Websites are becoming more and more important in the consumer journey. It is, therefore, essential to measure digital marketing's effectiveness. This is a shared burden between digital media sellers and marketers trying to maximize their Return On Investment (ROI). JD Duarte is an eCommerce expert and entrepreneur who shares virtual metrics that can be used to measure the success of a business.

Since most people don't click ads, but do find their way to websites after being exposed to them, “clicks” are only a partial measure of the impact of digital ads. Duarte has compiled some metrics to help you gain a deeper understanding of the effectiveness and efficiency of your digital marketing efforts.

The first is based upon overall traffic. This will tell you how many people visited your site or interacted with it in total. This can be broken down into source/medium, which will tell you where your traffic is coming from.

Duarte says, “Overall traffic will show you where you stand.” It is a smart idea to monitor and compare your overall traffic over time. It's possible to start to notice similar patterns, such as seasonality. This can help you in the future. If you do a good job, your traffic should increase steadily from all sources.

Channel-specific traffic is also available. These metrics depend on where people were when they first arrived at your site. Channel refers to the way they accessed your site. It is crucial to measure the primary media for large-scale digital marketing campaigns. This will allow you to identify what is causing a drop-off in visits and where your campaign excels.

You can analyze data from several channels. The most direct is when someone directly types in your URL to visit your site. Because they've been to your site before, the multifunction box will automatically populate.

Referrals refer to people who visited your site via another website. This is called external traffic. To get to you, people followed a link from another domain.

People who searched on Google or other search engines and clicked on your site in the organic (unpaid search results) search results. Social is anyone who found your website via a social media platform. This is a great indicator of the overall effectiveness and efficiency of your SEO, social interaction, and content campaigns.

Another useful metric is total conversions. Conversion is the conversion of a person from a user into a paying customer. We need to monitor customer engagement on our websites in order to drive them deeper into our funnels.

This is where users perform any action they wish, such as filling out a form, clicking a button to download, signing up for a trial or downloading an eBook, or creating an account. Duarte adds that low conversions could indicate poor design, unattractive offers or a disinterested customer base. Conversion tracking allows you to pinpoint which parts people use on your site, and which ones they don't.

This information is also useful in assessing the quality of your UX and other creative areas. Low conversion rates could be a sign that you need to revise your sales funnel, or that it's time for a website overhaul.

The site's bounce ratio is the final factor. This is the average number of visitors who leave your site after only visiting one page (the “entry” page). Every page can have a different bounce rate. Different pages will have different bounce rates. Not all bounce rates are equal.

Duarte points out that bounce rate can be used to determine if your content is appropriate or if you have the right landing pages for a paid campaign. The number is not necessarily accurate.

One is that a page's bounce rate might be high. Visitors leave pages after they've seen it and found what they are looking for. Perhaps they clicked on the contact page to make a purchase. Site users who are unhappy with the design or user experience may leave the site immediately. Total conversions is another useful metric. Conversion is when a person converts from being a user to a paying customer. We need to monitor customer engagement on our websites in order to drive them deeper into our funnels.

About Jose Daniel Duarte

JD Duarte is originally from Heredia, Costa Rica. He has been an entrepreneur and business owner for more than 20 years, and divides his time between his existing operations and researching new possibilities in which to invest. When he's not dedicating time to his businesses, he spends time with his supporting wife and two children.

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