You didn’t get into the automotive aftermarket industry to sit down at your laptop and analyze marketing metrics.
But if you want to grow your shop – whether it’s auto restoration, performance, racing, or restyling – you’ve
got to pay attention to your analytics.
After all, you can’t improve your marketing results if you don’t know what’s working and what isn’t, right? Without analytics, you wouldn’t be able to track the progress of your website, your Google Ads, or even how well your latest post on social media is doing.
Tapping into your analytics lets you see how well your marketing efforts are doing and what you need to improve.
The word analytics might cause some confusion, and you might even feel a bit overwhelmed by the thought of tracking a load of data. Don’t worry, because in this blog we’re going to cover:
- What analytics are and why your digital marketing campaign won’t be successful without them
- How you can easily use analytics to improve your shop’s marketing
Now, let’s get straight into it and talk about what analytics are and why data-driven decisions should be the foundation of your digital marketing strategy.
What are digital marketing analytics, and why are they important for your shop?
Digital marketing analytics is data you can collect from a variety of digital channels. By tracking this data, you gain insight into user behavior and learn how they interact with your content.
You can gather data from sources like your:
- Website
- Social media profiles
- Email marketing campaigns
- Paid ads
- Landing pages
But really any digital channel can provide you with useful data and insights that you can use to improve your digital marketing.
Why should you analyze data?
Analyzing data will show you which areas are performing the best and which ones are driving traffic away from your site, allowing you to adjust your marketing to suit your target audience.
82% of marketers say data-driven marketing campaigns are more successful than traditional marketing efforts, and if you use marketing analytics in your shop, you’re
23 times more likely to acquire customers!
So now that we’re clear on what marketing analytics is and why you should use it, let's break down how you can use analytics for your auto restoration, performance, racing, or restyling shop’s digital marketing.
How to use analytics to improve your shop’s digital marketing campaigns
Let's waste no time getting into it. Here are six simple tips to show you how to use analytics to take your marketing efforts to the next level.
1. Identify the right key performance indicators (KPIs)
Before you can really take advantage of analytics for your digital marketing campaigns, you have to make sure you’ve identified the KPIs that matter most for your shop and your marketing goals.
You can set KPIs for metrics like:
- Click-through rates
- Conversion rates
- Bounce rates
- Return on ad spend
- Customer acquisition costs
- Engagement rates
- Organic traffic
So what KPIs should you focus on? That really depends on the kind of campaign you’re running and what you want to achieve.
For example, if you’re investing in new blog posts to improve traffic to your website, then you’ll want to keep an eye on the engagement rates and the organic traffic coming to your site through these new blogs.
If you’d like to track your return on ad spend then pay attention to the amount of people converting thanks to your paid Google ads.
The KPIs you choose to measure the success of your campaign will help you justify the investment you’ve put into it. They give you a simple way to health check your shop’s marketing and make it easy for you to know when to make adjustments.
2. Get to know your audience on a whole new level
One of the best things about analytics is that it helps you get to know your audience a lot better.
It allows you to gain vital insights into what they like about your marketing campaigns and what doesn’t really work for them.
Use your analytics to identify customer trends and behaviors to help you get a better idea of what your audience is looking for.
As soon as you’ve gathered data on your customers’ behavior, consider segmenting your customers by:
- Demographics like age, gender, and location
- Behavior and engagement on your website
- The type of content they engage with
This is going to let you create super detailed and personalized campaigns that will resonate a whole lot better with your audience than before!
3. Don’t lose sight of your KPIs
There’s no point in setting KPIs and choosing what data to track if you’re not tracking it.
Don’t shy away from analytics tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Keep on top of your data so you can see when your campaign is doing really well with your customers and when it’s dipping a bit.
The more you measure results, the more you can respond with new and improved marketing strategies.
4. Use A/B testing to your advantage
Another great way to improve your digital marketing efforts and create a fine-tuned marketing campaign is to use A/B testing to your advantage.
A/B testing is a brilliant marketing tool for comparing different versions of your campaign and determining which one will perform better with your audience.
By using analytics to keep track of each campaign variant’s performance, you’ll gain more data and have the metrics you need to optimize your campaigns going forward.
5. Adapt and optimize your digital marketing efforts
Detailed analytics aren’t just for show. Even if some campaigns are going really well, don’t forget about the ones that
aren’t doing great. You need to do some heavy lifting to make the most out of the data you have.
If you notice that something really isn’t working for your marketing goals, adapt. This is where you take what you have and improve it. Otherwise, what was the point?
When a strategy is tanking or putting a stop to your growth, don’t ignore it. Act quickly and make a change so you can continue to watch your shop thrive online.
6. Use marketing analytics software to your advantage
No campaign can be successful without some help from an excellent digital marketing tool. We love to use analytics tools in house, which is why we’d recommend you do the same.
Not only will it make your life easier but it’ll also help you ensure that the data you're collecting is accurate and accessible.
Here are a few awesome marketing analytics software that you can use to track your marketing analytics:
Need some help with your marketing analytics?
Analytics can be difficult to take care of and if you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed after all this - we get it!
But we’ve had a lot of experience tracking analytics for auto restoration, performance, racing, or restyling shops and we have a lot of experience getting results for our clients.
If you’re looking for somebody to help you with your digital marketing campaigns and want a team that will take care of everything for you, including analytics, then give us a shout. We’d be happy to talk shop with you.
Get in touch with our team today by giving us a call on (585) 766-9785 or
contacting us here on our website.
