| b-analytics solution is likely providing copious detail | | | | session for more information. That’s a |
| about customer and prospect behavior, such as | | | | measure of engagement and an opportunity to |
| number of unique visitors, site-navigation patterns | | | | develop new ways to bring them back. |
| and top entry pages. But are you using it to shed | | | | Integrated solutions versus the do-it-yourself |
| light on how well email-marketing campaigns are | | | | approach |
| performing? | | | | If your email-marketing solution and Web-analytics |
| For example, do you know how many email visitors | | | | solution are integrated, it’s easy to extract |
| reached the cart and then left before completing the | | | | data on individual users that you can use later to |
| purchase? How long email visitors spent on each | | | | create highly targeted email marketing campaigns. |
| page? Which pages caused most of them to bail? | | | | Using standalone systems doesn't offer this level of |
| Which email campaigns have higher conversion rates | | | | granularity, but you'll still be able to track trends that |
| — even though their open and click-through | | | | affect your email visitors as a whole. |
| rates are similar? | | | | For example, if a large percentage of email visitors |
| Answering questions like these can dramatically | | | | expressed interest in a certain product, you can |
| improve the effectiveness of email campaigns. For | | | | make that product the centerpiece of your next |
| example, your marketing director may have a theory | | | | email campaign. Or, if a high number of visitors exited |
| that free shipping and handling will boost | | | | immediately from the landing page, you can fix the |
| email-campaign conversion 25 percent. web analytics | | | | landing page before your next email blast. |
| can help you test whether a new offer actually | | | | How can you extract this data even if your |
| worked. And it can help your creative team come up | | | | email-marketing and Web-analytics tools aren't |
| with future emails that do a better job of converting | | | | integrated? You can create a dedicated landing page |
| the visitors who slipped away the first time. | | | | for the email campaign and monitor what groups of |
| Beyond the click-through | | | | visitors do there. |
| The true effectiveness of email campaigns really | | | | Or, if creating a dedicated landing page for every |
| begins, not ends, with the click-through. Email | | | | single email campaign is too unwieldy, you can add a |
| click-though rates don’t provide meaningful | | | | unique tracking parameter to the landing-page link |
| data about what the visitor did after arriving at your | | | | from each email campaign, such as: |
| Web site. To obtain actionable data that can improve | | | | source=aug08email. |
| your email-marketing campaigns, look beyond the | | | | That way, you can send visitors from multiple |
| usual metrics and use web analytics to determine: | | | | campaigns to a single landing page, and your |
| Time on the site. To get a more holistic view of | | | | Web-analytics tool can use the tracking parameter to |
| your campaign, you need to know more than how | | | | segment which visitors came from which campaigns. |
| many visitors showed up. Did they stay around? For | | | | If your email marketing and web analytics solutions |
| how long? You can use average time on site for all | | | | are integrated, you can be more sophisticated in your |
| visitors as a benchmark, then compare that with | | | | analysis. That's because your web analytics tool will |
| average time on the site just for visitors that came | | | | be able to feed information on what individual visitors |
| in through the email marketing campaign. | | | | do between entering and exiting the site back to |
| Campaign exit rate. How many people reached | | | | your email-marketing tool. This gives your |
| your landing page but didn’t convert? If you | | | | email-marketing team greater freedom to send |
| see high exit rates, you’ll probably want to | | | | targeted messages to custom segments based on |
| reconsider how well your landing page reflects the | | | | their Web behavior. |
| promise you made in your email message (such as a | | | | Which email visitors abandoned the shopping cart? |
| free-shipping offer). | | | | You can extract this segment from your |
| Where the visitors bailed. This is crucial to | | | | Web-analytics tool, and remind this select group via |
| consider when you want to improve performance. If | | | | email that the items they nearly purchased are still |
| you can identify a page with high abandonment, you | | | | available. Or if a certain group visited a particular |
| can then do some troubleshooting. | | | | product page, you can send them additional |
| Pages visited after the landing page. Here is | | | | information or special offers related to this product. |
| where you can extract helpful data even if visitors | | | | Using web analytics to monitor the true |
| didn’t do exactly what you wanted. For | | | | effectiveness of your email campaigns will help your |
| example, you wanted visitors to make a purchase, | | | | marketing team create more relevant messaging, |
| but they downloaded a white paper instead. Or they | | | | boost sales conversions, exploit new opportunities for |
| didn’t buy online, but they went to a chat | | | | cross-selling and recover missed opportunities. |