Nielsen recently published their 2023 Global Annual Marketing Report which provides unique insights into the common experiences, expectations, and challenges of digital marketers in North America. One of the key insights from this report was that marketers’ confidence in measuring their returns on investments is relatively low. In fact, on average North American marketers only have 56% confidence in the measurement of returns across digital channels. This leaves them without enough insight into their complete return on spending. As a marketing agency, we recognize the importance of building confidence and having a holistic picture of your investment. Here are three strategies to build confidence in your return-on-investment measurement.

⦁ Setting Goals

A great place to start is by building SMART Goals. Check out our July blog and template for building SMART Goals to get started. Building strong goals will give you insight to compare your return on investment. Without strong goals, it is difficult to determine what may be deemed successful and what is not. By setting SMART Goals, you give yourself a baseline to compare to your return and identify the metrics that should be used to calculate and understand your return on investment. A Harvard Business study found that a staggering 83% of the population do not have goals and those with goals are 10x as successful. Without strong goals for your return on investment, it is much harder to confidentially measure the success of your campaigns in gaining, retaining and reactivating patients.

⦁ Avoid Focusing on Vanity Metrics

A vanity metric focuses on things that may sound good but provide little true insight. A common vanity metric is followers on social media. While having a strong following is certainly not a bad thing, the number of followers does not indicate whether these people will actually become patients. If you focus on follower count, you may calculate a high return on investment, but these people are not necessarily leads and may not actually become patients. Rather than focusing on vanity metrics like follower count, focus more on engagement, lead generation, and analytics that tell you more about who you are reaching. This is not to say that vanity metrics cannot provide any insight, but that they should be secondary data and not your primary form of campaign measurement. In doing so, you will gain confidence in your return on investment and its value.

⦁ Invest in High-Quality Data Sources

Investing in high-quality data sources can help you to better understand your holistic picture and gain confidence in measuring your returns. According to a 2022 survey by Experian, 91% of U.S. organizations said that investing in data quality helped business growth. Without strong data and data analytics, it can be difficult to understand the impact of your investment on the patient journey. Strong reliable data will build your confidence and inform your understanding of your campaign outcomes.

Building confidence in your return on investment is crucial to running a digital marketing campaign. By increasing confidence, you can better understand how to adjust your strategies and advocate to your Board of Directors and budget-makers on the impact of your campaign. Attribution of a campaign can be tricky, but by following these three steps, you will gain confidence in your return on investment and become a better campaign strategist. Ultimately, this will help you to build campaigns that educate, attract, retain, and ascend patients.