This document discusses the importance of establishing clear objectives, goals, key performance indicators (KPIs), and targets for digital marketing efforts. It recommends bringing key stakeholders together to agree on top-level objectives that increase revenue, decrease costs, or improve brand. Specific and measurable KPIs should then be defined along with how performance will be segmented and measured. Targets should account for past trends and seasonal variations. Various frameworks are presented for establishing these elements depending on factors like company size and industry. The overall goal is to drive decision making and ensure digital efforts are focused on what matters most to the business.

1. @jonoaldersonDigital Marketing By Numbers
Digital Marketing
By Numbers

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Jono Alderson
GLobal Head of Digital @ Linkdex
@jonoalderson
Technical SEO + analytics geek + agency guy
Closet web developer & WordPress fanatic

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It’s frameworks, not
data, which drive success

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Nobody’s succeeding.

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HIPPO culture
This guy is not an
expert at choosing
KPIs.

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A lack of direction
The discovery of
magical, ‘’interesting’
insight

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Analysis Paralysis

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? ?
? ?

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The box
of lies
The Great Crime of the Analytics Industry

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Difficulty articulating success
You can’t say “Hold
on, what are our
objectives again?”

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Obsessive comparison to the past
“How well did we do
last time” is lazy.
“How well do we
want to do this
time?” is better.

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Only looking at the clickstream

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Using a framework & data to
fuel your decision-making
Overcome these hurdles with a simple process

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You have bespoke data and
bespoke needs
Design something from scratch

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The HEART Framework
For user-centric focus

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Evolving This
For larger or established organisations & products

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Objective Goal KPI Key Segments Performance
Be seen as
thought leaders
Get people reading and
engaging with our content
# triggers of time on page > 2 mins on a blog post (per month) Category, author
# average comments-per-post (rolling)
Double YoY
revenue
Increase sales revenue from
digital channels
# qualified sales (per month) where the sale had digital attribution Department, channel, product
£ qualified sales revenue (per month), where the sale had digital
attribution
Increase customer lifetime value % of new consumers via the website making a repeat purchase
within 3 months (rolling, YoY)
Channel, source, campaign,
keyword, gender, geographic
region, entry page
Average time between repeat purchases (rolling, YoY)
Provide the best
customer service
Provide great content and help
users find the information they
need
% task completion rate (per month) Initiating page, Channel, source,
campaign, keyword
% satisfaction rate (per month)
Delta % against average competitor satisfaction rate (roling)
Compete on
marketing
efficiency
Maintain a high conversion rate
to sale
% visitors to macroconversions (per month) Channel, source, campaign,
keyword, call type
Increase self-service actions on
the website
£ value of microconversions (per month) Microconverion, channel, source,
campaign, keyword

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Visualise performance with bullet charts

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Objective Goal KPI Key Segments Performance
Be seen as
thought leaders
Get people reading and
engaging with our content
# triggers of time on page > 2 mins on a blog post (per month) Category, author
# average comments-per-post (rolling)
Double YoY
revenue
Increase sales revenue from
digital channels
# qualified sales (per month) where the sale had digital attribution Department, channel, product
£ qualified sales revenue (per month), where the sale had digital
attribution
Increase customer lifetime value % of new consumers via the website making a repeat purchase
within 3 months (rolling, YoY)
Channel, source, campaign,
keyword, gender, geographic
region, entry page
Average time between repeat purchases (rolling, YoY)
Provide the best
customer service
Provide great content and help
users find the information they
need
% task completion rate (per month) Initiating page, Channel, source,
campaign, keyword
% satisfaction rate (per month)
Delta % against average competitor satisfaction rate (roling)
Compete on
marketing
efficiency
Maintain a high conversion rate
to sale
% visitors to macroconversions (per month) Channel, source, campaign,
keyword, call type
Increase self-service actions on
the website
£ value of microconversions (per month) Microconverion, channel, source,
campaign, keyword

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You’ll need 5 things...

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Get your key stakeholders in
a room
Go all the way to the top.
You only get once chance...

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Remove the elephant from the room
Hansel & Gretel

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Get to the top-level objectives
There are no
wrong answers

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The rules
Objectives must increase revenue,
decrease cost or improve brand.
Anything else is probably a goal or a KPI.

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Objective Goal KPI Key Segments Performance
Be seen as
thought leaders
Get people reading and
engaging with our content
# triggers of time on page > 2 mins on a blog post (per month) Category, author
# average comments-per-post (rolling)
Double YoY
revenue
Increase sales revenue from
digital channels
# qualified sales (per month) where the sale had digital attribution Department, channel, product
£ qualified sales revenue (per month), where the sale had digital
attribution
Increase customer lifetime value % of new consumers via the website making a repeat purchase
within 3 months (rolling, YoY)
Channel, source, campaign,
keyword, gender, geographic
region, entry page
Average time between repeat purchases (rolling, YoY)
Provide the best
customer service
Provide great content and help
users find the information they
need
% task completion rate (per month) Initiating page, Channel, source,
campaign, keyword
% satisfaction rate (per month)
Delta % against average competitor satisfaction rate (roling)
Compete on
marketing
efficiency
Maintain a high conversion rate
to sale
% visitors to macroconversions (per month) Channel, source, campaign,
keyword, call type
Increase self-service actions on
the website
£ value of microconversions (per month) Microconverion, channel, source,
campaign, keyword

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Make your KPIs ultra-specific and
document the details
# conversions
# qualified macroconversions
# macroconversions (valuable contact form submissions, valuable
phone calls, and offline conversions which cite ‘web’ as source)

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Encourage gamification
and self-validation for
experiential KPIs.
“I found this helpful”, “I completed a task!“ or “this was
useful” prompts to differentiate between lost/looking

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Build analysis criteria and
KPIs into product, service
and campaign specs
“How do we know if this is working?”

