You need to be able to compare at-a-glance the cost-per-lead from each marketing channel — paid search, events, display ads, retargeting, organic search, content syndication, direct mail and more. This comparison enables you to answer the question, “Which channels work best?”
Also, to improve campaigns, you need the ability to america cell phone number list evaluate, for example, an A/B test on a landing page. Which landing page generates the lowest cost per lead? Make that your control and perform your next test so you can continually optimize your marketing machine.
2. Cost-Per-Acquisition
What it is:
Your campaign costs divided by the number of sales you generate.
Why you need it:
If you can push your measurements beyond lead generation to customer acquisition, you’ll have a measure that’s even more valuable in helping to allocate your marketing spending. That’s because not all leads are created equal. Those that are higher quality convert better.
Perhaps you have a low cost-per-lead on your pay-per-click campaigns and a much higher one from events. By tracking cost-per-acquisition, however, you may discover that event leads convert better and are more cost effective.
Thus, you can optimize the use of your marketing budget by allocating more dollars to channels and campaigns with the lowest cost-per-acquisition metrics.
You can also compare the cost-per-acquisition between multiple events to help decide which events to participate in during the following year.
3. Pipeline Contribution
What it is:
The dollar amount of the sales pipeline generated through marketing or sales activities.
Why you need it:
Both sales and marketing are responsible for revenue generation, and you want to know how much each team contributes. Also, since marketing initiatives often have a longer lead time than sales efforts, you should review a pipeline contribution dashboard to determine whether their contribution over time is growing.
This dashboard does not get into the nitty-gritty of programs, such as direct mail campaigns versus pay-per-click. Because it focuses on the big picture, however, it’s ideal for sharing with members of top management who want to know whether their marketing and sales teams are pulling their weight.
4. Pipeline Velocity and Acceleration
What it is
Bear with me on this one. It’s a little more complicated, but it’s worth understanding.
Frequently, when we think about speed, we’re looking at automobile dashboards that measure miles per hour. Pipeline velocity measures are similar in that they too are averages. However, they instead look at the average sales dollars your pipeline produces each day.
To calculate it, you need to know:
