Key performance indicators, or KPIs, are used in a number of industries and markets to identify and track the activities that make a business, product, or person successful. They’re a little like signposts, directing you toward your final destination. KPIs are used in digital marketing to identify a business’ goals for digital marketing, and track the progress toward those goals. However, it’s critical to create the right KPIs for your business. After all, if you follow the wrong signposts, you’re not going to get where you want to go, right?
Unhealthy Digital Marketing KPIs.
Vague and unproductive KPIs can actually be worse than useless–they can damage your online marketing efforts. For example, using a KPI of “increasing keyword rankings” may not help your bottom line at all. Are you improving the right keywords? Are you reaching the target market? Simply climbing up the search results page may not help your business sell more product, and focusing solely on keywords leaves you very vulnerable the next time search engines update their algorithms.
“Increasing site traffic” is another common KPI that won’t do much good if the traffic you’re attracting isn’t qualified. Site visitors that aren’t interested in buying your product don’t help your bottom line. In fact, sometimes you can sell more with lower site traffic, if you’re focused on the people that eventually become customers. “Building links” by begging other sites to link to you can actually be counter-productive, and get you penalized by search engines. Instead, a healthy KPI should be focused on profit. Are you converting more casual site browsers to customers?
Healthy Digital Marketing KPIs.
While KPIs are frequently unique to industries and specific businesses, there are some general guidelines you can follow. Again, focus on KPIs that are directly tied to profits, and avoid those that can easily be improved without necessarily boosting your sales. E-mail signups and scheduled product demonstrations, for example, are two KPIs that could directly influence your sales numbers.
At On Target Web Solutions we understand that digital marketing can be challenging, and the digital landscape shifts and changes almost daily. We’ll help you navigate that landscape with signposts that are relevant to your business and that help you generate the results you need. We can work with you to create KPIs that will directly boost your bottom line, so you’ll see a direct correlation between your digital marketing and your sales.
