Even though your organization might be running ads on social media channels or through Google Search and Display, you still need to measure organic metrics. Why? Because it helps you determine how your unpaid marketing strategy is working. Organic metrics can come from your website, email and social.
Organic Website Metrics to Track
The best place to track organic metrics for your organization’s website is via Google Analytics. If you don’t have tracking set up, make it a point to do so as soon as possible. It is imperative that your organization does everything it can to ensure it ranks within Google’s search engine results, and a good way to help you track how well your search engine optimization is doing is to view metrics via Google Analytics.
Sessions
Otherwise known as a visit, a session is a set of interactions a single user has with your website within a given time frame. A single session can include multiple page views and engagements with a website. A user can have multiple sessions each month, but sessions end either after 30 minutes of inactivity or at midnight.
Pages/Session
The average number of pages viewed within a single session on your website is the pages per session. The goal is to have more pages per session, as that indicates the users are more engaged with your website.
Average Session Duration
Another metric you want to see continually grow is the average session duration time, which is the average amount of time a user is on and engaged with your website.
Bounce Rate
The bounce rate is the percent of visits on your website where the user only visited one page and then ended the session. If your bounce rate is high, it means people are leaving your website because they aren’t necessarily finding what they are looking for. A good rule of thumb is to make sure you have the things you want customers and prospects to see easily accessible.
Organic Traffic
Traffic that arrives to your website through a search engine result or from other channels like email, social, paid ads and another site that links yours is referred to as organic traffic. A great way to increase organic traffic is by utilizing SEO tactics on your website.
Direct Traffic
Visits to your website that are not referred are known as direct traffic. Usually direct traffic arrives because the user types in your website’s URL directly into a browser or by clicking on a bookmark. Direct traffic is any traffic that isn’t referred, which means that sometimes the source can be unknown.
Organic Email Metrics to Track
Although email could be seen as a paid tactic, as you’re likely paying for a particular platform to create and deploy emails to those on your organization’s email list—that is the only cost involved. The metrics that follow are considered organic because your organization is not necessarily paying for those emails to be opened and engaged with. Each metric is important for determining how well your emails are doing once deployed, as well as how you can improve upon your email strategy.
Database Size
Your email list should be fairly large and continue to grow and evolve. The more recipients on your list, the more likely your message will be seen and possibly shared. Your list should include prospects and customers alike, but should also be segmented heavily so you are getting the right message to the right audience.
Open Rate
The average open rate for 2021 is 18%, according to Campaign Monitor. However, this number varies by industry but is a good metric to aim for. A great way to ensure a higher open rate is to entice your customer or prospect with a creative subject line that will encourage them to open the email and engage.
Click-through Rate
When it comes to click-through rate, the average is smaller but equally important. At 2.6% in 2021, the clickthrough rate is determined by the number of users who click on a specific link within the email to the number of total users who have viewed it. The goal is to always get that number up, and a great way to do so is with creative copy and clear calls to action.
Organic Social Media Website Metrics to Track
Everything your organization does on social media that isn’t a paid ad is considered organic—and also quite important, even if you aren’t currently running social ads.
Each metric helps potentially determined what your next post could be about, what time you will post it, what exactly it will say and what kind of imagery your organization might want to add. Each variable can help determine how many people see the post and how they might engage with it.
Followers
Since the rise of paid media on social platforms, it has become increasingly more difficult to have the same reach as before, which is why it is imperative that you continue to grow your organization’s following. Although it is not guaranteed that they will see every post, it is more likely that it will show up on their feeds if they are following your organization’s page.
Engagement
Much like within the paid aspect of social, engagement is very important. Although less people might see your posts, you can expand the reach by creating content that followers will engage with. If your followers engage with your content, the more they’ll share it on their friends’ feeds, which in turn even more people can engage with it. Then the cycle continues.
The goal is to create content that people will engage with so more people can see it and engage with it as well. Engagement comes in many forms, including likes, comments and shares—with shares being the biggest form of engagement and something you want to strive for every time you post, whether it’s paid or unpaid.
Make Digital Marketing Easier With ACTIVE Network
ACTIVE’s digital marketing services can help you implement an effective digital marketing strategy for your organization. Our digital marketing services team can assist you with SEO strategy, and Facebook, Instagram and Google ads. Connect with us today to see how ACTIVE can help take your organization’s digital marketing to the next level.
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