The document discusses essential strategies for effective content marketing analytics, emphasizing key performance indicators (KPIs) and the importance of measuring user engagement through attention metrics rather than just page views. It highlights a structured approach to analytics that includes data audits, framework development, and ongoing reporting, with a focus on attribution models and conversion optimization. The goal is to drive improvements in revenue by understanding customer behavior and refining content strategies through segmented reporting and regular analysis.

1. Content Marketing Analytics
What you should really be doing…
and probably aren’t
@dSmulevich

2. I can’t think of any other
industry where its top
professionals have
repeated the same thing…
OVER AND OVER...

4. And pretty much everyone
out there listened to them…

5. And pretty much everyone
out there listened to them…
… well, sort of.

6. FLUFF

7. − Doug Kessler (10.01.2013)

10. 46%

13. FAILURE

14. Choose the right KPIs

15. A KPI is a metric used to
determine how well you are
performing against your
business objectives.

16. Number of
new leads
per month
Effective
Marketing
Build a
customer
database
200 per
month
Number of
new leads
per month
by channel

17. New leads from
Affiliate
programs

18. BOUNCE RATE

19. BOUNCE RATE

20. TIME ON SITE

21. TIME ON SITE

22. KPIs

23. KPIs

24. KPIs

25. Flags

26. And they are also
misleading: they think in
terms of interactive
engagement hits,
do you?
If you don’t know what this means, start
from here: bit.ly/1xF11QO

27. 69% of marketers use
pageviews as a key metric,
forgetting about…
Contently, The State of Content Marketing Measurement
(2014)

29. And
AJAX
VIDEOS
HOVERS
SCROLLING
CLICKS
TABBED BROWSING
and so on.

30. Start measuring the
attention time your content
receives, from mouse
movements to video plays,
looking at what browser tab
was opened etc.

32. Last February, Upworthy
moved from making decisions
based on pageviews to using
attention minutes.
Sample code: bit.ly/1F2JLUG

33. Last February, Upworthy
moved from making decisions
based on pageviews to using
attention minutes.
And two months later they
were able to charge brands for
branded content.

35. Or start with free plugins for:
Screen time (bit.ly/11wn6Tm)
Active time (bit.ly/1F2KXHp)
Scroll depth (bit.ly/1eH0S1r)
By @robflaherty

36. External
KPIs Board
Anything that you can correlate with revenues, conversions,
cost (£)
PIs Marketers
Metrics that help you get to your KPI targets (Content
performance: task completion rate, attention time)
Internal
Flags Marketers + Website
managers
To spot issues early (Adjusted bounce rate, site speed)

37. The goal of our work is to
understand the triggers
behind new and existing
customers’ content
consumption and buying
behaviour…

38. …so we can plot the best
course of action to drive
demonstrable
improvements in revenue.

39. How do we get to
that?

40. Step up your analytics
game

41. Three distinct phases
1.Data audit
2.Framework development
3.Ongoing reporting and
analysis

42. Three distinct phases
1.Data audit
2.Framework development
3.Ongoing reporting and
analysis

43. Understanding what structures
you/the client has in place, and
how the business is using the
data at its disposal, so that we
can devise a data collection and
reporting strategy that supports
our content marketing efforts.

44. 1. Sources attribution

45. 1. Sources attribution
We must attribute prospects to their
acquisition source or channel. We can’t
work out where our best prospects are if
we don’t know the source (PPC, list
purchase).

47. 1. Sources attribution
2. Sales funnel definition

48. 2. Sales funnel definition
We need to define the sales funnel stages by
establishing the demographic and
behavioural measures as prospects move
down the funnel.

51. 1. Sources attribution
2. Sales funnel definition
3. Data integration/data warehousing

52. 3. Data integration/data warehousing
A data warehouse is just a big database that
pulls data from lots of different sources.
When this data is put together, you can do
an all-round user analysis, e.g. looking at
online behaviour and offline conversion. Or
tie long-term purchase history to online
behaviour.

54. 1. Sources attribution
2. Sales funnel definition
3. Data integration/data warehousing
4. Conversion attribution

55. 4. Conversion attribution
We should AT LEAST create an attribution
model to determine credit for content and
sales conversions. It’s a mistake to attribute
conversion to a single action: the reality is
usually a complex mix of sales path
interactions.
The attribution model should be applied to
evaluate content promotion campaigns.

56. 4
5
6
SEO
CONVERSION PATH LENGTH
PPC EMAIL DIRECT
1
2
3
7
8
9
10
10+

57. 4
5
6
SEO
CONVERSION PATH LENGTH
PPC EMAIL DIRECT
1
2
3
7
8
9
10
10+

58. SEO PPC EMAIL DIRECT
$

59. SEO PPC EMAIL DIRECT
$

60. SEO PPC EMAIL DIRECT
$

61. SEO PPC EMAIL DIRECT
$

62. SEO PPC EMAIL DIRECT
$

63. SEO PPC EMAIL DIRECT
$

64. However, this is only the tip of the
iceberg.

66. Cross-channel attribution:
“The practice of using advanced statistical
approaches to allocate proportional credit to
marketing communications and media activity
across all channels, which ultimately leads to the
desired customer action.”
The Forrester Wave™: Cross-Channel Attribution Providers, Q4
2014

67. 1. Sources attribution
2. Sales funnel definition
3. Data integration/data warehousing
4. Conversion attribution
5. Conversion optimisation

68. 5. Conversion optimisation
If we know where opportunities fall out, we
can take positive actions: messaging, copy,
calls-to-action, value propositions, design,
and even entire campaigns can be optimized
to overcome any issues.

