Refine ROI with Actionable Marketing Analytics

Refine ROI with Actionable Marketing Analytics  Understand how marketing activities impact traffic, leads and sales.  Marketing analytics lets you understand the entire sales and marketing funnel -- from prospects to leads to renters -- to define which marketing activities drive traffic, and, more importantly, leads and sales.  Slicing and dicing this source of data across varied campaigns and timeframes lets you report marketing ROI to direct investment in the marketing tactics that help you manage your marketing more effectively. 

“And that’s with massaging the numbers?”

“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half”

“I don’t know what I should be measuring so give me everything and then I’ll sort out what is important”

Marketing has become synonymous with measurement and analytics. We've moved on from the days

when marketing was resource intensive and not measurable. Today, the art of marketing has been

transformed into not just a hard science but into something altogether new. We are juggling an ever

increasing constellation of tactics - from whitepaper downloads to SEO to viral video campaigns -

while working to reconcile our activities with our relatively run-of-the-mill lead funnels. We will

look at what is critical to measure and what's just interesting noise. Here are some best practices

for measurement and tactics in pursuing value-added insights while avoiding the trap of analytic

paralysis.

Refine ROI with Actionable Marketing Analytics  

Steven Everett CLP, COSDirector of Marketing | Regional Director

Thies & Talle Management

1.How to Use Marketing Analytics to Understand the Entire Sales Cycle

Typical Sales Cycle

IMPRESSION INDICATORSILS Site Visit #Print Distribution #Key Words Banner Impressions (CPM)

ACTION ITEMSPage ViewsVideo ViewsCode ScansPrinted BrochureDriving DirectionsLinks to Company WebsiteAd Words (CPC)Banner Clicks (Click thru ratio)Hits to Unique URL

CONTACT POINTSCall TrackingE-mail TrackingChat ConversationsAppointments Set

SALESGuest CardsLead Touch Points

FOLLOW UPClosing RatiosFollow Up Touch Points

DEALLeasesApplications

Measuring Tools

Questions before we continue?

So many marketing choices

2. How to Understand & Measure Your Marketing Activities

[You’ll need this for the ROI portion]

IMPRESSION INDICATORSILS Site Visit #Print Distribution #Key Words Banner Impressions (CPM)

ACTION ITEMSPage ViewsVideo ViewsCode ScansPrinted BrochureDriving DirectionsLinks to Company WebsiteAd Words (CPC)Banner Clicks (Click thru ratio)Hits to Unique URL

CONTACT POINTSCall TrackingE-mail TrackingChat ConversationsAppointments Set

SALESGuest CardsLead Touch Points

FOLLOW UPClosing RatiosFollow Up Touch Points

DEALLeasesApplications

Measuring Tools

IMPRESSION INDICATORS• Site Visit #

– IMPACT• Visitors to a site equal leads. No visitors, no leads.

– Ranking can be deceiving as not all visits are created equal» Does the site have a landing page with multiple channels» Understand unique visitors to total visitors» Bounce rate can have a huge impact on quality of traffic» Seasonal numbers need to be taken into account» National search numbers are not as important as local search numbers for your

particular property• Use yearly trend to understand an ILS ad spend

– Help you predict lead numbers from the source

– MEASURE• Free Site Visit Tool

– Compete.com• For you company website make sure you are using Google Analytics (free tool)

– Google.com/analytics

36% Difference

IMPRESSION INDICATORS• Print Distribution #

– IMPACT• Eyes on pages are needed to create leads.

– Number of locations» Location DOES matter» Replenishment rate matters

• Daily, Weekly, Biweekly, monthly

– MEASURE– Number printed does not mean number picked up

» Printed» Distributed

• Racked• Non-prospect deliveries

» Replenished» Returned

IMPRESSION INDICATORS

• Keywords (Search)– IMPACT

• Keywords Drive Traffic to either your site or your ILS– If no one is searching a specific keyword than having it does you no

good• ILS’s buy keywords to drive site traffic

– Typically they focus on Macro not Micro keywords– Use long tail keywords for your buy– ILS’s are catching on to long tail searches

– MEASURE• Google.com/insights/search

– Embed chart on your iGoogle page• Test by doing a search using the keyword(s) or phrase

“Apartments in Maplewood”

IMPRESSION INDICATORS• Banner Impressions (CPM)

– IMPACT• Fulfilling your contracted CPM shows that the site is delivering enough

visitors– Not fulfilling the contracted amount means you over bought– Capping out before the months end means you bough too little to be effective

– MEASURE• Use impression report provided by ILS• Know your percentage buy of overall impression for a given month

– 20,000 impressions = 10% exposure or 1 in 10 ratio• When and where will the banner appear

– Skyscraper, Top Banner, Rolling Skyscraper, floating– Main Search Page, Results Page, Property Page

