With the changes and challenges of marketing in today’s fast-paced environment, there is a heavy focus on media measurement at the extremes. On one hand, marketers are obsessed with front-end metrics like reach, clicks, and video views to understand if media is driving engagement. On the other, they want to understand how media investments are driving tangible business outcomes.

While both are important, there’s a middle layer that often gets limited attention: the experience, such as the website or app, that the media drives to. The experience on the website is more important than ever, especially after COVID, as e-commerce sales and investments in websites have significantly increased. The measurement of the experience is mostly tied to specific actions on the website related to purchases, submitting leads, or engaging with particular content and lacks core website-related metrics to inform optimization.

Connecting website data to media measurement not only empowers businesses to refine their strategies but also ensures a more precise and targeted approach to reaching the right audiences and providing better experience across all channels.

Let’s explore three key areas that play a pivotal role in bridging the gap between website data and media measurement:

01

Maximizing website engagement

Connecting the user experience across your website or owned channels to media measurement should start with examining basic website engagement metrics. Metrics such as bounce rate, time on website, and pages viewed serve as essential indicators to assess whether you’re effectively reaching and engaging with the right audience.

A high bounce rate may highlight a gap between the advertising message and the audience's expectations once they click through. For example, consider clicking on an ad for an item that leads to the brand’s home page instead of the specific product page. Not a great experience, right? Analyzing time on website can provide insights into the level of interest and engagement, helping marketers fine-tune their strategies to enhance the overall landing page experience. This is especially key for top- and mid-funnel media campaigns where the objective is to drive awareness and brand consideration.

02

Analyzing your customer journey

The next step is to understand the customer journey after the user lands on your website or app. By examining the journey across various touchpoints from the initial click to conversion, brands can determine the most effective landing pages and messaging strategies, as well as the ideal path to conversion. Mapping out the customer journey creates a clear path for delivering the right messages across various funnel stages and the content that keeps users most engaged. It also provides valuable insights into the user's interactions with the website, enabling marketers to optimize more personalized media content, refine messaging, and create a seamless experience that guides users toward conversion by tailoring to their interests.

03

Identifying media effectiveness with conversion scores

The next level of leveraging website/app data for media measurement involves building advanced models that combine media interactions and website interactions to create a composite score indicative of a conversion (purchase, lead, or high-value action). These scores are based on a holistic analysis of user behavior, identifying patterns and trends that contribute to successful conversion. This score can serve as an optimization metric to evaluate the effectiveness of media in addition to media operational or response metrics. It helps identify how effective tactics, audiences, or channels are, not only in driving clicks but also in deep engagement on the website/app that correlates with conversions. This approach also addresses the challenge where only certain channels, especially bottom-of-the-funnel ones like search, get credit for conversions based on last touch.

At the end of the day, the symbiotic relationship between website data and media measurement opens a realm of possibilities for businesses aiming to enhance their digital marketing strategies. By focusing on basic metrics, dissecting the customer journey, and implementing advanced models, marketers can unlock valuable insights that lead to more informed decision-making.

Connecting website data to media measurement is crucial for understanding media performance and optimizing it to drive business outcomes and improve user experience.