In the era of big data, analytics and results-based decision making, the need to prove and justify the viability of all your communications properties has never been more relevant. But, with websites and emails and SMS and viewbooks and fact sheets and social media and … well, there’s a lot of stuff to measure. What you need is a measurement strategy, a plan for how to maximize the disparate results you’re collecting from all these platforms. In this session, we will discuss not just the tools you needs to properly track all your communications, but also how to implement a program that will make sense of the numbers you collect and make them relevant to each other.
1. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
So…
what's the big deal about analytics?
2. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
58%
check email first thing in the morning
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/wrap-up/top-5-takeaways-email-summit-2013
3. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
$1
Amount spent converting customers for every
$92 spent acquiring them.
http://unbounce.com/conversion-rate-optimization/report-2012/
4. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
People are more likely to survive a plane crash
than click a banner ad
http://prestigemarketing.ca/blog/who-looks-at-banner-ads-infographic/
5. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
66%
prospective college students that believe schools should
have a social media presence
http://cursivecontent.com/7-content-marketing-stats-that-should-shake-higher-education-and-5-ways-to-act-on-them/
6. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
1 / 5
students removed a university from consideration after a
bad experience with the school’s website
http://cursivecontent.com/7-content-marketing-stats-that-should-shake-higher-education-and-5-ways-to-act-on-them/
7. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
79%
of N.A. universities don’t know their email
clickthrough rate!
Email Marketing for Educators, Benchmark Email: http://www.benchmarkemail.com/resources/manualinfo/education
8. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
These are examples of...
DATA!
9. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
How to Measure
Absolutely Everything
10. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
How to Measure
Absolutely Everything
… and do it effectively
11. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
You don’t know...
12. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
...why things aren’t working
13. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
…why things ARE working
14. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
...with whom you should be communicating
15. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
The Fundamentals
Determining your goals:
● What do you want to measure?
● Why do you want to measure?
● Is your marketing performing?
16. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
The Fundamentals
Determining your goals:
● Is your marketing performing?
● Why do you want to measure?
● What do you want to measure?
17. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Is your marketing performing?
18. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Is your marketing performing?
“A lot of marketers don’t listen to their
prospects’ digital body language. They don’t
measure and match the behaviour of their
prospects on their website and follow up.”
Jordie Van Rijn
Email Monday
19. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Is your marketing performing?
Process funnel
Attract/Convert/Measure
20. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Is your marketing performing?
Process funnel
Attract/Convert/Measure
21. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Is your marketing performing?
Process funnel
Attract/Convert/Measure
22. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Is your marketing performing?
Process funnel
Attract/Convert/Measure
23. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Is your marketing performing?
R.O.I.
24. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Is your marketing performing?
R.O.I.
● Students are “revenue sources”
○ in other words, our customers
○ measure them as such
25. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Is your marketing performing?
R.O.I.
● Austerity demands ensuring we maximize
revenue generating potential
○ “do more with less”
26. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Is your marketing performing?
R.O.I.
● Communication activities have
monetary value
27. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Is your marketing performing?
S.E.M.
● strategic enrolment management
● attract students who will succeed
○ ...and keep them!
28. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Why do you want to measure?
29. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Why do you want to measure?
Understand
Decide
Control
http://www.slideshare.net/HubSpot/marketing-analytics-101-how-to-measure-the-effectiveness-of-your-website
30. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Why do you want to measure?
Understand
What’s happening with your marketing.
http://www.slideshare.net/HubSpot/marketing-analytics-101-how-to-measure-the-effectiveness-of-your-website
31. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Why do you want to measure?
Decide
What to invest in.
http://www.slideshare.net/HubSpot/marketing-analytics-101-how-to-measure-the-effectiveness-of-your-website
32. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Why do you want to measure?
Control
Your growth.
http://www.slideshare.net/HubSpot/marketing-analytics-101-how-to-measure-the-effectiveness-of-your-website
33. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Why do you want to measure?
“Half the money I spend on advertising is
wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”
John Wanamaker
Merchant, former U.S. Postmaster General
34. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Why do you want to measure?
Use measurement of your marketing tactics to
inform future spending
35. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
What do you want to measure?
36. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Performance Indicators
quantifiable measurements,
agreed to beforehand,
that reflect the critical success factors of an
organization
37. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Performance Indicators
Must be quantifiable
38. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Performance Indicators
Define the KPI and stay with the same
definition from year to year
39. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Performance Indicators
They will differ depending on the organization.
40. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Performance Indicators
Reflect the organizational goals
41. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Tactics
42. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Tactics
● Leads
■ prospective students
■ parents of prospective students
● Contacts
■ applicants and current students
■ teachers and counsellors
43. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Tactics - Attract
SEO
● use keyword analysis tools to see density
● review the keywords used to find your site
● inbound links (especially the text)
44. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Tactics - Attract
Social Media Analytics
● Reach
○ The number of people who could have seen a story
about your page.
○ This is counted for each person who loads the story
about your page while browsing Facebook.
45. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Tactics - Attract
Social Media Analytics
● Influence
○ Influence is the ability to cause desirable and
measurable actions and outcomes.
○ This definition incorporates the line of thought that
we can consciously influence things and people.
46. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Tactics - Attract
Social Media Analytics
● Sentiment
○ Natural language analysis that determines the
opinion being expressed by the poster
47. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Tactics - Attract
Social Media Analytics
● Tracking referrals
○ URL shorteners
■ shorter, easier-to-remember urls
■ click tracking
48. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Tactics - Attract
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1033867?hl=en
http://bit.ly/urlbuilderlink
49. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Tactics - Attract
Traditional Media
● Your goals determine how you use this tactic
● Another good use for your url shortener
50. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Tactics - Attract
Traditional Media
● Your goals determine how you use this tactic
○ need to evaluate effectiveness of specific media?
i. e.g. display ads versus mailouts
ii. buy specific urls for each medium
51. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Tactics - Attract
Traditional Media
● Your goals determine how you use this tactic
○ campaigns vs. standard marketing materials
i. special campaign-specific urls
ii. landing pages
iii. reserve home page url for standard marketing
52. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Tactics - Attract
Traditional Media
● QR Codes
● FAIL!
53. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Tactics - Attract
Traditional Media
● QR Codes
● Don’t use them!
54. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Tactics - Attract
Traditional Media
● QR Codes
● No, really, I mean it
55. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Tactics - Attract
Email
56. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
11.5%
general open rate
Technology Leaders, LLC
57. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
2%
general clickthrough rate
Technology Leaders, LLC
58. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
40.5%
York U open rate
59. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
8%
York U clickthrough rate
60. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
2x
better open rate when using a subject line with
less than 40 characters
Technology Leaders, LLC
61. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
42%
of North American universities email monthly
Email Marketing for Educators, Benchmark Email: http://www.benchmarkemail.com/resources/manualinfo/education
62. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
6%
email to distribute information and to fundraise
Email Marketing for Educators, Benchmark Email: http://www.benchmarkemail.com/resources/manualinfo/education
63. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
47%
report open rates greater than 40%
Email Marketing for Educators, Benchmark Email: http://www.benchmarkemail.com/resources/manualinfo/education
64. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
79%
don’t know their clickthrough rate!
Email Marketing for Educators, Benchmark Email: http://www.benchmarkemail.com/resources/manualinfo/education
65. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Tactics - Attract
25 email elements you can consider testing:
1. Subject line
2. From name
3. Day of the week
4. Time of day
5. Frequency
6. Mostly-images vs. mostly-text
7. Short copy vs. long copy
66. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Tactics - Attract
4. Time of day
5. Frequency
6. Mostly-images vs. mostly-text
7. Short copy vs. long copy
8. Links vs. buttons
9. Number of links
10. Unsubscribe at the top
11. First name personalization — in the subject
line
12. First name personalization — in the email
body
67. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Tactics - Attract
line
12. First name personalization — in the email
body
13. Animated gifs
14. Font colors
15. Font styles
16. Opt-down
17. Social sharing icons
18. Social connecting icons
19. Delivery by time zone
20. Call to action — number
68. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Tactics - Attract
16. Opt-down
17. Social sharing icons
18. Social connecting icons
19. Delivery by time zone
20. Call to action — number
21. Call to action — placement
22. Post-click landing page
23. Social proof
24. Tone — human vs. corporate
25. Copy length
69. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Tactics - Convert
Web-based lead collection
70. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Tactics - Convert
Web-based lead collection
#1 & #2 on the list of 15
Web Form Fails…
...don't try to collect every
detail all at once
http://blog.straightnorth.com/15-web-form-fails-ceo-marketing-tips/
71. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Tactics - Convert
Web-based lead collection
#10 No privacy message
#13 No motivation:
Give me one good reason to
complete the form
http://blog.straightnorth.com/15-web-form-fails-ceo-marketing-tips/
72. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
73. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Tactics - Convert
A/B Testing
● email calls to action
● design changes on your site
74. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Tactics - Convert
A/B Testing
● Email
○ subject lines
○ call-to-action message
○ link positioning
○ email distribution systems generally make this easy
75. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Tactics - Convert
A/B Testing
● Website design
○ key element positioning
○ Google found the optimal shade of blue
76. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Key Tactics - Convert
Usability and accessibility
● card sort tests
● direct user testings
● accessibility
○ screen readers
○ monochrome
○ increased font size
77. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Big Red Button
78. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Big Red Button
Analytics said “Programs 1st”
Make it as easy as possible to
find the content they need
Radical solution
79. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Big Red Button
Worked!
Improved flow through
program pages
But… user blind spots
80. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Print marketing “failures”
81. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Print marketing “failures”
Use # of pieces mailed/
distributed/given out as
indicator
Use unique urls to track
usage
82. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Print marketing “failures”
Use # pieces mailed/
distributed/given out as
indicator
Use unique urls to track
usage
Results seemed low
In reality, response rates
excellent compared to
industry standards
True evaluation elusive
}
83. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
84. Nick Valentino • Office of the Vice-Provost Students • nickv@yorku.ca • @nickwebguy
Thank you!
Hinweis der Redaktion
Use Google URL Builder to connect campaigns across media
e.g. Links on Google, Facebook, Twitter, Email can all be linked under the same campaign using the url builder
Used to identify traffic coming from email source (“ExactTarget/Email”)