69. Don’t forget to test
your assumptions

70. A/B

71. AA/BB

72. 1. Sources attribution
2. Sales funnel definition
3. Data integration/data warehousing
4. Conversion attribution
5. Conversion optimisation
6. Prospects segmentation

73. 6. Prospects segmentation
You should segment your prospects, so that
you can boost conversion rates with better
content and increase sales interest with
stronger problem focus.

75. 1. Sources attribution
2. Sales funnel definition
3. Data integration/data warehousing
4. Conversion attribution
5. Conversion optimisation
6. Prospects segmentation
7. Post-purchase funnel

76. 7. Post-purchase funnel
Can we separate online communications
strategies, campaigns and messages for
repeat sales to the existing customer base?

77. Thanks to the genial @martoozie for
this!

78. 1. Sources attribution
2. Sales funnel definition
3. Data integration/data warehousing
4. Conversion attribution
5. Conversion optimisation
6. Prospects segmentation
7. Post-purchase funnel
8. Reporting

79. 8. Reporting
The right level of reporting should enable
different stakeholders (marketers,
salespeople etc.) to receive only the
information they need, in a way that’s as
simple and clear as possible, to take
informed decisions.
Automate reporting whenever possible.

80. Three distinct phases
1.Data audit
2.Framework development
3.Ongoing reporting and
analysis

81. Framework development
=
Data collection strategy

82. Start from the business
requirements, talk to the
stakeholders involved and
then visualise the
dimensions/metrics that
you aim to get

84. Now you’re ready to
spec it out!
1.Plan for the mid-long term
2.Don’t overcomplicate things
3.Think of constraints:
• Budget
• Technology
• Resources

87. Three distinct phases
1.Data audit
2.Framework development
3.Ongoing reporting and
analysis

88. AND SO
WHAT?

89. AAAAA
Always
Add
Analysis
And
Action

90. In-depth analysis should be
carried out on a regular basis:
results should be brought into
quarterly meetings with the
relevant stakeholders, upon
internal sharing first with the
(agency) team.

91. Take data out of silos

93. Outcome:
integrated, personalised,
dynamic dashboards and
reports, on which we can
easily add our analysis.

94. Outcome:
integrated, personalised,
dynamic dashboards and
reports, on which we can
easily add our analysis.

95. Outcome:
integrated, personalised,
dynamic dashboards and
reports, on which we can
easily add our analysis.

96. Outcome:
integrated, personalised,
dynamic dashboards and
reports, on which we can
easily add our analysis.

97. Become best friends with
these bad boys…
APIs Webhooks

98. Become best friends with
these bad boys…
APIs Webhooks

100. Your bible: GA reference
guide

101. Your playground:
the query explorer
bit.ly/XeNbVy

102. Three ways to extract data
using the API:
Add-ons (Supermetrics rocks!)
Custom functions
Programmatically (build a PHP app)
Easy
Hard

104. You can also use the
management API to import
data into GA!
Data on: users, campaigns, content,
products, refunds, cost
bit.ly/1nTIkEl

105. Become best friends with
these bad boys…
APIs Webhooks

107. Webhooks let you send data
to Google Analytics when
something special in another
platform happens, e.g. you
won that contract with the
client!

108. GA Measurement Protocol: bit.ly/N3z7sa

109. WAIT, WAIT, WAIT….

110. How do I link GA users
with CRM entries?
•Extract client id from GA cookie
•Use your CRM API to push the data through
along with the CRM id
•Call webhooks as users perform set actions

111. Now all your data is
integrated, you can visualise
data the way you/your
client/your board needs!
Use free visualisations APIs:
•Google Analytics Embed API
•Google Charts

113. A little reminder

114. OUR BIG CHALLENGE
Collection Reporting Analysis
HIGH
MEDIUM
LOW

115. OUR BIG CHALLENGE
Collection Reporting Analysis
HIGH
MEDIUM
LOW

116. OUR BIG CHALLENGE
Collection Reporting Analysis
HIGH
MEDIUM
LOW

117. WHAT OUR CLIENTS WILL EXPECT
Collection Reporting Analysis
HIGH
MEDIUM
LOW

118. MANAGING EXPECTATIONS
Collection Reporting Analysis
HIGH
MEDIUM
LOW

119. MANAGING EXPECTATIONS
Collection Reporting Analysis
HIGH
MEDIUM
LOW

120. THE CIRCLE OF LIFE

121. THE NEW CIRCLE OF LIFE

122. Iterative analytics
implementations:
“As you continually improve your site and its
features, your implementation must evolve
as well in order to provide you with the data
you need.”
@RudiShumpert

123. IMPROVE

124. IMPROVE

125. Thank you.
@dSmulevich

126. @dSmulevich