When it comes to monitoring your online business, the list of so-called “critical metrics” is constantly expanding. Things like social media engagement, keyword ranking, email open rates, conversion rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, and more all compete for your attention.
All of this data can be overwhelming.
The question is: what metrics really matter?
In the world of ecommerce – whether you sell products or services – the hands-down, undisputed, heavy-weight-champion metric … is your sales funnel.
Why? Because at the end of the day, nothing but sales pay the bills.
So, to enable you to monitor your entire sales funnel, here are four sources of data and exactly what you should do with them:
- Your Traffic
- Your Leads
- Your Sales
- Your Competition
Your Traffic
Let’s start with the widest point of your sales funnel: your traffic.
Image Credit: Prosar.com
What is the temperature of your traffic: warm or cold?
Frost-bitten traffic or sizzling traffic is a major consideration you should take into account as you embark upon your ecommerce model. First, warm traffic is when the public saw your marketing messages and now have a favorable opinion of you because of it. Cold traffic consists of spending a lot of time and money to generate traffic.
Now, there are all kinds of web traffic, including:
- Organic: searchers type in keywords and phrases related to your company, product or website.
- Paid: visitors arrive at your website because of paid advertising.
- Referral: an Internet surfer comes across your website from a link at another webpage.
- Direct: people access your website by typing in your URL or clicking on a bookmark.
The key question is: what is your traffic actually doing for your website right now? Is it making any positive contribution? Are you stuck in cruise control?
Enhanced ecommerce tracking will help a business understand the onsite behavior of visitors and will help identify the measures that should be taken to get the action you desire from these visitors.
By starting with your traffic, you’ll be able to identify where your visitors are coming from and what sources are the most profitable.
Your Leads
The success of any ecommerce business is dependent on how effective it is at converting visitors into customers.
By monitoring your sales funnel, you can quantify the number of leads at each stage of the sales process and, based on your strategic direction, predict how many of these leads can be converted into actual customers.
Google Analytics remains the most popular dashboard to monitor your conversions.
This is done by creating “Goals” for every page a conversion is possible. Your home page and landing pages are great places to start.
Your “Goal” can be just about anything, from a sign-up to a play button to a form submission to a download. Just select one specific goal for each of your critical pages to measure exactly how many of your visitors actually become leads.
Increasing the number of conversions is a challenge that all sites faces. This can be achieved by performing A/B testing, writing clear and concise language, and, most importantly, creating trust a simple-to-use website.
The real power of creating Google Goals is the ability to not only see what’s working – your best performing pages – but what isn’t. Where are your visitors leaving your funnel and where do you need to improve?
Your Sales
Keep in mind that while revenue data, sales data, and transaction volumes are important, there is still a lot of information that can be derived from real data that can help you see the much bigger picture. Monitoring and tracking of your sales themselves provides this information and can give you detailed reports about your ecommerce operations every step of the way.
Most notably, you’ll be able to see how often your product or service is added to a shopping cart, how frequently it is converted, and which type of users abandon the transaction midway.
Identifying the pages that are hindering your sales as well as the pages that sell well are both key. This way, you know what elements you need to change to optimize your site’s performance as well as help you figure out or alter your marketing strategies for products that are not doing so well.
Moreover, this is also a good way of determining which products should be on your homepage.
Conversion Rate Experts, for example, wrote a case study explaining how they made $1 million for Moz in just one year with a single landing page and a handful of emails.
The landing page was designed specifically to track and promote sales:
- Long-form copy to tell a story.
- A curiosity-driven headline.
- Clear explanations of what user would receive at each conversion point.
- Highlighted what customers cared about.
- Incorporated video into its strategy.
- Made comparisons with other companies.
Your Competition
Your traffic, your leads, and your sales are all about you.
But, keeping track of what your competition is doing is also an invaluable way to gain insight into their websites and analyze critical data. This can include their traffic rankings, daily visitors, and search engine and keyword rankings.
Monitoring your competition not only keeps you up-to-date with the market but will also enable you to compare your website with that of your competitors so that you can capitalize on their strengths and improve upon their weaknesses.
It is understandable that with so many operations to manage, it can sometimes become overwhelming for businesses to find the time to monitor and analyze their competition. This is why there are several organizations that offer comprehensive services that can help immensely.
