ANALYTIC
![](https://mertcanatik.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/mertcan_atik_analytic__.jpg)
Analyzing the work done in the brand and strategy creation processes is of vital importance in terms of evaluating the company’s process of achieving strategic goals, understanding successes, and determining areas of development. The analysis evaluates the effectiveness of strategic planning and shows the business where it is successful and where it needs to improve. For example, analyzing the performance of marketing campaigns evaluates how effective they are in reaching a specific target audience and their conversion rates.
The analysis also includes customer feedback and evaluates the customer experience. This is important to understand customers’ interactions with the brand, to better serve their needs and increase loyalty. The analysis also evaluates market trends, competitor performance, and industry dynamics, which is important to better understand the brand’s position and competitive advantage. Analysis of studies performed is a critical tool for measuring the successes of the strategy and improving future strategic planning. This process supports long-term success by giving the business a strategic competitive advantage.
01 | AUDIT
Digital communication studies include performances and data. Evaluation of the results of past studies is provided by audits. The aim is to see the current situation and take some remedial measures. A better perception of channels ensures that the next campaign is made with more accurate strategies. The presence of the brand in the digital world should be checked regularly, and it should be analyzed whether the situation is good or bad. What are the existing websites owned? Which social media channels are managed? Who manages these channels? A checklist of all this information should be kept. This gives brands a high awareness.
The biggest benefit of audits is being aware of who is managing which sites, pages, channels, or ad accounts. The site audit provides a basic analysis of existing pages. Social media monitoring provides insight into the functions and performances of channels. Companies manage many channels over time. Many different users are given the right to access the panels. Login e-mails and passwords of channels should be recorded. The administrators of the channels should be specifically mentioned. It should be stated who works in the team, what task they perform, and how much time is allocated for this. All past outputs should be recorded. It should be noted that the e-mail addresses from which the channels are opened with the e-mail address of the company.
Audits are very useful for strategic planning. It makes reaching the target more planned and systematic. It enables marketing activities to be realized more consciously. Auditing digital assets is essential for more measurable and observable analysis.
02 | DATA ANALYSIS
Data analysis is the need of every brand that creates a data-based digital marketing plan. It is the process of analyzing and interpreting the results of studies. Brands get information about the progress by applying data analysis at certain periods. If the analyses are made on the right data, the comments will be more realistic. This allows the brand to measure its success according to more reliable data. Reviewing the company’s current strategy, objectives, and target audiences is a method of analysis. Performing competitor analysis and gathering information about the market is a type of analysis. It is an analysis to interpret users’ movements on the site based on website heatmaps.
Digital marketing is an inter-channel communication process. As the number of channels belonging to brands increases, management becomes difficult. The solution to this problem is to analyze the correct data from the channels. From which channels the traffic to the website comes and how much of the incoming traffic turns into sales can only be followed by analysis tools. In addition, it is possible to analyze the marketing activities by comparing them with other months. This is critical for determining the direction of future campaigns. Potential customer movements and customer journeys are determined as a result of the analysis. The important thing is to reach qualified customers. As a result of the analysis, it is revealed which of the marketing activities is more suitable for interacting with qualified customers. CRM systems have vital importance in data analysis processes. The fact that the CRM system works correctly and reliably makes it possible to make the most realistic analyses with the data collected from there. The analysis increases profitability. The knowledge of which channel has a high rate of conversion to sales brings the idea of concentrating resources in that channel. Strategic goals are measurable as well as analyzable.
03 | FORECASTING
Analyzing digital marketing both summarizes the past situation and provides an opportunity for insight into plans. Businesses create their plans by making predictions on market characteristics, sales data, and growth rates. Forecasting is not just a guess. Forecasting is a data-driven approach. Forecasts consist of market research, historical data, and forecasting methods.
The number of potential customers, customer orientations, or the proportions of customers who will pass through the sales funnel is a method of estimation. The effectiveness of campaigns and channels is a technique for estimating the market potential of a product or service. These insights are essential for making strategic planning more effective. Required to create a marketing roadmap.
