I think you’ll agree with me when I say:
It’s REALLY hard to figure out what marketing analytics tools is right for you.
Or is it?
It turns out you can dramatically increase your marketing campaigns performance, by using a few simple tools…
…tools I’ve used to turn several failing campaigns into profitable campaigns just by making a few simple tweaks.
And in today’s post I’m going to show you exactly which tools to use and how they can benefit you.
But:
For those that don’t know…
What Is Marketing Analytics?
Marketing analytics is the collection of data that can later be
measured, managed and analyzed to improve marketing performance. For
performance based marketers it’s crucial to understand marketing
analytics. The more data you’re able to capture, the more KPI’s (Key
performance indicators) you can optimize based on.
Not only does marketing analytics help you improve your marketing
efforts financially. Analytics can also help in other parts of the
business as well, for example by identifying pain points certain
customers are experiencing with using your product or service.
If you have your own website it’s quite possible you’re already using a very common marketing analytics tool, called: Google Analytics.
Types of Marketing Analytics Tools
There are several types of marketing tools but in this post I am
going to be focusing on tools that will help you become better at paid
marketing.
The different kinds of tools that we’ll be going over in this post are:
- Front-end tracker – Captures data about the user before they load your site or app.
- Back-end trackers – Tracks where visitors go on your site or app.
- Heat map tracking – The ability to see where users click visually.
- Auto Optimization – Tools that optimize your campaign automatically based on performance.
- Data Visualization – Helps you understand all this awesome data you’ve been collecting.
The first type of marketing tool we’ll be covering, is what I call “front end tracking”.
Front-end Tracking
A front-end tracker is used to capture data that is passed from the
ad network, through url parameters. Most front-end trackers these days,
help identify even more metrics about the type of traffic you’re
getting. They do this by gathering data through the user agent of the
visitors browser.
A few KPI’s that front-end trackers allow you to capture are:
- Device Type (Desktop, Mobile, Tablet)
- ISP (Is the user using Comcast Cable or Verizon Wireless)
- Device OS (Android, iOS, etc)
- Device Manufacture (Apple, Samsung, HTC)
- and many more!
Why is this data important to you?
The more data you collet the better your chances of finding a winning combination.
Simply put…
…if you’re NOT using a front-end tracker in 2015, you’re throwing money out the window.
Want to know the best part?
The majority of these trackers don’t only allow you to capture the data, but they also allow you to redirect post click.
What I mean by that is once a user clicks, if they’re on a Verizon
iPhone I can send them to a custom page specifically tailored to them.
While users on an Android can still be sent to a page that is custom to
them.
In other words this is a HUGE advantage!
I’ll get more into post click optimization in another post, but I’ll leave you with this…
…post click optimization is the future of performance marketing.
But here’s the kicker:
Even though-front end trackers have been out for quite a few years
now… The only marketers really taking advantage of the technology is
affiliates. In-house teams are still living in the stone age by using
excel to manipulate their data.
Top Front End Trackers:
My personal favorite is called iMobiTrax.
It may not be the most stylish front-end tracker out there. But I’ve
been using it for 3 years now and must it’s post click optimization is
by far the best. I have done a TON of traffic volume with iMobiTrax and I
have several friends that have as well. Now as a disclaimer I’m good
friends with the owners of iMobiTrax so I may be a little bias. But one
thing unique about iMobiTrax is YOU own the data. This means it won’t
be shared with your competitors or sold in the future. I may have some
trust issues but using a tracker built by the same company you’re buying
the traffic from is just idiotic. There is a reason your traffic reps
“know” what is doing well vs. whats not.
The “new kid” on the block is AdsBridge.
The key advantages to AdsBridge is it has a nice clean interface and a
unique landing page builder, with quite a few templates to get you
started. AdsBridge is a cloud hosted solution however which means, if
AdsBridge really wanted to, they could see all of your data. However,
the final advantage to AdsBridge is it has a completely free tier
currently… Meaning you have NO excuse not to be using a front end tracker….
Similar to AdsBridge in the sense that it’s a “cloud tracker” so you don’t “own” your data. Voluum
is a great tracker to start with, if you’re new to marketing. The
interface is also relatively clean which should make it easier to use. I
have worked with a few marketers that use Voluum and it has worked out
great for them. Voluum is gaining more and more popularity in the
affiliate marketing space and has been introducing some nice features.
Personally I’ve been really impressed with AdsBridge as far as cloud
trackers go. However, I still to this day use iMobiTrax for most of my
campaigns. The reason for this, is I’m a huge fan of owning my own data
and having the ability to optimize my server as I see fit. Also, because
of how iMobiTrax is setup I am able to use a few ninja tactics that are
a pain in the ass with the other trackers mentioned.
Regardless of which tracker YOU choose ANY tracker is better than NO tracker.