For example, Cyfe offers a wide spectrum of effective and useful features to help enhance your competitive analysis and marketing strategies:
- Monitoring of individual departments and multiple websites
- Real-time monitoring reports and historical data
- Custom data sources and widgets
It’s simple: you can monitor your own brand as well as your competitors and other online rivals all in one easy-to-use dashboard.
Fusing Your Sales Funnel with Real Data
The reality is … competition is tough.
In order to succeed, it is important to not only be aware of your strengths but to have the knowledge about the areas where you need to improve.
So, the four data sources to keep in mind are your traffic, your leads, your sales, and your competition. With these data sources, you’ll be able to monitor your entire ecommerce model effectively.
Monitoring and analyzing real data is the only to dramatically improve your market position and increase your sales. So get started today.
Finding the right question is more important than chasing the right answer
Jeffrey and Bryan Eisenberg
For almost two decades, brothers Jeffrey and Bryan Eisenberg have been recognized by their peers as authorities in marketing optimization, analytics, and customer-experience design.
While deeply grateful for their success, they remained unfulfilled by unanswered questions. The two most common troubling questions asked by executives and entrepreneurs were, “What is the secret to selling more?” and “Why doesn’t my team get it?”
What is the Buyer Legends Process?
Buyer Legends is a business process that uses storytelling techniques to map the critical paths a prospective buyer might follow on his journey to becoming a buyer.
This process aligns strategy to brand story to the buyer’s actual experience on their customer journey.
These easy-to-tell stories reveal the opportunities and gaps in the customer’s experience versus the current marketing & sales process.
These legends communicate the brand’s story intent and critical touch point responsibilities within every level of an organization, from the boardroom to the stockroom.
Buyer Legends reconcile the creative process to data analysis; aligning metrics with previously hard-to-measure marketing, sales, and customer service processes. The first result is improved execution, communications, and testing. The second result is a big boost to the bottom line.
Check Out Marketing Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with
Warren Whitlock on BlogTalkRadio
Mike Robbins is the author of three books: Focus on the Good Stuff; Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken, and Nothing Changes Until You Do.
As an expert in teamwork, emotional intelligence, and the powers of appreciation and authenticity, Mike delivers keynote addresses and interactive seminars that empower people, teams, and organizations to work together effectively and be more successful. He has inspired tens of thousands of people around the world to reach new levels of awareness and productivity, both personally and professionally.
His clients include some of the top organizations and institutions in the world, such as: Google, Wells Fargo, Adobe, Charles Schwab, Twitter, the U.S. Department of Labor, Gap, New York Life, Stanford University, Chevron, eBay, Kaiser, UC Berkeley, Genentech, the San Francisco Giants and many others.
He has been featured on ABC News, the Oprah radio network, in Forbes, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and many others. He hosted his own radio show called Let’s Get Real on Energy Talk Radio, and since 2008 has been a regular contributor to the Huffington Post.
Mike is a former board member for two non-profit organizations – Challenge Day, a powerful youth organization that focuses on peace, healing, and personal development for teens, and The Peace Alliance, an organization focused on creating a culture of peace.
Check Out Self Help Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with
Warren Whitlock on BlogTalkRadio
In this edition of Social Media Radio, we talk to Raj Singh of Tempo AI about the role of artificial intelligence in apps designed to use big data, context processing power to eliminate friction in our day to day tasks
Raj Singh is a mobile industry veteran and blogger with over a decade of experience working in all aspects of the mobile industry. Raj is a regular mobile writer and speaker including formal and guest blogging. Raj has also made contributions to a number of mobile user and expert groups including the JCP, MMA and the Bluetooth SIG.
He draws on this experience as CEO and Founder of Tempo AI, Inc. Tempo AI was incubated at SRI International (birthplace of Siri) where Raj was an EIR (Entrepreneur in Residence).
Designed to help busy professional prepare for what’s next, Tempo Smart Calendar is like having an assistant anticipate what you need and surface that information right in the calendar, when you need it most. By eliminating the need to use multiple apps to discover mutual contacts, cull relevant emails, find contact information, notify attendees if you’re running late or get directions to your next event, Tempo does more in one tap so you never miss a beat.
