Do you remember the last time you tried to guess how many candies were in a jar? Or how many coins are in a pot? It was fun, right? But when it comes to digital performance, guessing is not an option, and in this case, results matter more than fun (not to mention counting on fingers how many times we didn’t even come close to the number).
In the past, many marketing strategies were based on guesses, assumptions, or “hunches.” But today, this approach is more than just “old-fashioned” or, to avoid foreign words, outdated or out of fashion.
These days, many companies still take risks. Trusting only intuition to make decisions and choose paths. To use a less fancy analogy, imagine entering a casino, heading to the roulette table, and, right next to the croupier, betting all your chips on the same number. But online advertising is not a game of chance. Some metrics should not be ignored, and they act as a compass guiding the entire strategy.
But beware! We don’t mean to say that intuition, sixth sense, or even that feeling that whispers in your ear, “Ah, this will be a success,” should be ignored entirely. They can be an excellent starting point. The problem arises when companies let themselves go with the flow of luck and forget what the data is screaming at them.
But why on earth are these metrics important?
And here is the great revolution of the digital world: unlike offline advertising, whose effectiveness can be as unpredictable as the weather in Portugal (will it rain, won’t it?), digital marketing offers crystal clarity. Want to know how many people saw your ad? There’s a metric for that. Want to find out how many people bought after clicking on the ad? There’s another metric for that. More examples? Want to know even how many people completely ignored it? Well, as painful as it may be, that information can also be obtained! In online advertising, everything is measurable from the first to the last click.
However, some companies prefer to play hide and seek with the data. “Oh, my cousin António must know about this”, or “My niece Rita has many followers; she must know how to help,” they say. But in reality, neither António, Rita, or the social media guru have the complete answer without consulting and analyzing the metrics.
When it comes to digital performance, the game has to stay out. There’s no time to base marketing decisions on assumptions, intuitions, or pseudo-know-how; the metrics and insights they give us make all the difference.
On this subject, you can check out a good Complete Guide to Define the Performance Strategy of your Brand.
After all, what metrics in digital marketing are so important for digital performance?
Put, metrics are quantitative measures that help assess the efficiency and effectiveness of campaigns. Some basic examples include:
- Click-Through Rate (CTR): This metric indicates the effectiveness of your ads by showing the proportion of clicks to the number of views.
- Conversion Rate: Reflects the percentage of visitors who take the desired action on your site or ad, be it a purchase, sign-up, or download.
- Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): Indicates how much it costs to acquire a new customer through an advertising campaign.
- Return on Investment (ROI): This is crucial. It shows the profitability of campaigns, i.e., how much the company earns about what was invested in the campaign.
You can learn more about the role of marketing metrics on social media in the MSI Journal paper.
Back to analogies, metrics are like the lighthouse in the digital ocean. They allow companies to understand user behaviour and adjust and optimize campaigns in real-time.
But with the growing complexity of digital marketing, a crucial role emerges that of the traffic manager, who is the GPS directing the strategy, optimizing the budget, analyzing the metrics, and maximizing the return. These digital performance specialists and specialized agencies are true maestros in the digital universe. They master all the peculiarities of advertising platforms, understand consumer behaviour, and know precisely where and how to invest. And it is this know-how that can make all the difference in reducing risk and maximizing opportunities.
However, if you know how many candies are in the jar, let us know. Through metrics, we accept the challenge of “proving nine” to confirm that it is correct.
