Why create a measurement plan with Digital Analytics?
Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2024 8:26 am
Web Analytics
Why create a measurement plan with Digital Analytics?
Every business, online or offline, should create or implement a measurement plan today. The reason? As William Thomson Kelvin would say, “If you can’t measure something, you can’t improve it . ”
Digital Analytics has made great progress in recent years and the Big Data revolution has changed the way business decisions are made.
But let's not be afraid, you don't have to be a multinational to be able to create an effective measurement plan to grow your business .
To help you better understand this “subject” I decided to interview Romania Phone Numbers Matteo Boscolo (Digital Analyst at Peak Metrics) so that you can apply it immediately in your marketing strategies.
Table of Contents
What is a measurement plan for?
What tools are used to do this type of analysis?
Are there any standard templates for creating a measurement plan?
What is your process for building a measurement plan?
Do you think it is useful to measure the performance of a website?
What is a measurement plan for?
In digital marketing, a measurement plan is a document that aims to translate business objectives into measurable metrics and dimensions . It serves to ensure that marketing objectives and strategies are always connected and measured by performance indicators shared by all stakeholders.
It is a fundamental document not only for the web analyst, who uses it to create the actual measurement system , but also for those who deal with strategy in any channel.
Proceeding without a measurement plan is the equivalent of hiking a mountain trail without planning the journey you are about to take: you can bring too much stuff (over tracking) or too little. In both cases, you risk not having the most important tools at hand, the ones that allow you to know whether or not you are reaching the goal you set for yourself.
What tools are used to do this type of analysis?
The tools used can range from post-its to a Google Sheets document. The important thing is that this document must be created together with the stakeholders . No one better than the owner or the marketing manager has clear objectives of the business and its web properties.
I usually use a template in Sheets containing at least these columns:
Goal: The business goal, e.g. “To drive more online sales and less in-store sales”
KPI : the performance indicator linked to the objective, e.g. “Ecommerce Transactions, Physical Store Appointment Bookings”
Segment: the audience segment, if the site has multiple audience segments and the objective is dedicated to only one of them, e.g. “Trail runner”
Priority: The perceived priority for this goal
Difficulty: An estimate of the technical difficulty of making the measurement
Before this meeting I always perform an audit of the existing Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager configuration , so that I have a breakdown of the work that has already been done in the past.
Learn more: Tools to measure site speed
Are there any standard templates for creating a measurement plan?
There are many templates available online, in the form of an Excel sheet, which help with filling out the form, for example:
HOP Measurement Plan
Crazy Egg Measurement Plan
Or Avinash's guide on how to create one
Personally, I recommend taking them as inspiration and creating a version that best fits the workflow of your company or agency.
What is your process for building a measurement plan?
The process for building a measurement plan is divided into an initial interview phase with stakeholders where questions such as:
Why does the website exist?
What are the goals we want to achieve through the website?
Who are the targets? What are their customer journeys?
Once you have the answers to these questions, you can translate them into metrics and dimensions or data sources to draw from. Through this process, you will realize that, in order to monitor the goals you set, you may need data sources that come from outside your website , such as Facebook Ads or an Excel sheet containing contact data or returned orders.
Once the measurement plan is ready, I translate it into an implementation plan . The implementation plan is a more technical document, where a series of tasks that are not discussed with stakeholders are also indicated, such as, for example, the need to configure a cross-domain installation in the case of a reality with multiple domains to monitor.
This document will act as a checklist during system setup and tag creation and will track the work done today and in the future.
Example of implementation plan
Example of implementation plan
Do you think it is useful to measure the performance of a website?
If you read between the lines you will have understood that I consider it fundamental . In the last 15 years the marketing landscape has changed radically, with important budgets that have poured into online channels, paid or not. This change has brought with it an ever-increasing amount of data with which we can monitor the performance of a website in many different nuances, revolutionizing the way we make decisions.
Must Read: Is Your Website Slow?
However, it is important to remember that proceeding with incorrect data is worse than not having any data at all. Investing in a measurement plan , therefore, is the first step towards a successful campaign.
Conclusions
Improving the marketing performance of a project is possible, you need to keep the focus on the main objective and find an adequate way to monitor it over time.
Analyzing data allows us to identify the activities that achieve the most results, an important information that we can use to our advantage to plan new strategies.