I’ve been using Tempo AI for weeks and see the app and the developers learning and iterating quickly to enhance the experience. I have no doubt that my phone will soon know where I’m
going before I decide to go there.
Find Additional Marketing Podcasts with Warren Whitlock on BlogTalkRadio
If you want a really childish explanation of game theory, it is that when everyone else goes around shouting ‘rock’, a few smart people should start to shout ‘paper’. And perhaps a few really smart and really ave people, figuring out this ‘paper’ strategy in advance, might even be emboldened to shout ‘scissors’. In Eurovision this year, Poland shouted ‘paper’; Austria shouted ‘scissors’.
The cunning real trick here is that, if you want to win Eurovision, it is better to do something distinctive than to do something conventionally good. That is not to say that the distinctive cannot be good or even great (France Gall’s and Serge Gainsbourg’s 1965 winning song ‘Poupe de cire, poupe de son’ was booed in rehearsals simply for not being a standard ballad; ‘Waterloo’ was highly unusual at the time). But the fact is that, even if you miraculously produce a conventional song that is 10 per cent better than the 15 other conventional ballads you are competing against, that 10 per cent advantage is never enough to drown out all the noise created by regional voting blocs, national rivalries and so forth. Better to go all or nothing — ‘Monte Carlo or bust’ — in this case by fronting someone with the second most famous facial hair of any Austrian in history. That way you will either win spectacularly or lose spectacularly, but you won’t end up coming fourth just because the bloody Scandies all voted for each other again.
The reason more people don’t try this is simple. It takes courage. When you fail conventionally you get sympathy; when you fail unconventionally you get blamed. It’s a behavioural bias known as defensive decision-making, and it affects almost everything.
When making any choice, our first instinct is not to choose the ‘best’ answer but the answer which minimises the harm we personally can suffer in the worst-case outcome. (‘Minimax’ is what John von Neumann calls this). Let’s say I have the deciding vote on Austria’s entry to Eurovision: if I pick some boring but worthy schlager and it loses, I keep my job. If I choose a drag artist with a beard and she loses, then the finger-pointing begins.
Philip Hensher
We owe Constant Lambert (1905-1951) a huge amount, and the flashes of illiance that survive from his short life only suggest the energy with which he established the possibilities for… Readmore
See full story on spectator.co.uk
JP Maroney is an American entrepreneur and CEO of Marocom Group, a collection of companies and joint ventures involved in publishing, media, training, consulting and internet commerce.
Self-described as a serial business-builder, JP started his first venture at age 19. Soon after marrying, JP and his wife, Tonya, launched an advertising and marketing agency that created print media and eventually ventured into radio marketing campaigns.
At age 22, JP and Tonya created their first magazine, a travel-oriented publication called Escape Magazine. That led to JP buying a weekly classifieds marketing newspaper called PennyWise.
At age 25, JP lost everything — went bankrupt, and had to scramble to survive — working as a waiter, shoe salesman and pizza deliveryman. But, his fortune changed when he started publishing another magazine, then sold it in 1999.
Then JP launched yet another business as a speaker, author and publisher of training programs. Today, as co-founder and Chairman of Marocom Group, JP controls ventures in publishing, media, training, consulting and internet commerce.
A thorough researcher, writer and best-selling author, JP is the author or co-author of more than 30 books and audio/video learning systems. His articles and columns appear in dozens of print and online publications throughout the US and Internationally. He has also collaborated, organized and published business and self-improvement books with more than 70 other speakers, trainers and consultants.
A frequent keynote and seminar speaker, JP has lived through what most speakers can only “talk” about. He teaches proven principles, ideas and strategies that have been hammered out on the anvil of experience.
Listen in to the radio show on May 20.
David C Levine has seen more financial products, services, and transactions than most investors will see in a lifetime. David was the Director of National Sales for one of the financial services industry’s fastest growing independent broker-dealers which at its peak had over 1,000 registered representatives. Most recently, David was the Director of Business Development for the broker-dealer and registered investment advisor divisions of a publicly traded financial services firm with hundreds of brokers, tens of thousands of clients, and billions of dollars of assets under management.
