Inbound Marketing Blog

Calculating the value of online interactions, then coming up with an estimated return on investment (ROI) to inform budgets and forecasts, can be challenging. Fortunately, in today's data-driven, online world, it's never been easier to track ROI for your marketing campaigns, channels, and tactics.

Many aspects of inbound marketing can be tracked by web analytics platforms, which, when configured properly, can provide a wide variety of analytics data: from the number of form submissions you receive to the number of times your blog post was viewed.

By keeping an eye on the right metrics and performing simple calculations, you can get a better idea of how much return you’re getting for your investment in inbound.

We’ll walk you through ROI calculations for one-time and retainer clients and provide some tips for improving your overall inbound ROI.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• How effective is inbound marketing?
• What is a good ROI for inbound marketing?
• What inbound marketing tactics do businesses use?
• Key factors to consider before calculating inbound ROI
• Calculating ROI for one-time clients
• Calculating ROI for retainer clients
• Tips for improving inbound ROI
• Tools for tracking ROI metrics
• Measure your way to inbound success

But first, the elephant in the room . . .

What are B2B marketing KPIs?

As a B2B marketer, you know that your job contributes to the bottom line. The best B2B marketing campaigns generate qualified leads that can eventually be handed off to sales. Leads convert into customers, which result in sales revenue and profit.

If you’re a marketer conducting research in advance of an upcoming website build, you may have heard the terms data-driven design, data-informed design, UX design, and user-centered design batted around. For the uninitiated, this can be a bit confusing.

Marketers have struggled to zero in on truly meaningful metrics for years. Before technology made it possible to track and analyze the performance of your marketing efforts, assessing the team’s impact on sales was extremely difficult if not impossible.

Even with all of today’s extremely powerful digital management tools, many franchisors still find themselves in the dark when it comes to metrics that matter. While it may seem trivial, looking at the wrong numbers can mean sticking to ineffective strategies or failing to realize marketing successes when they happen.

Let’s take a closer look at the wrong way to approach reporting as well as three of the most important metrics you should be paying close attention to each month.

The knowledge of yourself will preserve you from vanity. - Miguel de Cervantes

I'll be the first to admit it: I'm as guilty as anyone on focusing on digital metrics that paint a pretty picture, instead of those that provide real, actionable knowledge.

It's an easy habit to fall into, especially when the knowledge to be gained may not necessarily be something your boss wants to hear.

But here's the good news: as digital marketers, we have access to a wealth of data about how prospects and customers are interacting with our digital spaces. If you can get bad data, you can get good data, too.