In the past few columns in our CPG Marketing Magic series, we’ve embarked on an exciting journey through the realms of branding, user experience, inventory movement, and digital advertising. Now, it’s time to delve into the pivotal role of metrics in your marketing strategy. In this article, we’re diving into the world of analytics, where we unravel the intricacies of return on investment (ROI), conversions, loyalty, and how they shape the success of your CPG marketing efforts.

Let’s jump in!

Navigating the Challenges of Measuring ROI and Loyalty

Measuring ROI and loyalty can feel like deciphering a complex riddle. It involves navigating challenges such as:

Pinpointing the right metrics to track.
Tracking conversions effectively.
Understanding the ins and outs of conversion tracking and GA-4.
Deciphering what’s “good” vs. what’s “bad”.
Data overload! There can be so much to track and review that sometimes it’s hard to determine what the heck it all means.

Additionally, a lack of standardization or a prescribed system by industry can often be one of the biggest challenges in measuring ROI. Each industry has its own niche with specific benchmarking “standards” depending on whether it’s a product or service, the product age, and audience diversity.

In fact, conversion rate optimization (CRO) experts agree that the term “best practices” can’t fully be applied to digital marketing because it may not be the best practice for every individual industry. There’s really no specific measurement on how to dial up or down based on “what’s typical.”

Measuring ROI and loyalty can be extremely complex because you can’t measure loyalty by purchase unless it’s online. You have to look at specific metrics like net promoter score (NPS) and brand engagement on social media to get the best understanding of loyalty.

In an industry where standards vary, and benchmarks can be elusive, setting SMART goals becomes paramount. After all, success can’t be left to interpretation!

Setting SMART Goals: Cracking the Code

Setting goals is an art form, but it’s not a vague endeavor. It involves thinking strategically to understand exactly the steps needed to see your brand succeed. Studies show that brands that set goals are 376% more likely to succeed when compared to brands that don’t.

One of the best methods for setting your CPG marketing goals is to use the SMART goals framework. Let’s break it down:

Specific: Every goal should have a clear, well-explained objective. Determine what needs to be accomplished, by when, and by whom to reach the desired outcome. This means ensuring your goals are not ambiguous or a matter of opinion. For example, creative success is hard to measure. It’s important to break it down into specific, quantifiable metrics.
Measurable: Goals should always be quantifiable. You must be able to measure your progress at various stages to ensure you’re optimizing your budget and staying on task.
Achievable: This is one of the most important questions you must ask yourself: is this goal realistic? To successfully achieve any goal, it’s crucial to determine whether or not it’s even feasible. Goals should be realistic and achievable within the resources available to you.
Relevant: A goal is nothing without clear context. To achieve more meaningful goals, it’s critical to ensure your goals not only align with your brand values but are also relevant to your audience. Does this specific goal play a pertinent role in your long-term objectives?
Time-bound: To ensure you stay aligned with your goals, it’s important to detail a realistic timeline for each step within the goal. That means not only determining an overarching deadline but also setting specific micro-goals along the way. That way, if things go well, you can celebrate the small wins on the way to the big win. Or, if adjustments are needed to specific benchmarks, you can pivot accordingly and not offset long-term goals. (Remember: don’t wait 6 months to measure, but don’t expect a 360 in 6 months!)

According to Wrike, when you set SMART goals, you can enjoy added benefits like:

Increased clarity
Boosted motivation
Better priorities
Improved communication

Once you’ve established your specific goals, it’s on to the next stage in your CPG magic: choosing the right channels for your advertising.

Choosing the Right Channels: Where Magic Happens

When preparing for launch, the channel you choose is crucial. Rather than hoping customers will flock to you, it’s about meeting them where they already are.

Selecting the right channels is so important because it ensures your budget is being spent appropriately on the platforms your audience uses most. To choose the channels that are right for you, you must first:

Understand your audience’s demographics by channel
Identify the message that will resonate best with that segment of your audience
Adapt your budget accordingly so you’re only investing in the channels that are right for your audience

In the realm of CPG, the right channel can amplify your brand to new and magical heights. But that’s not where your metrics journey should end. It’s also important to carefully study how to measure and optimize performance so you can achieve your goals.

Measuring and Optimizing Performance

To create marketing magic, you must master the art of measuring and optimizing performance. This is a critical step in the process because it will help ensure you spend your time and money wisely.