Why create a measurement plan with Digital Analytics?
Every business, online or offline, should create or implement a measurement plan today. The reason? As William Thomson Kelvin would say, “If you can’t measure something, you can’t improve it . ”
Digital Analytics has made great progress in recent years and the Big Data revolution has changed the way business decisions are made.
But let's not be afraid, you don't have to be a multinational to be able to create an effective measurement plan to grow your business .
To help you better understand this “subject” I decided to interview Romania Phone Numbers Matteo Boscolo (Digital Analyst at Peak Metrics) so that you can apply it immediately in your marketing strategies.
Table of Contents
What is a measurement plan for?
What tools are used to do this type of analysis?
Are there any standard templates for creating a measurement plan?
What is your process for building a measurement plan?
Do you think it is useful to measure the performance of a website?
What is a measurement plan for?
In digital marketing, a measurement plan is a document that aims to translate business objectives into measurable metrics and dimensions . It serves to ensure that marketing objectives and strategies are always connected and measured by performance indicators shared by all stakeholders.
It is a fundamental document not only for the web analyst, who uses it to create the actual measurement system , but also for those who deal with strategy in any channel.
Proceeding without a measurement plan is the equivalent of hiking a mountain trail without planning the journey you are about to take: you can bring too much stuff (over tracking) or too little. In both cases, you risk not having the most important tools at hand, the ones that allow you to know whether or not you are reaching the goal you set for yourself.
What tools are used to do this type of analysis?
The tools used can range from post-its to a Google Sheets document. The important thing is that this document must be created together with the stakeholders . No one better than the owner or the marketing manager has clear objectives of the business and its web properties.
I usually use a template in Sheets containing at least these columns:
Goal: The business goal, e.g. “To drive more online sales and less in-store sales”
KPI : the performance indicator linked to the objective, e.g. “Ecommerce Transactions, Physical Store Appointment Bookings”
Segment: the audience segment, if the site has multiple audience segments and the objective is dedicated to only one of them, e.g. “Trail runner”
Priority: The perceived priority for this goal
Difficulty: An estimate of the technical difficulty of making the measurement
Before this meeting I always perform an audit of the existing Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager configuration , so that I have a breakdown of the work that has already been done in the past.
Learn more: Tools to measure site speed
Are there any standard templates for creating a measurement plan?
There are many templates available online, in the form of an Excel sheet, which help with filling out the form, for example:
HOP Measurement Plan
Crazy Egg Measurement Plan
Or Avinash's guide on how to create one
Personally, I recommend taking them as inspiration and creating a version that best fits the workflow of your company or agency.
What is your process for building a measurement plan?
The process for building a measurement plan is divided into an initial interview phase with stakeholders where questions such as:
Why does the website exist?
What are the goals we want to achieve through the website?
Who are the targets? What are their customer journeys?
Once you have the answers to these questions, you can translate them into metrics and dimensions or data sources to draw from. Through this process, you will realize that, in order to monitor the goals you set, you may need data sources that come from outside your website , such as Facebook Ads or an Excel sheet containing contact data or returned orders.
Once the measurement plan is ready, I translate it into an implementation plan . The implementation plan is a more technical document, where a series of tasks that are not discussed with stakeholders are also indicated, such as, for example, the need to configure a cross-domain installation in the case of a reality with multiple domains to monitor.
This document will act as a checklist during system setup and tag creation and will track the work done today and in the future.
Example of implementation plan
Example of implementation plan
Do you think it is useful to measure the performance of a website?
If you read between the lines you will have understood that I consider it fundamental . In the last 15 years the marketing landscape has changed radically, with important budgets that have poured into online channels, paid or not. This change has brought with it an ever-increasing amount of data with which we can monitor the performance of a website in many different nuances, revolutionizing the way we make decisions.
Must Read: Is Your Website Slow?
However, it is important to remember that proceeding with incorrect data is worse than not having any data at all. Investing in a measurement plan , therefore, is the first step towards a successful campaign.
Conclusions
Improving the marketing performance of a project is possible, you need to keep the focus on the main objective and find an adequate way to monitor it over time.
Analyzing data allows us to identify the activities that achieve the most results, an important information that we can use to our advantage to plan new strategies.