Data-driven Marketing management in e-commerce involves using data-driven strategies to attract, retain, and engage customers.

Here is a comprehensive guide on why it is important, where to start, and what steps to take in today’s digital landscape including an example.

Where to Begin? Do the basics right first!

To start data-driven marketing management in e-commerce, follow these steps:

1. Set Clear Objectives:

Define your business goals, such as increasing sales, improving customer retention, or boosting brand awareness.

Question yourself about what metrics or KPIs are relevant to fulfil your marketing plan.

2. Implement Analytics Tools:

Integrate Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager to track user behaviour and measure campaign performance.

Question yourself about Why/What to measure? Did you need to know the customer behaviour more than pageview?

3. Conduct Market Research:

Analyse your target audience to understand their needs, preferences, and pain points.

Question yourself about the need to research and know if your marketing strategy is aligned with your target audience.

4. Create a Marketing Ops:

Develop a plan that aligns with your objectives and includes a mix of digital marketing tactics, such as SEO, content marketing, social media, email marketing, and paid advertising.

Question yourself about the right mix of digital marketing, what about offline marketing?

What to Do Nowadays?

Given the rapidly evolving digital landscape, here are some best practices for marketing management in e-commerce:

– Leverage Social Media Marketing:

Engage with your audience on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Use targeted ads to reach specific demographics and understand how social media contributes to your sales revenue.

Question yourself about the weight of social media in your marketing mix (what is % of traffic and what is % of sales?)

– Use Email Marketing:

Build a mailing list and create personalised email campaigns to nurture leads and encourage repeat purchases, link email with sales and traffic.

Question yourself about the engagement of your customers and what drives them to repurchase and recommend to new customers.

– Optimise for Mobile:

Ensure your e-commerce website is mobile-friendly, as a huge portion of online shopping is done via mobile devices.

Question yourself about abandoning checkout compared to desktop users, it might tell to optimize your checkout for your mobile users, or it might tell you that they need to think about if it is a more complex sale.

– Embrace Content Marketing:

Create valuable content, such as blog posts, videos, and infographics, to attract and retain customers.

Question yourself about what content drives more engagement and brings more value, enhances, and delivers more see engagement and screen and pageviews.

– Implement Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO):

Use A/B testing and other CRO techniques to improve website performance and increase conversions.

Question yourself about what landing page drives more conversion and engagement according to your goals and according to statistical significance. Enhance and deliver more engagement through monitoring behaviours on the website.

An example of marketing management without using data-driven marketing measurement can illustrate some of the pitfalls and consequences.

Consider a fictional e-commerce business, Bella Boutique, which sells fashion accessories online. The business initially conducted its marketing without relying on data-driven measurement. Here is how the lack of data affected their efforts:

Common Scenario: Marketing Without using Data-driven

Bella Boutique decided to launch a series of online marketing campaigns, including social media ads, email marketing, and pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements. The management team based their decisions on general industry trends and their assumptions about customer preferences.

1. Generic Marketing Campaigns:

Without customer data, Bella Boutique created generic ads that targeted a broad audience. These campaigns lacked personalisation and did not resonate with any specific customer group. For example, they ran the same Facebook ad for all users between the ages of 18 and 65, ignoring the differing preferences and behaviours among various age groups. Do not use utm’s to identify traffic. (See how you should use utm’s and channel grouping in Google Analytics 4)

2. Misallocated Budget:

The company allocated a sizeable portion of its budget to PPC campaigns on Google Ads, assuming it would drive traffic. However, without data on which keywords were effective or how users interacted with their ads, much of this budget was spent on underperforming ads that led to low conversion rates.

3. Ineffective Email Marketing:

Bella Boutique sent out weekly newsletters to their entire email list. These emails featured new arrivals and seasonal sales. However, the emails were not segmented or tailored based on past purchase behaviour or user engagement. As a result, open and click-through rates were consistently low, and the overall impact on sales was minimal.

4. Delayed Response to Trends:

When a particular style of handbags became popular, Bella Boutique was slow to respond. Competitors who monitored search trends and social media data quickly stocked up on these items and captured the market. By the time Bella Boutique reacted, the trend was already waning.

How to change to Data-Driven Marketing management?

Realizing the inefficiencies, Bella Boutique decided to implement a professional implementation of Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager to start gathering data on their marketing campaigns and website traffic.

Question yourself about If you need to create audiences that need conversion (Google Analytics 4, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, etc) tags that you can orchestrate with Google Tag Manager

– Improved Targeting:

Data from Google Analytics 4 revealed that their most engaged users were women aged 25-34. This insight allowed them to create more focused social media campaigns that directly appealed to this demographic, resulting in higher engagement rates.

Question yourself about If you need to create audiences for other actions & behaviours that need to meet business objectives.

– Optimized Ad Spend:

With better data, Bella Boutique refined its PPC campaigns by focusing on high-performing keywords and discontinuing ads that did not convert, thereby improving their ROI.

Question yourself about If you need to optimize cost according to the performance of your goals like brand awareness or buying intention.

– Segmented Email Campaigns:

They started segmenting their email lists based on purchase history and engagement levels, sending personalized recommendations and promotions. This strategy significantly increased their email marketing performance.

