The cornerstone to any successful CRO program is having the right data strategy, but what does that look like? In this episode we are talking about what your data strategy should look like, covering the five essential components you need for success.

At OMG, we have a standard MarTech audit that every client undergoes asking the question – “is every part of your marketing funnel being tracked?” In this episode of our podcast Conversion Path, we’re taking you through our process and breaking it down so you are empowered to do the same for your business.

Listen to learn about:

• Our standard MarTech audit process to determine whether you have set up your analytics/tracking in the right way
• Tips around strategic data planning including taxonomy and documentation so everyone on your team is on the same page
• Common data challenges and how to overcome them
• The essential components of your data strategy document (what we build for our clients to keep your data strategy organized and accessible)
• Our go-to technology recommendations for your CRO program including for analytics, ab testing and customer data platforms

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Video: UTM Links Explained
• Standard Data Strategy Template
• VWO
• Convert
• Video: What is a CDP and Why Do You Need One?
• UTM.io

Listen to the Full Episode

Connect with OMG!

marketing@obrienmartech.co 

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Five CRO Strategy Essentials from OMG!

The cornerstone to any successful CRO program is having the right data strategy, but what does that look like?

1 – MarTech Audit: Strategy & Organizational Planning

Consider your internal planning – do you have a scalable process and documentation in place so every member of your organization has insight into your analytics (such as tags, events and conversion data?
We recommend setting up rules around your tracking links, and a system for tracking historical data so everyone understands your event data.

Questions to consider:

• Is a data taxonomy/naming system in place?
• Are the naming conventions standardized between systems?
• How is this information being recorded and distributed to the teams who need it? (What training and documentation is in place?)
• Who’s responsible in your organization for maintaining a knowledge base on data implementation?

2 – Data Implementation

Beyond the initial planning portion of your data, is your marketing funnel actually being tracked properly?

Questions to consider:

• Do you have tracking setup across all the user touch points that are important for your organization?
• Are these goals setup in an efficient way? (For example, if the URL for a “Thank You” page changes, will this break an event trigger?)
• Are your events being distributed to the right analytics systems so that individuals across your organization have access to important data that will help them to make data driven decisions?
• What processes do you have in place to ensure goals are continuing to track accurately?

3 – Review, Audit and Monitor Goals On a Regular Basis

The most common problems that we see when it comes to Strategy an Implementation include:

• No taxonomy or documentation or not consistently implemented – competing taxonomies
• Siloed information across various teams for goal tracking
  Outdated goals setup by different parties

To overcome these challenges we recommend:

• Audit your goals at least 1x year to review strategy, test the goals, resolve errors as needed
• Thinking of your data strategy as more of a “living organism” that is inevitably going to change and evolve which requires an ongoing maintenance vs. a ‘set it and forget it’ approach to goal tracking
• Create open communication between all technical stakeholders to understand the nature of how goals are set up, what the triggers are based on, and how to prevent breaking them when the website needs to be updated.

4 – Data Strategy Documentation

We recommend starting with a Data Strategy document that can be distributed internally within your organization.

The standard data strategy template that we prepare for our clients includes tabs for information such as:

• Essential account names and IDs (ads, analytics, pixels)
• Marketing funnel URLs/page titles (including a visual flow)
• Goals and events that includes details around:
  – Goal names
  – Triggers
  – Event names
  – Active/non-active
  – Archived events and goals
  – Internal notes
• UTM links rules and procedures
  – Source, mediums, campaigns guidelines
  – Rules around naming conventions
  – A tool to organize UTM links such as utm.io

Watch our video on UTM links below:

5 – Essential Tech for CRO

Analytics
At a minimum you should be using an analytics tracking system like Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager to track user events on your web or mobile application.

All important KPIs should be tracked into this system and your team should have a dashboard that makes it easy to check on how these KPIs are changing overtime.

For more advanced channel grouping analysis for SAAS companies you might want to look into using something like Mixpanel or Amplitude which have their own SDKs that will allow you to integrate into your web app.

AB Testing
To conduct experiments you will need to be using an AB testing tool like VWO or Convert to name a couple. With these systems you have the ability to track conversion events in your analytics system

CDP
If you have a lot of traffic and a lot of data, it might be time for you to set up a CDP. This will allow you to start to take ownership of your data. This could include recording data generated from experiments as well. Watch our video on this here.