Analytics: Why They Matter and How to Use Them

Analytics are one of those things that can easily feel intimidating and so we avoid dealing with them. When we avoid them, we miss out on so much important information that could improve our business and make our efforts more efficient. That's why we are breaking analytics down into three easy-to-digest categories that will take fear out of the equation and set you up to be more successful.

Website Analytics

The first type of analytics to pay attention to are on your website. Setting up Google Analytics on your website is always a good idea. The data you can gather here include who your visitors are, where they are coming from, and how long they are staying on your site. All very valuable when trying to decide what kind of content to publish on your site. It is really easy to set up and a great way to start measuring your digital marketing success.

You can also take a look at your SEO statistics (for both your site and your blog posts) and make adjustments to show up higher in a Google search.

Social Media Analytics

Checking out the analytics of all your social media accounts is extremely important but frequently forgotten. If you have spent the time and money to have content going out regularly, you want to know what it is doing for you! On Facebook, you can find the data for your page by clicking on "Insights." Here, you can find how many people engaged with your posts (liked, commented, or clicked), the demographics of your followers, and the days and times most of your followers are online.

On Twitter, the data for your account is found under the dropdown menu, then just click "Twitter Analytics." Here, you can see a snapshot of your accounts overall performance, or dig down to see what your top tweets have been or who your followers are. LinkedIn also provides an Analytics tab when you are on the company page you manage. Instagram also provides some data now, but it's more limited. You have to go to the individual post on your mobile device and tap on "Insights." It then gives you all the data for engagement and reach on that post. Currently, Instagram doesn't provide overall account analytics.

So what do you do with all this information once you have it? Pay attention to posts that are performing much better than others. Is the common thread a time of day? A specific type of content? Make note, and then adjust your strategy accordingly.

Email Marketing Analytics

You know by now that email marketing is vitally important to your real estate business, but how are you making sure you are doing it right? That's right, analytics. There are a few simple metrics that you should be paying attention to whenever you send out an email campaign. The first is Open Rate. How many people actually opened up the email you sent? If it is less than 10 percent, this is a good indication that you need to change up your subject lines or your send times.

The second stat to pay attention to is Clickthrough Rate. Why does this matter? Well, opening an email doesn't help a whole lot if no one cares about the content within it! You want to know that you are putting together compelling content that is encouraging people to follow through on your call-to-action – whatever that might have been.

Those clickthroughs are where you really get the bang for your buck, so you want to know if you need to be changing your approach. If you have a 2 percent or higher clickthrough rate, then you are doing great! Below that, you have some room for improvement.

The last metrics you want to pay attention to are Bounce Rate and Unsubscribe Rate. Both of these will indicate the health of your email lists. If you are getting very high bounce rates (over 2 percent) or very high unsubscribe rates (higher than 1 percent), then it may be time to clean out your database. High unsubscribe rates are also an alert that you may be sending to your contacts too often or you aren't providing enough value in the emails you send.

Don't let those email statistics overwhelm you – if one of them isn't where you would like it to be, knowing it gives you the chance to improve.

Conclusion

Analytics don't have to be daunting. With a little understanding and a small amount of time, you can use them to make all of your digital marketing efforts far more productive. You work hard on your business, you should know if parts aren't working for you!

To view the original article, visit the IXACT Contact blog.