrics? How many people clicked on content that links to a landing page and then converted into customers? Understanding your growth on social media is important for your business because it shows how well your marketing strategy is working.. If you're not getting a lot of engagement and conversions on social media, then one of the following could be true:. Your content might need to better match what people are interested in; there may be something preventing visitors from clicking through (like too many barriers); or it's possible that people just aren't interested in what you have to offer (which means you’re targeting the wrong audience). Email Engagement Rates & Open/Click-through Rate. Email is one of the best marketing channels at your disposal. And when it comes to adding data to your performane reports, you should want to know:. The number of emails sent in the past month How many people opened your email? What was your open rate for the last 12 months, or however long it's been since you started tracking these metrics? What was your click-through rate, or how many people clicked on links in your email and went to the desired landing page? Understanding how well your emails are converting is important because that’s the traffic you OWN. Unlike SEO or PPC, email marketing isn’t dependent on algorithm changes by 3rd-party platforms.. Instead, your growth in this department means creating an evergreen list of contacts that you can use when (and how) you want… within reason.. Digital marketing reports are one of the best ways you can measure performance. It's important to track these metrics so you're able to make informed decisions about your marketing strategy.. The report can also be used to identify any channels that are underperforming and opportunities for growth. For example, if you find out that social media engagement is going down over time or email open rates are dropping, this could mean there's a problem with the quality of your content on these platforms.. If you notice social media engagement is going down, then you might want to think about changing your strategy.. Pay-Per-Click Advertising. If you’re spending money on paid ads, you’ll definitely want to track its progress. That said, this is one of the simplest KPIs to look at. Because for your performance reports, really only one thing matters:. Are you bringing in more money than you’re spending.. This won’t ALWAYS be the case, but it’s what most companies will end up caring about the most.. Now that we know what types of things you need to include in your marketing reports, let’s look at how often you should be making them.. How Often Should You Make a Marketing Report?. You should generate a marketing report at least once per month. The more often you can do this, the better!. It's important to measure how much time and money your company spends on each channel in order to make sure it is profitable for you. And by looking back over previous reports, you will be able to identify any trends that need to be addressed.. The most important thing is to keep the reports as short and simple as possible. You don't want to overwhelm yourself with a ton of data that you'll never have time to read through or process, but it's still necessary for teams to measure their digital marketing performance on an ongoing basis.. As long as your company has goals in place and knows what it wants to do with the data, then you'll be able to create a marketing report that's useful for your team.. Now that we know WHY digital marketing performance reports are valuable, let’s look at the EASIEST way to make your own.. How to Create a Digital Marketing Performance Report. Earlier, we mentioned one way to create your digital marketing performance report: doing it by hand.. But, again, this can be time consuming and expensive. Plus, one wrong piece of data entry can throw off your entire results.. And by the time you’re finished, you’ll need to start preparing next week’s or month’s report all over again.. That’s why I always recommend building your reports with a tool like Metrics Watch:. Metrics Watch is a marketing report tool that automates the entire process. That’s because it comes with a visual report builder that connects to your favorite marketing channels, like:. Google Analytics Google Ads Google Search Console Facebook (paid and organic) LinkedIn (paid and organic) Instagram (paid and organic) And more… Once you build these reports the first time, the tool will automatically pull data for all your future reports. That means you can create custom reports for your team or clients in minutes, and send them to the right people day after day, week after week, or month after month.. But the best part is that there’s ZERO friction in the report sharing process. That’s because Metrics Watch reports are sent directly to your recipient’s inbox, rather than through a PDF attachment or 3rd-party user dashboard.. Instead, you send the data people need in a format they already know.. And with custom branding options, you can make these reports represent YOUR company. That makes this the ideal tool for larger agencies who send their clients progress reports to retain their business.. Want to see it in action for yourself? Click below to start your 100% risk-free trial of Metrics Watch today:. Start Your 100% Risk-Free Metrics Watch Trial Today!. And that’s all for now! We hope that this post helped you better understand digital marketing performance reports.. If you enjoyed this post, you’ll definitely want to check out the following resources:. How to Make a Marketing Report (That Actually Boosts ROI) 7 Best Digital Marketing Tools to Track Your Efforts How to Scale Your Digital Marketing Agency: 9 Tips and Tricks These articles will have even more information on how the right marketing reports can take your business to the next level.

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