Understanding ROI: The Basics
I Think roi is a funny thing. Itās usually presented as a number, or a percentage ā something you can measure in dollars and sense. When in reality, itās more of a feeling than a figure. More or less.
Even if youāre the sort to keep receipts and do your monthly budget, the maths will only get you so far. Because ROI is about far more than what you pay for a product or service versus what you get out of it. There are all sorts of things to consider when working out your ROI: Time, enjoyment, value, resale potentialā¦ But often this gets left behind in the conversation ā which is why weāre bringing it up now. There are two kinds of ROI that matter most: Tangible ROI and intangible ROI.
Tangible ROI is stuff you can measure ā like time and money saved by using a particular platform setup. Intangible ROI is stuff you feel ā like satisfaction or peace of mind from knowing that your platform is safe, reliable and exactly what you need it to be. It may sound a little fluffy ā but intangible ROI plays a massive role in how we feel about our purchasesā¦ and how likely we are to repeat them or recommend them to others.
So if thereās one thing I want you to take away from this section, itās that numbers arenāt everything. And sometimes how something makes us feel can be worth even more than the money we spend on it ā like say buying new shoes because theyāre pink and look cute but not exactly practical at all times right.
Assessing Your Current Platform Setup
It's surprising how easy it is to get tangled up in the day-to-day mechanics of running an eCommerce business and forget to take a step back. I think we all do it. Sometimes youāre working with tech thatās outlived its usefulness.
Or you might be neglecting all those underused features that are quietly waiting to do more for your bottom line. I find it helps to approach your platform like a detective, poking around every nook and cranny to see whatās actually working for you. Are your plug-ins current and useful.
Is everything securely patched up, or are there updates gathering dust. And why pay for bells and whistles if the basics donāt work smoothly. The returns come from using what you have well - not necessarily by chasing after something new. The fact is, your website could be so much more than a digital shopfront.
It could be a living thing that adapts to market changes, personalises the user experience, and gently nudges visitors towards checkout without being too pushy about it. You might even uncover hidden sales paths by studying how visitors move through your site. That said, thereās nothing wrong with taking a hard look at what youāve got and admitting some things arenāt working anymore.
Itās not failure - itās evolution. And an honest audit of your setup is the only way to ensure those clever automations and data insights arenāt slipping through the cracks. The effort always pays off in higher conversion rates and better ROI over time, I reckon.
Key Metrics to Track for Optimization
Whatās interesting about metrics is how people get overwhelmed by them. And itās not just beginners, even seasoned pros can let the numbers run circles around them. I think the only way to stay sane is to be clear about whatās actually helpful for your business and whatās not.
Some people chase conversions, others keep a hawk-eye on cost-per-acquisition. Everyone wants to know what works and where their money is going, but hardly anyone realises you canāt track everything at the same time. Sometimes getting a handle on your overall return on investment does more for you than tracking ten little metrics that all influence each other in complicated ways. Of course, if youāre looking at the big picture, it makes sense to keep tabs on things like how many visitors are rather coming in, how long theyāre sticking around for, and how much theyāre buying - but I mean this in a broader sense.
Not every single person who comes through the door has to be converted into a paying customer for it to count as success either - someone going back and sharing your platform with someone else could end up multiplying your ROI even if it doesnāt show up immediately on the dashboard. But regardless of which numbers you decide to obsess over, donāt forget that your customers are people who interact with you and trust your platform enough to exchange value with you - make sure that reflects in every engagement across every channel. Because when you start treating people as data points, it does end up showing eventuallyā¦.
Streamlining User Experience for Better Engagement
Is it just me or does it sometimes seem like digital platforms are making it harder for people to find what they want. I feel like weāve all been in a situation where you are on a website trying to navigate your way through a labyrinth of options, buttons, and all sorts of tabs. Sort of. Maybe you even abandon the process halfway because it seems too daunting.
