Friday, March 27, 2009

Organizing Your Lead Analysis and Metrics


Lead tracking and management are very important, yet they are also cluttered tasks. Why is that? It is because you have to face a lot of lead information and lead analytic results every day. Before you get a big headache, you must be able to find a way to work some way out of the pile of “debris” before it overwhelms you.

The answer to that is organization. You must be able to find a way to streamline the flow of information that will maximize your efficiency and productivity. This is so that you will not be confused and be eaten alive by your lead management tasks every day. So how can one do that? 

Here are few tips on how you can introduce some semblance of organization into your lead management department: 

You must understand that not all leads and information you receive are important. 

This is true. In all forms of Internet marketing, regardless of whatever product they may promote, not all leads that are generated are important. This is because not all of them may want to buy the product you are offering. Others may have signed up for the offer just to get the freebie that you are giving away. As an Internet marketer, you need to be able to separate the ham from the spam in this line of work. 

Take note of all important leads. 

In this step, you should be able to keep track of all the important leads. One way of doing this is to organize them by lead score. The lead score is indicative of how much interest the lead has for your product; the higher the lead score, the greater the chances that you can convert this lead into a customer. Using the lead score, you can come up with some sort of dashboard in which you can see which leads are more likely to buy your product. They should then be monitored closely and regularly. 

Use simple reports. 

One common mistake that marketers make is to rely on complicated reports. That can be time-consuming, and sometimes these reports do not show much result that you can use. In order to save time and increase efficiency, it is better to structure your lead tracking reports simply. This way, you can see the data you need easily without having to figure out what each field in a table means. This is what you would usually do just to know where you stand in your marketing efforts. 

Advantages of an Organized Lead Analytics Scheme

Here are some of the benefits of an organized lead tracking scheme:

The appropriate action is taken for every lead. 

When you organize your lead tracking, you can gauge as accurately as possible the level of interest that the lead has for your product. This way, you can assign him or her to the appropriate marketer or sales agent in charge of a specific action. For example, a very interested lead can be assigned to someone in charge of making a sales pitch, while a less interested lead can be subjected to further nurturing and persuasion. 

Everything moves faster. 

With an organized lead tracking operation, there is less or no time wasted on shuffling through papers or reports just to know which lead should be assigned to whom. Everything shall move smoothly and quickly; leads are assigned to the person who is best trained to deal with them. Because of that, a lot of results are generated in a shorter time compared to the time when you were still messy and disorganized. 

Visit our lead management software sponsor: www.leads360.com

Friday, March 13, 2009

Google Analytics: What Do You Exactly Track?


A lot of my readers have been asking me about what are the different things they have to be mindful of when it comes to Google Analytics. I definitely understand. I have been talking about web analytics, and yet I have never really tackled much on how and what to track. Well, today is the day. 

I will tell you the top things to monitor when you have Google Analytics:

File Downloads. 

Normally, if you have a website, you can have a lot of files that you’re willing to share to your Internet users. You also have a short description of what they are (that’s how you actually encourage them to download the files). You should know that only those who are interested with further information will download them. Fortunately, Google Analytics allows you to keep track of the files that have been downloaded, regardless of what they are. Moreover, you will not only know which files have been downloaded, but also how many times they have been saved in somebody else’s computer or laptop. You will then have an idea which type of information your target market are looking right now. 

Comments. 

This is excellent if you have been running blogs into your website, or if you have been promoting your products and services through blog posts. There are two types of activities that you have to take note of. First is how many people clicked on your Submit Comment. You also have to be mindful of those who click on Post Comment. Normally, just by looking at your blog posts, you will already have an idea of how many pages have been visited and frequently commented. However, this simple technique will only be ideal if you are talking about comments on recent posts. It will be more difficult if your readers have been commenting on your posts written several months back. Your Google Analytics therefore will provide you with a more comprehensive detail when it comes to blog comments. 

Opening of New Accounts. 

You may also want to pay attention to the new opened accounts. Again, there are two types that you have to watch out. First, how many of them have successfully completed the registration form, and how long did they take to do it? Second, how many weren’t able to finish the form, and where did they actually stop? The answers to these questions will help you identify if you have a very effective lead form for your customers or not. If it took them so long to finish the form, then you may have to shorten it, so there will be more people who get to finish them. You can also evaluate the questions that you’ve made. Perhaps some of them are not that really important. You can remove the fields from the form. 

Newsletter Subscriptions. 

You may argue that you do have a mailing list. Well, mailing lists just contain the list of names and addresses. It would not tell you if your newsletter has been opened or which of the URLs that you have included were actually clicked by your e-mail users. Google Analytics becomes handy since it gives you figures that you can use to calculate your conversion rate. You can then assess if the newsletter is bringing in profits, or if you have to change this method of marketing campaign to make it more appealing to your readers. 

Again, I would recommend it that you get to know your Google Analytics a lot better. If you’re not a member, then do so. It’s completely free, and you can run it together with your lead manager.

Visit our lead management software sponsor: www.leads360.com