Don't Chase Clicks!
One of the advantages of digital marketing is the ability to track and measure everything you do online. This built in accountability can help you realize where your hard earned money should be spent. The way that analytic tools are designed emphasize optimized performance on the web. You can see in real-time how well certain campaigns are working, and you can pair your digital marketing decisions with hard data. This recipe can lead to great returns on the relatively low investment you make to start marketing digitally. But, it's important not to get lost in all of the hard data that makes digital advertising so attractive.
Falling Victim to Following the Click
It's easy to view clicks as the most effective metric to track. A click generally means that someone is interested in what you put out there, and wants to perform an action in response to that. The more clicks you get, theoretically, the more people are interested in your product or service.
Beware of Some of the Pitfalls of Click-Following
Tying all of your success to clicks leaves you susceptible to seeing skewed data in your anayltics tools. You may think you're being more effective that you actually are with certain initiatives because you could be dealing with SPAM or "bots". These types of metrics can be skewed and will affect the way that you market in the future. It also takes away from some of the human elements of marketing because you begin to move away from your core objective: connecting a person to your product.
So Ditch the Click?
Understanding WHY the click is important in developing the best digital strategy. Following click through rate is not at all a bad strategy. The click is an important metric that leads the way for interactions, engagements, and the all important purchases. But it's not the only metric to be desired. Understanding metrics like bounce rate and conversion rate can not only help you develop a well-rounded strategy, but it sets you up for future success. Make sure that your digital strategy is well-rounded, and that you track more than one metric to determine if your digital marketing is working, or needs some work. A better strategy in trying to unwrap what those clicks mean is to tie them into an analytic platform that lets you see where those clicks are going to. One of the easiest ways to see this in real time is by looking at behavior flow in Google Analytics to understand how far into your website those clicks are going. It allows you to see a more comprehensive view of people's overall behavior on your website, and what is working.
Remember the Goal of Marketing
Behind all of the data, and all the bells and whistles that are available to make online marketing easy is the foundation of marketing - connecting people with a worthwhile product or service. These days, performance marketing is focused too much on the click, and not enough on the meaningful interaction customers make with your company, online. The ultimate goal is to make a connection, and understand that these metrics work together to help you build a better connection with you customer.
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