We bet you’re thinking the same thing we are….
Where did 2015 go???
On top of wrapping up all of your 2015 digital
projects with a lovely red satin bow, you are also likely planning and organizing your 2016 digital initiatives with honourable intentions of returning in the new year well-rested and ready to do great things!
We agree—it is never too early to start planning.
And if planning is done well, it can increase your chance for a smoother road to success. By the way, success is more than just executing a plan and delivering it on time. Success includes a measurement component, that if overlooked, can have negative implications.
In the spirit of sharing, here are 4 pointers to help make your 2016 successful:
1. Prepare a Measurement Plan
- How can you determine if you were really successful if you don’t have defined business objectives or a baseline for comparison?
- Document your goals and objectives at the beginning of your project planning (i.e. NOW), because what you need to measure will likely have an impact on your design, implementation, and execution.
- Share this plan with all of those involved in your project, and refer to it often.
- Without a measurement plan, you will have a more challenging time determining what needs to be changed or improved such that you can become faster, better, and smarter for the next campaign, redesign, or refresh.
2. Engage your Analytics Team
- The analytics team (whether internal or an external agency) is often brought into a project too late, likely when development is too far along to pivot without a serious impact on budget and timing; Things are locked, loaded, and at times even live in market.
- Analytics should not be an afterthought or a “nice to have.”
- Bringing in your Analytics team on Day 1 of the planning stage will help:
- Create the measurement plan for the project
- Ensure that your design plans enable the right measurement
- Prevent the situation of having to create makeshift measures of success
- Think of your analytics team as your trusted advisor, there to help guide you and support you as you plan, build, execute, and measure your digital efforts.
3. Plan to Test & Optimize
- Prepare your testing plan at the start, along with your measurement plan.
- Doing this at the start helps ensure that your plans are well thought out, measurable, and that they are executed from start to finish with all the necessary resources available.
- Testing can significantly help you:
- Optimize during campaigns periods
- Improve your overall engagement and conversion rates
- Uncover valuable learnings and insights that can shape your upcoming projects
- Testing does not have to be complicated—begin with a plan to test two different versions of email messaging and then optimize based on the results.
- There are also a variety of tools that can make your testing process more efficient, like Optimizely and Google Content Experiments.
4. Take a Course
- Consider learning something new or refresh your existing skills. Remember that continuous training is how we get better at our jobs; Plus, with digital, there is always something new to learn or to keep up with.
- Here are some tips to train like a pro.
- Short on time? Consider quick training through Google’s free Analytics Academy to help sharpen your Google Analytics skills and get introduced to Google Tag Manager.
- Prefer to learn in the classroom, network, and meet new people? Check out the dates for our upcoming Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager courses in Toronto.
We wish you great success as you plan for the upcoming year!
How do you plan to make 2016 a success? Let us know!
This Blog was written by Michelle Andrews.