Content ROI is a mystery for many marketers, but it doesn't have to be. A Brafton client shows how event tracking provides conversion data.

Industry: Travel
Content: Daily blogs
Highlights: Using content analytics event tracking to measure conversions

Around eight out of 10 marketers are unclear about the returns they get from their investments in search engine marketing and optimization, although these efforts are standard practice. Marketers aren’t helpless in gathering cold, hard data to back up their investment decisions. One Brafton client serves as the perfect example of how content analytics reports can deliver ROI information about conversions, like brochure requests, to fuel smarter strategies.

Tracking info requests at close range

We helped this client set up a system that would allow it to track the number of times website visitors were interested enough to request product brochures.

This is a common way to measure conversions, because it means the brand’s content is bringing in qualified visitors who are interested in learning more.

There are a number of ways to account for visits that trigger an information request:
  1. Marketers can put certain information behind a download wall or a form fill, so prospects have to provide their contact information to receive it.
  2. Companies can set up event tracking, which essentially notes every time a specific action is completed on the site. We helped this customer build landing pages for its brochures, and set up a filter for tracking every instance that a visitor clicked a link to get to the page, which counted as a “goal completion.”

Marketers can track downloads to get better content ROI info.

Backend website work generates accurate ROI data

After setting up this system, we could see the client received 27 brochure requests from visitors who read the news content and travel blogs published on its site during a business quarter. There was a slight skew toward news pieces, indicating this content is more influential in encouraging readers to act.

Empowered with this information, the client can determine if it wants to increase news content creation to generate more brochure requests or identify missed opportunities in its blog articles. Perhaps these pieces aren’t covering the topics that map to brochures, or the CTA buttons for brochure requests may be hard to see on these pages.

Armed with this information, content marketing strategists and clients have an accurate picture of where and when conversions are taking place. Then, they can refine campaigns accordingly to drive even more results in the future.

Lauren Kaye is a Marketing Editor at Brafton Inc. She studied creative and technical writing at Virginia Tech before pursuing the digital frontier and finding content marketing was the best place to put her passions to work. Lauren also writes creative short fiction, hikes in New England and appreciates a good book recommendation.