Brand metrics have been around for a long, long time. Yet the rise of the digital age has shifted how these metrics are tracked and what businesses can do to grow their market share. When data is cheap, how can brands know what metrics truly matter?
Today, we will define digital brand metrics, identify which digital brand metrics really matter, discuss how to analyze those metrics, and finally – how brands can use digital brand metrics to improve their business.
What are Brand Metrics?
According to investopedia.com, metrics are defined as “measures of quantitative assessment commonly used for assessing, comparing, and tracking performance or production.” Brand metrics are generally a measurement of reality vs. a brand’s goals.
There are many forms of brand metrics including behavioral metrics, perceptual metrics, interaction metrics, and performance metrics. We will discuss each of these in greater detail below.
Digital brand metrics are a subset of brand metrics which track your brand’s performance in the digital space. A very simple example of a digital brand metrics is views on a social media post or clicks on a blog post.
The Three Pillars of Brand Metrics
In order to understand digital brand metrics, it is important to understand the three (3) pillars of brand metrics. Some apply more strongly to digital brand metrics than others, but as no metrics exist in a vacuum, they are all intertwined to varying degrees.
Behavior Metrics: Behavior metrics track both internal and external behavioral data. For digital behavior metrics, we are most concerned with customer behavior. Digital behavior metrics include clicks, views, conversion rate, and churn. Your conversion might be signing up for a newsletter, making a purchase, or submitting a valid email address.
Performance Metrics: Digital performance metrics consider how well your brand is doing compared to your stated goals and/or compared to your competitors. There are other factors here as well, but a typical example might be digital sales goals vs. digital sales reality.
Perception Metrics: Digital marketing and brand management relies heavily on brand perception. Digital brand metrics for perception can include brand awareness and brand image. Social media presence is tied heavily to digital perception.
Digital Brand Metrics to Track
So now we have reviewed the pillars of digital brand metrics, but what are the specific metrics to track? It is important to understand that this is heavily dependant on your organization’s needs and concerns. With this in mind, here are some digital brand metrics to consider:
- Visibility – Also known as brand awareness, visibility refers to how memorable your digital marketing impressions are on potential customers.
- Universal Interaction Time – UIT is the amount of time each user interacts with your ads, social media posts, or website. A solid interaction time indicates that you have grabbed and held the user’s attention.
- Viewable Impressions – Simply put, viewable impressions can be considered any time that your marketing material is actually front and center in front of your potential customers.
- Sales – No set of metrics is complete without sales, and this includes digital brand metrics. This ties in with our next item…
- Persuasion – Let’s say your other digital metrics are fantastic. You have tons of views, interaction time, and high levels of social media engagement, but your conversion rate still stinks! This might be an issue with persuasion. Getting the eyes might be half the battle, but changing minds is the other.
Analyzing and Acting on Digital Brand Metrics
As we mentioned above, information is cheaper than ever these days. Solid digital brand metrics analysis relies on three main factors:
Well tracked and organizes metrics. Data might be cheap, but quality data is priceless. If your digital brand metrics are scattered across multiple databases with no way to clearly organize and view the key metrics, they aren’t going to do your organization any good. DB managers, data scientists, and data analysts all can help with this process.
Digital brand metric analysis. Beyond simply procuring and maintaining your digital brand metrics, they must be analyzed to view patterns. Are your impressions high but your interaction time is low? That might be an issue with the marketing content. Is your conversion rate high but your digital brand visibility is low? That might be an issue with SEO or advertising strategy.
The flexibility and willingness to change your marketing strategy. Last, but certainly not least, once you have identified areas in which your digital marketing strategy can improve, go for it! Too often companies are hesitant to change even when faced with concrete metrics showing that a change would help. Evolve, adapt, and grow your brand.
Digital Brand Metrics with Clock Tower Insight
Clock Tower Insight helps our clients to build their brands through any means necessary. We believe in using cutting edge research to deliver unparalleled insight and understanding into today’s rapidly changing marketplace.
With over 15 years of dedicated experience, our marketing insight has helped organizations including Belle Tire, Nielsen, Orbitz, and Kraft Foods.
We are proud to offer a number of services to our clients, including customer experience management, brand positioning in the marketplace, market sizing, market testing, and more.