Question yourself about If you have configured data attributes or use them (like custom dimensions in Google Analytics 4) that have the status of last purchase, last marketing offer, VIP Status, Churn prevision, and Customer Value)

– Quick Adaptation to Market Trends:

Using real-time data, Bella Boutique could quickly identify rising trends and stock products, accordingly, enhancing their ability to compete and capitalize on market opportunities (use BigQuery intraday table to know.)

Question yourself, about If you have BigQuery export data to predict customer recommendations based on their purchase history. Use your looker studio report connected to Bigquery to understand source traffic that drives more engagement and sales.

This example illustrates how transitioning to a data-driven approach transformed Bella Boutique’s marketing efforts, turning previously ineffective strategies into targeted, efficient, and profitable campaigns.

So, what is the right mix of metrics and KPIs?

Choosing the right metrics or Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for your e-commerce marketing management is crucial for measuring success and guiding strategy. The ideal metrics depend on your business goals, but some common ones are foundational for any e-commerce operation. Here is a list of important KPIs to consider:

Sales and Revenue Metrics

– Total Sales:

The total revenue generated from all sales in each period. It provides a high-level view of your business’s financial health, remember that Google Analytics 4 will not have all the orders because it is not an e-commerce invoicing system. The aim is to get attribution off campaign investments.

Question yourself about your e-commerce sales and what are the main drivers on the online front and other channels like marketplaces and resellers.

– Average Order Value (AOV):

The average amount spent per transaction. This metric helps you understand customer spending habits and you can see for all orders or orders from performance campaigns.

Question yourself about your ecommerce AOV by weekday and month day increases and decreases and what are the main drivers on the online front.

– Customer Lifetime Value (CLV or LTV):

The projected revenue a customer will generate over their lifetime with your business. This metric is crucial for long-term planning and customer retention strategies, but it is not easy to implement and ideally have marketing data.

Question yourself about getting the value each customer gives to your organization.

– Checkout abandoned rate

Important to measure the effectiveness of the checkout process.

Question yourself about your ecommerce checkout steps and what you can offer in different payment and delivery methods (days, transportation, and cost)

Customer Metrics

– Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC):

The cost of acquiring a new customer, including marketing and advertising expenses. It is a key measure of your marketing efficiency.

Question yourself about the importance of the cost and the margin you have to the marketing spend.

– Customer Retention Rate:

The percentage of customers who return to make repeat purchases. A high retention rate indicates strong customer loyalty.

Question yourself, about where the best Average Order Value (AOV) is coming from repeat purchases?

– Churn rate

For customer who stops buying in each period, important to understand the reasons why.

The definition of churn rate is unique to each business, see an article about Why you should consider the churn rate.

– Net Promoter Score (NPS):

A metric to gauge customer satisfaction and loyalty based on the likelihood of customers recommending your business to others. Should be very well implemented and timely manner for the consumer. (see how to put in practice NPS)

Marketing Performance Metrics

– Conversion Rate:

The percentage of website visitors who complete a desired action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter. It measures the effectiveness of your website and marketing campaigns.

– Click-Through Rate (CTR):

The percentage of users who click on a specific link, such as an ad or email campaign. It helps gauge the effectiveness of your content and call to action. Do not see only by CTR, because you will be tricked, see always by channel or campaign landing page, and see the context.

– Bounce Rate:

The percentage of visitors who leave your website after viewing only one page. A high bounce rate may indicate issues with site content or user experience. Should be viewed in context, otherwise will be not a good idea.

Traffic Metrics

– Number of Users:

The number of users visiting your site over a specific period. This provides insight into your website’s reach and exposure. (see also how many users are engaging with your site)

– Traffic Sources:

Identifies where your website traffic is coming from (e.g., organic search, paid ads, social media, email campaigns). This helps you understand which channels are most effective. To practice see our tip and trick about UTM’s GA4

Engagement Metrics

– Time on Site:

The average time visitors spend on your website. This metric can indicate the quality of your content and user engagement.

– Pages Per Session:

The average number of pages per session. A higher number suggests strong user engagement and interest.

Inventory and Fulfilment Metrics

– Stock Turnover Rate:

The rate at which inventory is sold and replaced. It helps manage stock levels and avoid overstocking or understocking.

– Order Fulfilment Time:

The time it takes to process and ship an order. This is crucial for customer satisfaction and retention.

In Resume, why Is It Important?

Selecting the right mix of these KPIs will depend on your e-commerce goals and business model. A good approach is to start with a broad set of metrics and then refine your focus as you learn which ones are most impactful for your strategy.

Marketing management in e-commerce is crucial because it allows businesses to:

– Understand Customer Behaviour:

Gain insights into customer preferences, buying patterns, and demographics through analytics tools like Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager.

– Optimise Marketing Campaigns:

Use data to identify which marketing channels and tactics generate the best ROI, allowing you to allocate resources effectively.

– Personalise Customer Experience:

Tailor content, offers, and recommendations based on customer data to increase engagement and sales.

– Monitor Performance:

Track key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of marketing campaigns and make data-driven marketing decisions.

See more about our data-driven framework to give to life your data-driven marketing strategies and tactics.

More useful POV’s regarding Data-Driven Marketing

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Data-driven Marketing Management in e-commerce