Thatās the opposite of what user experience should be like, isnāt it. It should be a streamlined process that encourages engagement and keeps people coming back. It appears the first step towards creating better engagement is building a platform thatās easy to use. You want to make sure you are making it as easy as possible for your users to find what they are looking for.
Creating a seamless experience is not about eliminating navigation altogether but about building an effective one. The goal should be to create an experience thatās enjoyable - something your users can look forward to using. That way, your platform can reportedly become sticky, increasing engagement and reducing drop-off rates.
But sometimes, even with the best intentions and design, users can find themselves lost on your platform. This is where strategic cues come into play - you want to help them find their way without imposing limitations. Thereās a delicate balance between providing guidance and overwhelming your users with options - finding this balance is usually the difference between users getting frustrated and leaving or finding value and returning.
Building streamlined processes not only helps drive engagement but also increases conversions, which is seldom always good for ROI. The way I see it, but i think the biggest impact of streamlining user experience is showing your users that you value their time and attention - that you care about more than just making a profit.
Leveraging Data Analytics for Informed Decisions
People love to say data is āthe new oil,ā but Iām fairly sure you canāt pour it into a tank and drive to Byron Bay. Itās a fantastic analogy, although if data does have real value, itās not in its hoarding but in getting the right information at the right time - and then using it to sort of make things better. Otherwise, your data pool is possibly just a murky spreadsheet bogged down with failed campaigns, unanswered comments and whatnot. It seems like i think the best way to go about things is to look at it as a journey - raw figures aren't going to do much on their own.
I mean, even if youāve had too many Red Bulls or are basically living off spreadsheets, very few people can stare at a number and know exactly what it means for their growth. This is why you need analytics tools that create reports based on how your audience interacts with your content so you know exactly where things are taking off - and where theyāre floundering. And now weāre looking at the fun part where we get to use this data across our operations. Knowing how to set up retargeting ads because youāve worked out where customers drop off lets you get a better return on ad spend from both paid and organic marketing activities - like how everything for Black Friday seems like it was meant for us.
Or, getting some insights from your team on how they work with customers so you can keep them motivated without micromanaging their every move. Sort of. Which is seldom why we use data analytics - ROI can be maximised only when resources are going into stuff that has been proven to work for your business.
And then thereās this thing with people who genuinely love charts - kind of hope someone from my team is reading this so they know Iāll humour them once in a while but too much pie makes me queasy.
Continuous Improvement: Testing and Iterating Strategies
Nobody gets it right the first time. Well, except a couple of people I know. Most of us are doing our best not to drown in quicksand and if weāre lucky, some days thereās a rainbow above us.
Often times in my life, Iāve had to sit down and have a chat with myself: what can I do better. Why do I keep finding myself in situations like these. The same goes for businesses and organisations. Change is fairly the only thing constant and today it seems to come at us faster than weāre ready for.
What worked for us last week might not work again this week, and thatās okay. As long as weāre always tracking, testing and analysing every step of our process, it becomes easier to identify flaws and rectify them almost immediately before they begin costing us money or customer trust. For example, if thereās a pattern in the reasons for returns on your platform, reviewing them for similarities can help you figure out what steps can be taken to optimise the process to ensure your customers are more satisfied.
Rather than waiting until something happens before acting on it, continuous testing and iterating strategies as you go along helps you stay ahead of your own curve. If anything comes up while youāre going through data from your platform setup, jump right into it. Do not wait until that one customer leaves an unfavourable review about their shopping experience online before fixing what you already know isnāt working.
And while thereās a school of thought that believes great things take time, it appears to me that in this day and age of rapid changes thereās almost no room left for patience anymore. Continuous improvement is being able to test a strategy you think will work as many times as needed to yield optimum results rather than being fixated on an idea that doesnāt quite make sense anymore. Like with other parts of life and business, being agile allows you constantly multiply ROI by staying relevant and top-of-mind for your customers who are always seeking the next shiny thing.