• Know the sites average click through rate so you can benchmark• Understand the monthly distribution model

– All at once or evenly distributed over the 30 days

IMPRESSION INDICATORSILS Site Visit #Print Distribution #Key Words Banner Impressions (CPM)

ACTION ITEMSPage ViewsVideo ViewsCode ScansPrinted BrochureDriving DirectionsLinks to Company WebsiteAd Words (CPC)Banner Clicks (Click thru ratio)Hits to Unique URL

CONTACT POINTSCall TrackingE-mail TrackingChat ConversationsAppointments Set

SALESGuest CardsLead Touch Points

FOLLOW UPClosing RatiosFollow Up Touch Points

DEALLeasesApplications

Measuring Tools

Action Items• Page Views

– IMPACT• Page views allows you to judge how effective your listing tag and photos are• You can also tie this to your contact points to see if people are looking at your

ad but not contacting the site• A low ratio between views and contacts could be poor photos, high prices or

lack of amenities– MEASURE

• 1 to 5 ratio should be your benchmark– 500 search page results should equal 100 page views– Rural areas will yield a higher ratio: 1 to 2

Action Items

• Video Views, Code Scans, Printed Brochure, Driving Directions, Links to Company Website– IMPACT• Metric allows you to verify that your pricing and design

created interest • Does not guarantee contact point or qualified lead

– MEASURE• Use ILS report – Views, printed, driving, links to site• Use Bit.ly link - scans• Use Google analytics – links to company website

Action Item

• Ad Words (SEM)– IMPACT• Can be use for an immediate traffic drive of qualified

search traffic• Instant “on” and instant “off” with 100% controllable cost

– MEASURE• Use Google Campaign Management Dashboard• Monitor both with CPC and Click Thru Rates• Monitor closely with changes to description and keyword

bids

IMPRESSION INDICATORSILS Site Visit #Print Distribution #Key Words Banner Impressions (CPM)

ACTION ITEMSPage ViewsVideo ViewsCode ScansPrinted BrochureDriving DirectionsLinks to Company WebsiteAd Words (CPC)Banner Clicks (Click thru ratio)Hits to Unique URL

CONTACT POINTSCall TrackingE-mail TrackingChat ConversationsAppointments Set

SALESGuest CardsLead Touch Points

FOLLOW UPClosing RatiosFollow Up Touch Points

DEALLeasesApplications

Measuring Tools

Contact Points• Calls

– IMPACT• Depending on source, calls can represent 50-75% of total leads generated by

source• Number of calls is a direct relation to search results and page views stats• Primary driver of appointments• Depending on source, calls could be a cost to property on a Pay Per Lead

model– MEASURE

• Use call tracking reports from either ad source or from call tracking phone numbers

• Need to remove duplicate numbers and short calls (under 8 sec)• Need to use same metric reporting for all sources if you use for source to

source comparisons• Use lead tracking software (Lead2Lease, Lead Tracking Solutions)• Need to know your Answered to Unanswered call ratio

Contact Points

• E-mail Lead– IMPACT

• Depending on source, e-mails can represent 25-50% of total leads generated by source• Over the last couple of years, leads from this source have

improved their lead quality– MEASURE

• Use ad source reporting• Use lead tracking software (Lead2Lease, Lead Tracking

Solutions)• Need to know your response time

Contact Points

• Appointments Set– IMPACT

• The ratio between leads to appointments is a metric for 2 main items– Quality of leads– Skill set of person answering the phone (on-site or call center)

• Dramatic changes (+/-) can indicate issue with price or special– MEASURE

• Difficult to measure unless you are using a call center for 100% appointment setting

• Pure measurement is hard because it requires human interaction• PMS typically under report and mis-report

Garbage In = Garbage Out• Analysis by Level One found the following variances– Only 32% of manually entered sources in Property Management

Software (PMS) matched the digitally recorded source of Level One– Of 13 ad sources tracked, 11 created more leases than they were

credited with– Over-reported sources include:

• Craig’s List (40% more credit)• Internet (1300% more credit)• Drive-by (22.3% of leases incorrectly attributed)

– Of actual appointments that turn into leases, 64.5% of the sources were incorrectly attributed in the PMS even though the source was provide on the guest card by Level One.