Trend forecasting uses marketing data to understand the changing behavior of target audiences in the digital world. For this, consumer data needs to be analyzed. Anticipating behavioral changes in the market helps to outperform other competitors in the competition.
Targeted marketing activity is the prediction of which user behavior will lead to higher conversions. It is effective in creating more effective messages. Aycıca is also critical in improving sales processes.
Amplitude audiences try to find the link between certain behaviors and conversions. Improvements to these areas increase the number and quality of conversions.
Customer retention rate is the recovery of the customer who has the risk of choosing a different brand as a result of the estimations. New tactics are applied to win back the customers identified as a result of the estimates.
Proactive and reactive planning is taking pre-operative measures by anticipating possible scenarios. It is the most effective way to take precautions against unexpected events. Economic trends, changes in customer behavior, or changes in the technological field necessitate proactive and reactive planning.
Budgeting is one of the most critical issues of digital marketing. The budget plan set today may have to change tomorrow. It may also be necessary to allocate a budget for previously unplanned areas.
Inventory management is a very important issue for e-commerce brands. The location, quantity, and prices of inventories should be planned in such a way that they do not harm the company. Such planning can only be achieved with good foresight.
There are techniques used to generate forecasts on marketing processes. Correlation analysis is one of them. It helps to understand the relationship between customers and the product or service. Conversions are tried to be improved with predictive analytics. Customer surveys are a way to understand what customers think about products and services. Gathering information from sales teams gives insight into customers’ sentiments. All this information benefits companies in gaining a larger market share.
04 | A/B TESTING
Digital marketing campaigns are prepared in different variations by the primary strategy. It is possible to determine which variations perform better with A/B tests. This can be considered a trial study. Creating campaigns with different variations instead of a single communication version will prevent the entire budget from being allocated to a single advertisement. Revealing which ad set is performing better will enable more accurate management of budgets.
What needs to be done is to show two different versions made with a single variable in the communication set to two other groups of the same size. It should be examined which visual or text performs better as a result of marketing communication carried out at the same time. A/B tests can be created in campaign studies as well as in website and landing page designs. In an A/B test on user experience, a button that will place it as a CTA is at the bottom of the A test (control) and the top of the B test (challenger). The road continues with the one who gets the best performance from the design presented to the masses for a similar period. The variation created by the displacement can also be realized by the color change. The CTA button, which was designed as green in test A, can be tried as red in another version.
Here are some items that can be A/B tested to measure performance:
- Subject lines can be written more interestingly with different variations.
- CTAs can be designed in different definitions, shapes, locations, and colors.
- Headlines can be diversified to talk about different features of the campaigns.
- Fonts and colors can be reconfigured without disturbing the overall design.
- Product images can be changed to highlight a different point of the product or service.
- Blog graphics can be experimented with in different graphic formats.
- Texts can be written in more straightforward, more creative, funnier, or more clear formats.
- Forms can be created in different versions by location, structure, or design.
The structures of the brands can increase the list. A/B tests on similar items are necessary because they should measure which variation will bring better performance. In addition, the result will determine how future campaigns will be designed. This will ensure better conversion from campaigns.
The achievements targeted by the brands with the A/B Test are as follows:
Increasing website traffic is one of the leading digital marketing strategies of brands. Increasing the traffic of a website can be achieved by applying A/B tests. By testing website titles, it can be understood which titles visitors are more interested in.
Bounce rate is a critical issue that brands face and want to fix. Designing websites based on user experience will prevent this problem. Determining the attitudes of target audiences in this area is only possible by applying A/B tests.
The most critical issue for performance marketing is conversion rate. The conversion rate can be increased by changing the formats of the forms, the campaign titles, or the designs of the CTAs. By looking at which variation leads to more conversions, the conversion rates of future campaigns will be increased.
In traditional advertising, brands try to understand which one has a better effect on the target audience by showing the product images to certain groups while preparing their campaigns. In today’s digital marketing, A/B tests are applied to find the most effective campaign or product image.
The most undesirable situation in e-commerce sites is the abandonment of the shopping cart. By applying A/B tests, visitors can be prevented from leaving websites without purchasing the product or service. Changes to the designs, texts, or formats of the payment pages should be made by the results of the tests.
