With so many promotional tactics available to marketers these days, figuring out how to measure the success of each may be just as challenging as choosing which ones to employ to begin with

That’s the reasoning behind the release of research firm MarketingSherpa’s first-ever marketing analytics research report. 

MarketingSherpa was seeking insights as to how marketers track metrics for a whole host of channels like PPC advertising, SEO initiatives, social media, display advertising, e-mail marketing and content marketing, among others.

The results compiled by MarketingSherpa are based on research and data collected during 2012 from more than 1,100 marketing professionals across a full range of industries worldwide. 

The research covers a wide variety of marketing analytics tools and practices, along with challenges and budget constraints faced by marketers in the course of carrying out their responsibilities.

The 2013 Marketing Analytics Benchmark Report is big – to the tune of ~325 presentation slides and 425+ data charts plus commentary – and rather costly as well. 

But it may be just the ticket for marketers who are looking for the latest insights on how to tackle measurement in today’s “smorgasbord” marketing landscape.

One set of data points that I find particularly interesting is in identifying the marketing metrics that companies routinely track.  The MarketingSherpa research has found that that e-mail open rates and clickthrough rates continue to be the most prevalent forms of measurement:

• Open rate:  ~78% routinely track this metric
• Clickthrough rate:  ~73%

Several other metrics are tracked by about half (or more) of the respondents:

• Unsubscribe rate:  ~65% routinely track
• Deliverability rate:  ~55%
• Conversion rate:  ~54%
• Clicks-per-link in e-mail:  ~49%
• List size:  ~48%

On the other hand, several other metrics are being tracked by a distinct minority of companies:

• ROI:  ~28% routinely track
• Complaint rate:  ~25%
• Social sharing rate:  ~21%

On one hand, seeing ROI tracking so far down the list is disappointing … until we remind ourselves that accurate ROI measurement is a function of having good data on 5 or 10 other factors.  If any one of them is off by a significant degree, it affects the veracity of the ROI conclusions.

Yet another example where “talk” is most definitely “cheap.”

But for more insights on measurement factors and other marketing topics, you can order and download the full report and see for yourself.