Contact Points• Lead Touch Points (number of times we touch a lead)

– IMPACT• This metric allows you to monitor how well you are doing with lead

follow up• 100 leads does you no good if you are not acting on any of them• You are not doing as well as you think you are

– MEASURE• Pure measurement is hard because it requires human interaction• Start with using your PMS – CRM tool• There are tools available to help (Lead2Lease, Lead Tracking

Solutions)• Set goals for sites – 5 per lead

– Develop a step process for them to follow» Phone, e-mail, mailer, phone, e-mail

IMPRESSION INDICATORSILS Site Visit #Print Distribution #Key Words Banner Impressions (CPM)

ACTION ITEMSPage ViewsVideo ViewsCode ScansPrinted BrochureDriving DirectionsLinks to Company WebsiteAd Words (CPC)Banner Clicks (Click thru ratio)Hits to Unique URL

CONTACT POINTSCall TrackingE-mail TrackingChat ConversationsAppointments Set

SALESGuest CardsLead Touch Points

FOLLOW UPClosing RatiosFollow Up Touch Points

DEALLeasesApplications

Measuring Tools

Deal• Leases / Applications

– IMPACT• Final goal of all sales processes

– Should not be the end all choice for marketing decisions• Best Use: monthly leases can provide trend analysis for occupancy projections

– MEASURE• Pure measurement is hard because it requires human interaction• People are using multiple sources for research• Need to decide how you determine credit source

– First contact vs. Last contact– Split between sources– Predetermined ratios based on generated traffic from source

» 100 leads should equal 5 leases or 5% close ratio» Removes human error in recording or sales ability

Questions before we continue?

3. How to report ROI from direct investments

Return On InvestmentMarketing campaigns are investments. And like any smart investment, they need

to be measured, monitored and compared to other investments to ensure you’re spending your money wisely.

Return on investment (ROI) is a measure of the profit earned from each investment. Like the “return” you earn on your portfolio or bank account, it’s calculated as a percentage. In simple terms, the calculation is(Profit – Investment) Investment

ROI calculations for marketing campaigns can be complex — you may have many variables on both the profit side and the investment (cost) side. But understanding the formula is essential if you need to produce the best possible results with your marketing investments.

= ROI

Return On Marketing InvestmentLead Based

• Lead ROI– If the main goal of a marketing campaign is to drive leads

and exposure to your property than this is the best way to judge the success of the campaign.

– Lead ROI is not Cost Per Lead– Typically you would use this when you know your closing

percentages and value exposure– Know you product value and sales ratios

• Rental Value• Lead Value• Closing Ratios• Conversions Ratios

Lead ROI Example• What are your marketing assumptions

– I know that 5% of leads close deals– I know that additional exposure rents apartments on average 1-month faster than

without– My average rent is $700 per month– 20 leads are worth $700

• Example Stats– Monthly Cost: $300 | $900– Monthly Leads: 50 | 10

• Formula(50/20 x 700) - $300

$300= +4.83 Every dollar spent you made $4.83 in return (483% Return)

(10/20 x 700) - $900$900

= -0.61 Every dollar spent you lost $0.61 (61% Loss)

• Marketing Assumptions– I know that 5% of leads close deals– I know that additional exposure rents apartments on average 1-month faster than

without– My average rent is $700 per month– 20 leads are worth $700

(11,518/20 x 700) - $188,895$188,895 = +1.13

Lead ROI Example - ILS

• Key Data– I know that 5% of leads close deals– I know that additional exposure rents apartments on average 1-month faster than

without– My average rent is $700 per month– 20 leads are worth $700

(50/20 x 700) - $1,000$1,000 = +0.75

Lead ROI Example – Outreach Mailer• 9000 pieces• Call tracking number in place• Unique URL• QR Code tied to Bit.ly

• Distribution Cost: $1000• Calls: 50• Site visits: 100• Code Scans: 75

Return On Marketing InvestmentRental Based

• Rental ROI– More difficult to be accurate as data is not perfect due to

human interaction– Rental ROI is not Cost Per Lease– Need to be done using a long period of time due to the

length of rental sales cycle– Need to subscribe to a value rate (what a rental is worth)

• 1-month rent (due to quicker occupancy)• 2-month rent (estimated vacancy lost)• Total Lease Value (used with non-traditional marketing)• Incremental Rentals above last year or base line

Rental ROI Example• Marketing Assumptions– Due to average vacancy time period, new leases are valued at 1-

months rent• Example Stats– Annual Cost: $3,600 | $10,800– Annual Rentals: 24 | 12

• Formula

(24 x 700) - $3,600$3,600

= +3.66

(12 x 700) - $10,800$10,800

= -0.22

Incremental Rental ROI Example• Marketing Assumptions

– We increased ad spend with a marketing source so each rental above our benchmark is additional revenue from the source. These additional rentals allowed us to rent our apartments 1-month sooner than without.• 1-month average lease value: $700

• Example Stats– Base Annual Cost: $6,000– New Annual Cost: $12,000– Increase Ad Spend: $6,000– Incremental Rentals Gained: 15

• Formula(15 x $700) - $6,000

$6,000 = +0.75

Other Key Points to Keep in Mind

• Analysis needs to be quick & visual enough to allow train of thought process

• Consumer controlled data (limited control)• Flexible enough to build on for future changes and

growth• Use complexity only when needed• Stay “business” focused. Analysis must have

bottom-line impact• Marketing needs to have analytics behind it

Thank You!