What should be considered when doing A/B testing?
First, the item to be A/B tested must be selected correctly. It must be accurately determined whether the item will directly contribute to the conversion. Which elements have a direct sales impact? If there is a change to be made on the website, it is necessary to check whether the infrastructure is suitable for this.
Just like in general types of research, the sample size must be large in A/B tests. The results of a test performed on a limited time and population will not reflect the facts. A large sample size is required for meaningful and reliable test results. It is necessary to ensure that the results are statistically significant and reliable.
The test must be planned correctly. In addition to determining which item will be tested, it is also necessary to determine in what period the test will take place. The duration of the tests to be compared must be the same. If the times of the tests to be compared are different from each other, the results will not be meaningful. Both tests should be performed at similar traffic or conversion expected times.
When testing, it should be remembered that only one item will be tested. Testing just one element is critical to understanding what impact that element will have on what type of change. To understand consumer behavior correctly, one element must be changed in each test process.
The steps to be followed when doing A/B testing are as follows:
- To apply A/B testing, it is necessary to determine a variable.
- It should be specified beforehand which metric will be measured during the test.
- Control and challenger elements must be determined for the variable element.
- The target audience must be divided equally.
- The test duration must be sufficiently long.
- Only one test should be run for a campaign.
- It is important to note that the test will take place at the same time.
- Qualitative results are as important as quantitative results. One-on-one interviews can be held.
- It is important to measure the primary metric when performing analysis.
- Plans should be finalized according to the results.
05 | REPORT
Campaign results of brands, evaluation of the current situation, and future predictions are evaluated through prepared reports. The ROI contribution of each marketing process initiated to generate profit is measured with reports. Dashboards are created with reporting tools at certain periods. Analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating performances are provided by reports.
Each step taken in today’s digital marketing is recorded with certain values. The recorded data is examined periodically, and the situation is evaluated. The extent to which the KPIs in the strategy have been fulfilled can be understood by evaluating the reports made at the end of each month. Reports reveal how page traffic, like rates, keyword returns, or membership numbers increase. If any abnormality is detected, it is attempted to be eliminated. In addition, each data is carefully monitored, and future predictions are made. Reporting is also at a very critical point for budget control. Certain budgets are allocated for many types of paid digital marketing, such as performance marketing, sales promotions, sponsored content, influencer marketing, and social media advertising. These budgets must be used in a way that does not disrupt annual budget plans. By looking at the reports, it is examined what amount of budget was spent for which type of digital marketing, and the results were obtained.
Keeping and reviewing reports regularly gives an idea about how long-term marketing goals will be achieved. Thus, marketing strategies can be optimized. For this, a data-based working policy should be created. This is the only way progress can be measured through reports. Each type of digital marketing should be measured separately. Website, blogs, performances, or social media analytics should be evaluated against their KPIs.
Reporting intervals vary depending on each project, brand, or marketing scope. However, the most used reporting intervals are weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual reporting. Weekly reports provide basic information on weekly progress. If there is an action plan to be taken for the next week, it is effective for quick action. Monthly reports are the most referenced reports. KPIs are targets planned by dividing them into months. Therefore, the reports made every month are an indicator of how the targets have been achieved. The revenue increase is calculated with quarterly reports. Conversion rates on channels are examined. The status of advertising expenditures is tracked and the return on investment is observed. Social media interactions and growth rates are tracked.
Headings that should be included in the marketing report:
Executive summary: Regardless of the size of the report, it should begin with a summary statement. Here is the general status of the report, the parties to be highlighted, and important conclusions.
Goals and objectives: Metrics are the most basic measures of how well digital marketing activities work. The goals that each brand wants to achieve in digital are different. These should be stated at the beginning of the reports.
Marketing analysis: The report contains many numbers, values, and graphs. These need to be analyzed and interpreted to turn them into more understandable data. In the analysis part, numerical data is converted into interpretation.
Comparison table: To understand progress, existing data must be compared with the previous month, year, or period. Only in this way can the point reached be understood more accurately.
Completed actions: If there is an action that has been completed and succeeded within the period specified in the report, this should be stated. These success stories will provide a road map for plans.