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Setting Targets
1. Calculate average monthly/seasonal variation
2. Normalise any spikes due to known abnormalities and common
sense (‘sensible’ is better than ‘perfect’)
3. Trend this forwards (trend() and forecast() in Excel are useful)
4. Modify each time period based on predicted activity and one-off and
equity-creating impact
5. Include external/campaign costs

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Objective Goal KPI Key Segments Performance
Be seen as
thought leaders
Get people reading and
engaging with our content
# triggers of time on page > 2 mins on a blog post (per month) Category, author
# average comments-per-post (rolling)
Double YoY
revenue
Increase sales revenue from
digital channels
# sales (per month) where the sale had qualified digital attribution Department, channel, product
£ sales revenue (per month), where the sale had qualified digital
attribution
Increase customer lifetime value % of new consumers via the website making a repeat purchase
within 3 months (rolling, YoY)
Channel, source, campaign,
keyword, gender, geographic
region, entry page
Average time between repeat purchases (rolling, YoY)
Provide the best
customer service
Provide great content and help
users find the information they
need
% task completion rate (per month) Initiating page, Channel, source,
campaign, keyword
% satisfaction rate (per month)
Delta % against average competitor satisfaction rate (per month)
Compete on
marketing
efficiency
Maintain a high conversion rate
to sale
% visitors to macroconversions (per month) Channel, source, campaign,
keyword, call type
Increase self-service actions on
the website
£ value of microconversions (per month) Microconverion, channel, source,
campaign, keyword

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Step by step implementation

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Pirate Metrics
For agile, growth-focused start-ups & apps

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Self Evaluation
For getting better at this over time

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Move from this…
http://www.cardinalpath.com/services/online-analytics-maturity-model/assessment/

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Move from this...
http://www.cardinalpath.com/services/online-analytics-maturity-model/assessment/

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To this.
http://www.cardinalpath.com/services/online-analytics-maturity-model/assessment/

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Tools
….come last.

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eCRM?

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Objective Goal KPI Key Segments Performance
Be seen as
thought leaders
Get people reading and
engaging with our content
# triggers of time on page > 2 mins on a blog post (per month) Category, author
# average comments-per-post (rolling)
Double YoY
revenue
Increase sales revenue from
digital channels
# sales (per month) where the sale had qualified digital attribution Department, channel, product
£ sales revenue (per month), where the sale had qualified digital
attribution
Increase customer lifetime value % of new consumers via the website making a repeat purchase
within 3 months (rolling, YoY)
Channel, source, campaign,
keyword, gender, geographic
region, entry page
Average time between repeat purchases (rolling, YoY)
Provide the best
customer service
Provide great content and help
users find the information they
need
% task completion rate (per month) Initiating page, Channel, source,
campaign, keyword
% satisfaction rate (per month)
Delta % against average competitor satisfaction rate (per month)
Compete on
marketing
efficiency
Maintain a high conversion rate
to sale
% visitors to macroconversions (per month) Channel, source, campaign,
keyword, call type
Increase self-service actions on
the website
£ value of microconversions (per month) Microconverion, channel, source,
campaign, keyword

51. @jonoaldersonDigital Marketing By Numbers
Objective Goal KPI Key Segments Performance
Be seen as
thought leaders
Get people reading and
engaging with our content
# triggers of time on page > 2 mins on a blog post (per month) Category, author
# average comments-per-post (rolling)
Double YoY
revenue
Increase sales revenue from
digital channels
# sales (per month) where the sale had qualified digital attribution Department, channel, product
£ sales revenue (per month), where the sale had qualified digital
attribution
Increase customer lifetime value % of new consumers via the website making a repeat purchase
within 3 months (rolling, YoY)
Channel, source, campaign,
keyword, gender, geographic
region, entry page
Average time between repeat purchases (rolling, YoY)
Provide the best
customer service
Provide great content and help
users find the information they
need
% task completion rate (per month) Initiating page, Channel, source,
campaign, keyword
% satisfaction rate (per month)
Delta % against average competitor satisfaction rate (per month)
Compete on
marketing
efficiency
Maintain a high conversion rate
to sale
% visitors to macroconversions (per month) Channel, source, campaign,
keyword, call type
Increase self-service actions on
the website
£ value of microconversions (per month) Microconverion, channel, source,
campaign, keyword

52. @jonoaldersonDigital Marketing By Numbers
So.
Frameworks...

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An aside…
Don’t let people shit on your
parade have differing
opinions.

54. Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
C-level
Be in control
“I can set a binding
vision”
Marketing
Minimise risk
“I can change our
priorities”
Finance
Minimise cost
“I can agree to spend, to
accumulate”
Third parties
& other SEOs
Defend themselves
“I can challenge the
status quo”
Tech & Legal
Maintain status quo
“I can veto anything”
bit.ly/linkdex-videos

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Bringing this together...

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You know what success and
failure looks like before you
explore or crunch the numbers.
And you know what actions to take depending on what you find

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Hippos are locked in to defined
performance definitions.
You’ve removed the opportunity to object, flake, or u-turn

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Shortcomings in processes,
resource, tools & culture are
accommodated for, and can’t be
used as excuses.
Opportunities - not limitations

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Decisions are made about the
things that matter

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Thanks!
Any questions?
Jono Alderson
Global Head of Digital @ Linkdex
@jonoalderson