How do you make this
connection?
Integrate your Web Analytics and
Web forms leads to your CRM system. This enables you to systematically follow
the lead-gen process, with its attached metrics and cost data, through to the
sale. Also, assign unique phone numbers to Web initiatives and all Web touch
points to gauge activity that begins via your website and inspires a direct
phone call.
For eCommerce
businesses, this is a very straight-line
exercise, because sales are transacted on the website. For B-to-B and B-to-C
firms whose websites are generating leads but not e-commerce sales, this can be
a little more complicated but well worth the effort.
How does tracking integration
help your website be a revenue versus an expense center?
Seeing clearly which keywords,
traffic sources, campaigns, pages, referring sites, etc., best deliver sales at
the most effective cost is an enlightening tool to guide your Web marketing
decisions.
Integration
of leads metrics and analytics into your CRM will let you track the sources of
where your leads are coming from as well as the cost of those leads, the leads
that convert to a sale, the average revenue and the duration of time to close
the sale. When you can now track what lead sources convert to sales, you can measure
your most effective marketing tactics for
generating quality, cost-effective leads.
Through
our own lead data and CRM integration at Bayshore Solutions we were able to
detect clear patterns in the keywords used by true prospects versus people
interested in employment opportunities or selling us something. We also
discovered a distinct quality of lead difference (‘real’ potential customers
versus unqualified prospects and even competitors) among different ad copy
versions and incentives to visit our site and complete a quote request form.
Web performance analytics offer a
plethora of metrics and it is very easy to get lost in them. Many of the
metrics available have value and give you insight into influencing, supporting
or measuring different statistics. The key is to know which ones are important
to the goal of your website being a profit center.
A harsh lesson learned and a great example of this was a
client who was seeing sales growth through integrated SEO, PPC and online
marketing tactics but was fixated on their website bounce rate. They insisted
on directing their efforts solely to decreasing the bounce rate. The net
result: over three months, they lost the momentum they had been building by
focusing on just the bounce rate and
were now seeing a decline in sales. Why? Too much effort was applied to one
part of their interactive marketing metrics and not enough to the indicators
that help marketers make the right decisions and lead to sales.
Capturing
lead data and connecting it to the end outcome is a critical step in accurately
measuring results. From there, you will make strategic and tactical decisions
because they will generate qualified leads that convert into customers.
It takes
time and discipline to get your integration established, but it truly allows
you to make sure your Web marketing investment is yielding great lead generation results that
progress to really great revenue growth.
For a snapshot of Bayshore
Solutions Web marketing methodology, click to: www.BayshoreSolutions.com/method.
Kevin Hourigan is the president
and CEO of Bayshore Solutions. Reach him at (877) 535-4578 or www.BayshoreSolutions.com.