Pro Tip: In case you haven’t noticed, I REALLY
recommend getting a tracker. Without one you’re making it rain on those
ad networks by wasting marketing budgets.
Back-End Tracking
Now this part may become a little confusing to some, so let me try to explain.
Front-End trackers allow you to track data between the Ad-Server and
your landing page, while Back-End trackers, are able to track what the
visitors do on your site.
By using “Back-End Tracking” you’re able to determine the behavior
and demographics of each of your visitors. You can see which pages you
visited on your site and even which events they performed (made a sale,
turned into a lead, read a post, etc).
This data allows you to edit your site, moving your best converting & most helpful content to easier locations to find.
Back-End Trackers also help you keep track of of returning visitors which can help you learn more about your purchase funnel.
Top Back-End Trackers:
One of my personal favorites is mixpanel. It’s true power comes from
it’s “people” insight & engage functions. It allows you to dig deep
into individual vistors on your site, while not only being able see
where they went and what they did. But also, which device type they’re
on, which browser & even what their current geo location is. Another
powerful feature of mixpanel, is it’s ability to create custom funnels.
This allows you to see how well you’re funneling your visitors into
sales and leads.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 10 years, you’ve
heard of Google Analytics. Unlike other tools listed in this post, most
of your competitors are likely using Google Analytics on their site.
Google also has a rep for giving marketers less and less data… Keywords
anyone? Even with all that said Google Analytics is a powerful tool,
that allows you to see geo location of users, time on site, bounce rate
and how many page views they had. You may also setup conversion data
& funnels so you can see how your entire site converts or even
specific paths. Pro Tip: Don’t ever let Google Analytics be the only tracker you use on this list, or you will be at a severe disadvantage.
Heat Map Tracking
While Heap Map Tracking could be considered a “Back-End Tracker” I
like to separate the two.. Back-End Trackers allow you to see where
people went on your site with numbers.
But:
Heat Map Tracking does it visually. By allowing you to track user
clicks regardless if they click on an actual link or not. The power of
this comes from knowing exactly where users are clicking allowing you to
move elements of your site around, to not only improve user experience
but also helps you improve conversion.
Top Heat Map Tracking
Crazyegg is
currently the only heat map tracker that I know about. I’ve been using
it for almost a year now and I must say, heat map tracking is a HUGE
deal. Being able to track where users clicks the most has really helped
me improve my conversion rate of the site overall. This comes in handy
for making things clickable that your visitors are clicking on, even if
it currently isn’t clickable. Crazyegg also allows you to do scroll
tracking which allows you to see how many of your users actually read
your blog posts. This can help you split test different copywriting
methods to help improve your time on site and get your visitors to
actually read all of your content.
Auto Optimization
While all the other tools mentioned in this post, allow you to
collect data, very few of them actually do anything with it. What I mean
by that, is you have to look at the data yourself and then make
decisions based on it. Auto Optimization tools however do exactly how
the sound, they will make decisions from the data for you based on
different algorithms or rules.
Top Auto Optimization Tools
Ironically myna
isn’t very well known, but holy crap is it powerful. Instead of doing
A/B testing which is one variant vs. another with 50/50 split. Myna
using multi-armed bandit
testing methodology. Myna allows you to setup as many tests as you want
and automatically sends the majority of your traffic to the winner. So
unlike traditional A/B testing you can always be trying new types of
creatives without risking to much ROI. The other cool thing about myna
is unlike traditional A/B testing where you have to have 2 versions of
the page. Myna allows you to have a single landing page with having all
your tests dynamic. Regardless if you believe MAB testing is better than
A/B or not one thing is true. It is better to be testing MAB than doing
no test at all. The power of myna is it saves you time but “setting”
and forgetting.
Auto optimization is the future of marketing, there will be more and
more tools that use algorithms to make decisions for you. I highly
recommend staying ahead of the competition when it comes to this. Or
else your competitors will always be ahead of you.
Data Visualization
Collecting all this data is great, but if
you’re not doing anything with it… then whats the point of having it?
Several marketers use Excel to manipulate their data and make sense of
it all. But unless you know what to look for even this can be tough to
setup. Let alone the pain in learning pivot tables and using a Microsoft
Product ;).
Mac Wizard is awesome, if you want to
analyze large data sets I highly recommend Wizard from Evan Miller.
Wizard allows you to import your data, everything from Excel, MySQl or
even R workspaces can be manipulated in Wizard. Wizard is also extremely
fast which is important because nothing is more frustrating than using a
slow tool. Building charts to help visualize your data has never been
easier.
Evan Miller has also created some kick ass online calculators to identify statical significance. Take a look at his blog here.
In todays world data is power
the more you collect, the more you know. The better informed you are
about your visitors the higher your chances are of having a successful
marketing campaign.
Source: http://ppcmode.com/marketing-tools/
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