As the saying goes, only what can be measured can be improved. Advertisers know that better than anyone – and business owners should too. Data is an increasingly essential marketing element and serves as the distinctive guideline that separates positive and negative campaigns.
However, not all data is created equally.
While searching for the one insight that reveals the hidden pot of gold, we have been oversaturated with data that simply just does not matter. In the world of meaningless numbers, Hearst UK has developed an effective metric that you should actually pay attention to:
Engaged View Rate (EVR)
It combines the readers’ time spent on a page (minimum of 30 seconds) with the scroll rate (at least 75%) to show their engagement with your page. It is ideal for understanding how consumed and interesting your content marketing is to your readers.
What makes EVR special is that it stays away from common singular metrics such as views, impressions, or dwell time and uses a more holistic approach. In other words, it goes beyond just calculating the number of website visitors to focus on their quality.
EVR is a symptom of a consistent trend towards quality.
Clare Gorman, Chief Operations Director at Hearst UK, argues that “the whole industry has to move to think about quality.” EVR is, indeed, an effective metric because it focuses on different issues: are our viewers engaging with our content? Are we sending the right viewers to the right pages? Or is the problem with the quality of our content instead? Maybe they are leaving because the rest of our page is not optimized for a positive user experience?
While it doesn’t directly answer these questions, a low EVR shows us that there is an issue in one or more of those areas. As Laura Wade, VP of content and innovation at Essence says: “capturing data isn’t the hard bit, interpreting it into meaningful insights is; that’s a different skill set.”
With the current growth of digital marketing, businesses can no longer afford low quality.
Content marketing is an extremely competitive discipline because of its low barriers to entry. It takes no money to start a business blog, “only” time and effort. At the same time, that makes it very easy to discern between high-quality and time-waster content. EVR is an excellent metric to judge it too. You should question your page’s quality when your readers are not scrolling down to keep reading or staying long enough on your site.
The times of build it, or in this case write it, and they will come are over.
The competition is too strong and the consumer’s standards are too high. They only expect consistent excellence throughout all interactions with your business. From crafting useful, interesting content that engages with your audience, to your website design, or even customer service –excellent quality should always be your main focus.
Top quality needs to go beyond just content marketing, but it should be a persistent value of your company. It will help you and your business’ positioning as industry leaders, gain the trust of potential buyers, strengthen the loyalty of current consumers, and provide a guiding compass to strive for.
Further Reading:
‘The whole industry has to think about quality’: Hearst UK introduces new metric to prove branded content works – Digiday
The 6 Key Marketing Metrics Your CEO Actually Cares About – HubSpot
Which Social Media Platform Should You Be Using For Your Business? – SocialChimp
Marti writes about digital marketing and entrepreneurship. Find him with coffee and a laptop while traveling back and forth between Barcelona and Charlotte. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
