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Today there is an abundance of metrics available for modern-day marketers to track. This is good and bad because sometimes we have more data available than we know what to do with. It is crucial that marketers spend their time on the metrics that are the most relevant as to not waste any time. With that being said, not all metrics are created equal. By aligning your metrics with your goals, you will be able to operate with agility and accuracy. This will help you make data-driven choices to optimize your website for more conversions.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
When it comes to tracking KPIs, less is more. A common mistake that marketers make is tracking too many KPIs at one time. This causes unnecessary complications for your strategy. It is always best to track one KPI. This will keep you aligned and focused on the company’s bottom line. Choose an inbound marketing KPI that deals with generating more revenue. That, after all, is the most important goal for any business. The question you have to ask yourself is: “What do we need to do to bring our users closer to converting into a customer?” This could look like an ebook download, a free trial, a consultation, or even a website audit. Whatever it is, I would consider it your one true KPI.
Leading Performance Indicators (LPIs)
Once you have your KPI figured out, it is time to establish and track some LPIs. Leading Performance Indicators are essentially the next big thing to your KPI. If your visitor doesn’t convert on your established KPI, what is the next best thing that they could do to become a customer? LPIs are lower-level conversions that contribute to revenue. Tracking them will enable you to better anticipate how many users who are on the way to becoming opportunities and allow you to optimize for conversion.
LPI might be a MoFu (middle-of-funnel) conversion like a download or webinar registration. However, that doesn’t mean that every MoFu conversion is an LPI. Analyze your MoFu content and see which offers are actually converting visitors into customers, rather than just leads. Look at the content with the highest close rates, not just content with the most views or downloads. Web metrics related to profitable pieces of content are going to be the most valuable LPIs.
Tactical Performance Indicators (TPIs)
Tactical Performance Indicators are unrelated to revenue and occur on your site. Consider TPIs as baby steps towards converting on an LPI or in the best case scenario, your KPI. Low-level metrics (i.e. CTA clicks, page views, session duration, and number of pages per session) are examples of useful TPIs.
Learn what specific actions typically prompt conversion and designate your TPIs from there. Tracking TPIs might seem like a waste of time, but doing so can provide important insight into the actions that work up to conversion on an LPI or KPI. These metrics effectively demonstrate a user’s behavior on your site and can enable you to better optimize for higher-level conversions.
Implementing Conversion Rate Optimization
If your website is looking great but isn’t driving conversions, you may want to consider optimizing for conversions using your KPI, LPIs, and TPIs in mind. Your website is definitely one of your most valuable assets. Is it really playing its part if it isn’t contributing to revenue? Fortunately, overhauling your entire sales process may not be necessary. Conversion optimization practices can be simply and effectively implemented to address gaps in your funnel and ultimately drive revenue.
At Hone, we leverage the principles of the scientific method (observe, hypothesize, experiment, and measure) to implement changes that positively affect top-level KPIs. No matter what your KPI is, Hone’s conversion optimization program has a data-driven approach to define and optimize for your most important metric.
Need help with CRO? Contact HONE Marketing for conversion rate optimization solutions. Get a free assessment today.