What is metrics in Web Analytics?
Metrics and analytics are important to businesses and marketers, but you shouldn’t use the two terms interchangeably. We understand this can be confusing, as the two are so closely related. But, you can’t have analytics without metrics, and metrics alone won’t help you take action, understand what is going on, or help you improve results.
Let’s go over the difference between metrics and analytics, the key metrics you should watch, and the right analytics questions to ask when evaluating the effectiveness of your campaigns.
Metrics vs. Analytics
Think of metrics as the ‘what,’ and analytics as the ‘so what?’ Metrics are the numbers you track, and analytics implies analyses and decision making.
Metrics: What you measure to gauge performance or progress within a company or organization. Your most important metrics are your key performance indicators, or KPIs.
Analytics: Analytics use metrics to help you make decisions about how to move forward.
If your marketing organization is looking to develop a sophisticated metrics and analytics system of its own, you need these essential platforms to begin measuring and adjusting impact.
- Analytics platform
- Marketing automation platform
- Social media measurement platform
What Metrics Should You Track?
The metrics you track need to be relevant and actionable. Focus on the metrics that are closely associated with objectives you’ve formed at different stages of the funnel. Different parts of the funnel demand different metrics to measure their goals, and these key metrics vary from company to company.
Successful marketers need to ultimately drive revenue, which is why it’s so important for you to understand the metrics that matter, track, analyze, and report on them. We’ve broken down the funnel into two sections — upper and lower — and explained relevant metrics for each phase.
Upper levels of the funnel are all about reach, awareness, and brand perception:
- Awareness
- Branded search
- Brand recall
- Website traffic
- Page views, pages per visit, and time spent on site
- Targeted engagement
- Bounce rate
- Inbound links
Lower levels of the funnel look at lead nurturing, conversion, and revenue:
- Quality of leads
- Cost per lead
- Website form fonversion rate
- Marketing qualified leads (MQL)
- Sales qualified leads (SQL)
- Pipeline contribution
- Revenue — ROI
- Retention rate
- Customer lifetime value (CLV)
A metrics dashboard is a visual representation of your data, giving you a quick and easy way to view your company’s performance in real-time. They combine all of your important information in one place, which saves you time and money.