David has been licensed as a general securities representative, a registered principal, investment advisor and insurance agent for Life, Health, Variable, Fixed, and Equity Indexed Annuities. David also successfully developed and licensed Retirement Planning software to a top 10 Mutual Fund Company.
David left the financial services industry behind to help protect investors going forward. He is the founder and CEO of InvestorProtector which is the first of its kind independent, objective, and non-conflicted subscription service that helps investors protect their investments and life savings.
His book, The Financial Fix, confirms what many investors suspect: Wall Street is rigged. It reveals in meticulous detail how investors consistently and repeatedly become victims of a deeply flawed and conflicted system.
Most important, 20-year securities industry veteran David C. Levine shows investors how to protect themselves.
Listen To Finance Internet Radio Stations with
Warren Whitlock on BlogTalkRadio
This episode of Social Media Radio features Jay Maharjan. We talk about Jay’s latest book, Winning Lessons for Entrepreneurs in the Conceptual Economy.
A new economic model is unfolding gradually before our eyes, but the future remains unclear. While we don’t yet fully understand this new model, one thing is for sure: The Knowledge economy we have come to know is changing.
With a unique background in engineering, art and management, Maharjan is singularly qualified to lay out the clear challenges and opportunities that both entrepreneurs and the workforce will encounter in this new economy.
Through personal anecdotes — ranging from his first internship where he devised an entrepreneurial solution that saved Chrysler millions…to his successful launching and scaling of companies in multiple verticals — Maharjan provides the reader with a roadmap for navigating the changing economic landscape.
Jay started his entrepreneurial career in 2001 with one of his earlier companies selected as THE ‘start up’ company that was ahead of its time — to embrace risk-taking in open-source innovation. He also produced and hosted over 20 entrepreneur television series that aired on the national and regional media outlets.
His unbiased leadership work related to fostering entrepreneurship and local economies has been recognized by leadership at various levels.
Mark Schaefer, Executive Director of {grow}, is among the most acclaimed and accomplished marketing consultants in America, with a special emphasis in social media marketing. He’s an AdAge magazine “Power 150″ marketing blogger, TweetSmarter 2011 Global Twitter User of the year, and Peer-elected 2011 B2B Twitter User of the Year. He has won numerous international awards for his blog {grow}, is the author of three bestselling marketing books, and owns seven patents.
His book The Tao of Twitter is the best-selling book on Twitter in the world and was named the B2B Magazine (UK) social media book of the year. His book Return On Influence was named to the elite “Top Academic Titles” of the year by the American Library Association, which declared it a “path-finding” and “essential” book.
Mark has 30 years of global sales and marketing experience and two advanced degrees, in business and applied behavioral sciences. A career highlight was studying under Peter Drucker at Claremont Graduate University.
He is a globally-recognized business writer, university lecturer, and innovator, receiving seven international patents for new product ideas with Fortune 100 companies. He is a marketing faculty member at Rutgers University and has been a keynote speaker at major conferences around the world. He has also appeared in the New York Times, CBS This Morning, Fox News, INC Magazine, MSNBC, Business Week, Entrepreneur magazine, and many other publications.
With extensive experience in sales, marketing, eCommerce, social media, creative services and marketing communications, his firm can help many types of businesses. Their most successful partnerships have been with business owners who have great products and services but can’t afford the expense of a full-time marketing resource to help them grow. His company provides affordable out-sourced marketing support to address both short-term sales opportunities and long-term strategic renewal.
Listen To Social Networking Internet Radio Stations with
Warren Whitlock on BlogTalkRadio
Rick Calvert
Heather Vale interviews Rick Calvert, CEO and Co-Founder of NMX, The New Media Expo for Profitable Social Media and Performance Marketing Insider. Appropriately enough, the interview was conducted in the NMX Lounge at NAB, Las Vegas.
In this interview discover how NMX evolved out of the original BlogWorld and New Media Expo, what can be found at NMX each year, why entrepreneurs should add new media elements to their businesses, how companies like Red Bull are blurring the lines between content and advertising through content marketing, some various ideas about how you can incorporate social media and new media into your customer relations, how new media fits into the traditional broadcasting world, and more.
Find out more about NMX at NMXlive.com.