Top 10 Most Commonly Used Internet Marketing Metrics [Data]

Marketers are desperate for a clear, comprehensive, and effective set of metrics and measurement systems for driving marketing performance.

According to Geoff Ramsey, CEO of eMarketer, “The right metrics and measurement framework will allow you to prove your worth in both the short-term and the long-term."

A recent survey by Chief Marketer revealed that, of seven typical measurements, the metric most used by U.S. marketers to evaluate interactive performance is click-throughs. Ramsey suggested that while "click-through is the most commonly used metric by online advertisers...it is still relied on too heavily and in inappropriate ways. Click-through rate (CTR) should continue to be used as a diagnostic metric for direct response initiatives; however, it should not be used as a primary metric."

“Digital marketers today are drowning in metrics, but they don’t know which ones are important or how to connect the dots in a meaningful way that will drive marketing performance,” concluded Ramsey.

MarketingExperiments believes that there are really only four elements that are considered measureable:

1. The amount of activity on your website, which includes page views, visitors, returning visitors, etc.

2. The source of activity on your website. Consider referrers, search terms, languages, countries, etc.

3. The nature of that activity on your website. Represented in this category are entry pages, exit pages, browsers, platforms, cookie support, average time per page, etc.

4. The results of the activity on your website. This is the area that marketers tend to concentrate upon with most requested pages, leads generated, number of downloads, orders, etc.

You may be obsessing over metrics that won't move the needle for your business.  Instead, find those areas that really matter to your website, your business, and your bottom line. Then, take a focused look at defining the metrics that matter.

What metrics are you measuring in your marketing departments?  Are you convinced they are the right ones?

Image credit: jkfid