Data without analysis is meaningless. It must be converted to actionable information, which can inform all aspects of your marketing efforts, from audience segmentation to channel selection to messaging, resulting in higher ROI.
In last week's blog, I covered which data sources to pull from to ensure that your association gets the complete picture. Now, lets dig into the data. Here are the things to think about:
To develop the ideal member journey, it is critical to take stock of the baseline data you already have, including:
1. Member, Attendee, Website, Social Media and Prospect data
2. Analytics Data
3. Tracking Pixels
Member, Attendee, and Prospect Information
Think about how to segment audiences into similar groups. Who attended last year’s conference? Who didn’t? What are the different job roles, and how does your organization alleviate their pain points? Answers to these questions will help you customize messaging that speaks directly to each audience’s needs and their stage in the customer journey.
The most valuable data you have likely lives within your AMS or CRM:
- Research and surveys: inform or simply validate your messaging. If there are gaps, develop more compelling creative and stronger calls to action.
- Active members: your association’s biggest advocates
- Less active members, past members and prospects: provides a more valuable look into improving your association’s bottom line.
- Well-segmented email list: The foundation of your marketing strategy, but its use can go far beyond email marketing. Social media and digital display networks are able to build new audiences using email addresses, which expands your audience touchpoints beyond the inbox.
Website Analytics Data
You know your website is the critical hub of your marketing mix and that analytics will tell you whether the user experience is seamless and easy, or if there are opportunities for improvement. But sifting and sorting through mountains of data in Google Analytics can be daunting, even for the most expert users. For instance:
Click through rates from your email marketing may be stellar, but if your bounce rate is 80% and average time on site is 20 seconds, you have a landing page problem. Ask yourself why.
Is the content valuable? Is there a clear call to action? Is there a significant barrier standing in the way of a conversion, such as a login screen or wonky 3rd party plugin? What may seem like a minor hurdle to you, likely feels like a barricade to a web user.
So, ask yourself if you are getting enough insight from your analytics to optimize the performance of your marketing. By connecting your individual marketing tactics to onsite user behavior, you get a more complete picture of what’s working and what isn’t.
Social Media Tracking Pixels
Site analytics give invaluable data on your campaign and website performance, but stop short of providing actionable ways to re-engage with users based on their behavior. Enter the tracking pixel – [ a short snippet of code that lives on all pages of your website that collects information about site users] – which allows you to
- Gather data on users, segment them based on their behavior, and retarget them on a variety of platforms with additional relevant content based on their phase in the customer journey.
- Enables you to build new audiences on social media platforms, by matching the characteristics of your current site users, members, prospects, buyers, and attendees.
If you’re having trouble identifying and reaching new prospects, pixels are one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal.
So what’s next?
Your association’s data can help you develop a clearer picture of your target audiences, optimize your online user experience, and reach prospects with greater efficacy than ever before. Leveraging data insights to craft a digital marketing strategy around a defined member journey can drive measurable value for your association.
Let’s talk about how using your data strategically can drive membership, increase non-dues revenue, and boost conference attendance.
