As I was working through a campaign’s reporting today, I stepped back and thought about the process I take to adequately measure the results of an initiative. I definitely have a method and certain preliminary steps for each marketing effort. One of the most important and basic steps is to supply proper tracking to any URL used. This is when the handy-dandy Google Analytics URL builder comes into play. And as I was using this staple in my marketing toolbox, my efforts were suddenly called into question.
Well, not exactly. Let me back up by saying that anyone that is unfamiliar with tracking marketing efforts on a regular basis may find my strategy a bit overboard. However, I look at what I do as something that is a solid contributor to the bottom line. If you want to measure the success of a campaign, put the proper steps into action. This is one of them.
I definitely come from the school of thought that if you are going to do something, do it right and make sure it has a benefit – i.e., results in a conversion. If not, ask yourself why you are doing this campaign and consider its overall worth to your team/company/business strategy. If you are not used to assessing efforts in this way, whether it’s a result of being too busy or unsure of how to approach this type of reporting, definitely take the time to enlist someone to help. Ask questions. Think about what you want to measure and track. There is a wealth of knowledge that can be uncovered with just Google Analytics. (Yes, I’m a fan/daily user/advocate/user-4-life)
So, with that said, I track almost every marketing URL used. Why? At the end of the day, if it’s not the result of a budget concern, traffic question, or even source tracking issue, it is out of just me being a marketing freak. It’s what I do. It’s what comes naturally. And if I didn’t, I would be wondering how that campaign performed overall, if it did effect traffic/conversions/etc. When asked if a certain URL really needed tracking or that the differences in audiences wasn’t a huge concern, I definitely needed to take a step back and breath! BUT I understand. I see the points of view that contribute to the bottom line. And after a few moments, I moved on to the next task. But within those moments of stepping back, I received a follow up asking about the tracking, if it could be added, and the understanding of now seeing the campaign from my point of view. Excitement.
So now I pose the question to you guys — how often do you track/monitor efforts? Are you working on analytics auto-pilot or is a pick-n-choose effort? Let me know in the comments!
