Are you currently wrestling with thoughts that digital and social media marketing isn’t working for your brand? You may have invested in social media ads, AdWords campaigns or banner ads with little to show for it. You may have even tapped a digital marketing guru to help whose advice was that it takes time to generate leads. How long is too long, though? That’s up for discussion. In this post, we’re sharing why you should stop or pause your digital marketing efforts.
What’s enough traffic?
This is subjective and depends a lot on your industry, audience, and buyer’s journey. If you’re a skincare e-commerce brand, you might feel you are seeing a steady stream of traffic to your site. But what’s the context of these numbers? Understanding baselines and industry averages is a good place to start.
We recommend a minimum 200 to 300 click throughs of new visitors to your site per advertising campaign before making any conclusions about its success in converting or engaging customers. Seeing these numbers over a two to four-week campaign also allows for more accuracy in what you can expect on average. Our research has shown that a one to eight percent conversion rate from traffic to lead generation.
Therefore, if you have invested in 200 clicks to your website with no true conversion (phone inquiry, web form completion, or email opt-in) then it’s not a bad idea to pause the campaign. It’s time to do some analysis to understand why the campaign isn’t producing results.
Examining the underperforming campaigns
Your offer or message may not be right. Ask yourself these questions. Do you have interesting content and campaigns? Does your content and offer provide minimal risk and maximum opportunity to engage new visitors?
Your website doesn’t provide a great customer experience. Maybe your site looks dated or clunky. Or, it doesn’t scale well on mobile. Some of this is purely subjective. But delivering a great user experience (UX) is not. Look at some competitors in your space. Is their website easier to use? Do they have interesting content and images? Does their website provide proof points that reflect their credibility? Is their offer more compelling in comparison to yours? This is most likely the culprit if the advertising is generating good traffic, but conversions aren’t occurring. Perhaps a revisit of improving the UX, content, and visuals of your website is in order.
Low margin and value, high CPC
If you sell a product less than $100 and have a high cost-per-click (CPC) and low lifetime value, this is a concern.
Think back again to the skincare brand. If the average cost per click is $5, and it takes 100 clicks to generate one sale at $100 then clearly this campaign probably isn’t successful. The only way this would be a good investment is if, at $5 per click, repeat business of additional $1,000 for year one could be expected. In this scenario, the breakeven point might be in six months for each new customer acquired. Understanding these numbers helps you in trying to secure funding or budget, as you’ll have a better idea of when to expect.
To help you prepare for and appreciate all the caveats of digital marketing, find a digital marketing expert who can walk you through these numbers.
- The cost per month required to drive an effective digital marketing campaign (SEO, Paid Advertising, Social Media Management, Influencer Marketing, etc).
- The cost per month required to drive an effective digital marketing campaign (SEO, Paid Advertising, Social Media Management, Influencer Marketing, etc).
- The amount of traffic you could expect per month. Everyone knows SEO takes time, but AdWords and other traffic sources could produce some instant traffic. This allows you to have a firm grasp of the budget you required and the level of ROI you can expect too.
- The number of leads/sales you can expect per month.
- When or which month you are likely to start to realise an ROI.
- What is the lifetime value of your new customer in year one versus year two?
Looking at the skincare brand, it’s important to note this is a highly competitive industry that requires significant investment if only relying on SEO and paid advertising. There are better digital marketing campaigns to consider. In most cases, by researching and reviewing the numbers and having the ROI discussion, this guides the direction your digital marketing campaigns should take.
If you haven’t worked out the numbers, please pause your campaign. Know what you’re aiming for before the campaign launches.
Lead conversion falters without a well-trained sales team
We’ve conducted audits for clients and found web traffic and lead generation is healthy but sales not. But there isn’t buy-in from leadership that thinks digital marking is just a fad or too expensive to yield real results. However, digital leads are still leads. The real issue is lack of sales training. The person responding to leads must be strategic. If you are about to embark on a digital marketing journey, you must have cohesiveness within the company. The external campaigns should be optimised whilst also ensuring sales is prepared and trained properly.
For example, when we save a client the opportunity loss of the 20 new leads that didn’t convert or nurture, it was a no-brainer for him to tap us for the training of his sales team. So, it’s a great idea to pause the campaign and make an investment in the education and training of your sales team. This is a great response to correcting lost opportunities.
Tools and accountability
When engaging in digital marketing, tools are critical. Consider a platform that reports data in real-time. This platform should include a customer relationship management (CRM) capability as well as marketing tracking. Software like Salesforce or Hubspot allows you to monitor every lead. You’ll be able to see when leads are reviewed, called, emailed and converted. This may seem Big Brother-like to your staff. If so, it often comes down to accountability.
If the accountability falls on a motivated person, then the tools, transparency, and sales training they receive will improve your lead to sales conversion rates. This activity will increase revenue and profits. On the other hand, those who feel threatened by this may be suffering from lack of accountability and won’t see the value of change.
By implementing this, you’re more likely to see who is really valuable and takes the initiative offered by digital marketing. Tools and platforms are critical to your digital marketing success. It provides the metrics needed to understand where you are and where you’re heading.
Therefore, if you don’t have the tools in place before you launch your campaigns, please pause your campaign. Get the infrastructure in place to support your campaigns and staff.
Pause and regroup with help
Ensuring all these steps are in place will help minimise any investment risk associated with your digital marketing campaigns. At Digital Marketing Specialists, an agency based in Sydney, we have the skills and experience to help you optimise your campaigns. We support our clients with sales training for the best chance to increase your leads to conversions. Get in touch today to learn how we can help.