Measuring performance can take on many forms, but a couple of common ways successful CPG brands measure success is through benchmarking and A/B testing.

Benchmarking

The process of measuring the success of your brand, product, or service against other similar brands in your industry. To perform competitive benchmarking, it’s important to have specific goals or key performance indicators (KPIs) in mind so you know what to compare. This will also help you understand if there are any gaps in the industry that your brand can fill.

According to Qualtrics, here are a few common benchmarks CPG brands use to compare success:

Social engagement
Brand awareness
User experience ratings
Search engine results
Reviews
Revenue

If you’re sending emails in your campaign, it’s important to track clicks and click-through rates as well to determine how well your content is performing with your audience or if you need to update your mailing list.

To access these metrics, it’s important to be familiar with the data and analytics tools available on the various platforms you use for your brand. Channels like Google, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, and even your email distribution software all provide helpful performance insights on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis so you can always measure the success of your content marketing.

You can also use tools like SEMRush, HubSpot, and Wordstream to gather multiple reports, research industry trends, and dig deeper into the metrics that matter most for your brand.

A/B Testing

According to HubSpot, A/B testing in marketing is an experiment where you split your audience to test variations of a campaign and determine which performs better. This could mean developing two variations of creative or catering the messaging, fonts, navigation, or calls to action (CTAs) to slightly different variations in the audience.

To perform an A/B test, it’s important to determine your sample size and to have a control group and a challenger group to test your variations. You can also use tools like AdCreative.ai to leverage the help of artificial intelligence for generating ad copy alternatives based on audience response.

Remember not to test multiple variations at the same time. You need to be specific on the exact challenger you want to test so you can easily identify “why” something performed better.

To read your A/B test results, remember to compare them to your original goal. That entails deciding how significant your results should be. For example, how high of an engagement rate difference between designs A & B would you need to measure in order to consider one a success?

If the conversion rates on both sides of the test are about the same, the variations you tested likely won’t have a significant enough impact on your audience engagement. So you can decide to move forward with either or try to test something new. And if all else fails, you can let the algorithm of the platform you’re using determine what’s best.

A/B testing will also help you further segment your audience and their preferences. With every A/B test, you should analyze how the audience demographics change from each group. Does the engaged audience differ from the audience you originally set out to target?

Pivoting

Pivoting based on these insights ensures your journey is always on the right track. Take the information you learn from benchmarking and A/B testing to optimize your ads and create a stronger emotional connection with your audience.

Additionally, the insights you learn will help you to make more informed decisions so you can update your digital marketing strategy as you go along without having to make heavy changes at the end of a campaign.

Fostering Loyalty: Creating Lasting Enchantment

In the world of CPG, brand loyalty is paramount. It solidifies your brand’s position and creates a bond that endures. It can also be a difficult feat to accomplish, considering experts say it takes at least five purchases for a consumer to be considered l o yal.

There are several strategies that CPG brands can deploy to increase loyalty like:

Discounts & promos
Referrals
Reward programs
Giveaways
Donation matching
Brand partnerships

But the most magical loyalty comes from fostering an emotional connection through social engagement. When your audience feels seen and heard, they will be much more likely to return. And the beauty of it–it doesn’t take a lot of time or effort!

Here are some simple ways you can foster brand loyalty through engagement:

Active community management: Replying to customer comments and messages and sharing their user-generated content (UGC) is one the biggest ways you can demonstrate that you value your customers.
Stay relevant: Tap into social listening to see how consumers feel about your brand and the industry as a whole. This will help you stay ahead of the game and address needs in real-time.
Be consistent: Ensure that the same level of attention and service your customers receive on day 1 matches every day of their journey with your brand.
Focus on experience, not sales: Remember that your audience does not want to be sold to. They want to use brands that have a natural presence in their lives that can help them tackle the everyday.
Express your values: Nearly 90% of consumers would switch to brands that share their values and outlooks on life. That’s why authenticity and representation are so important for CPG brands. When you are unapologetically you, your audience will be more likely to develop trust and loyalty in your brand.

Being a part of your audience’s overall experience and engaging with them on their terms ensures your magic stays with them.

The Grand Finale

And so, dear readers, we reach the end of our CPG Marketing Magic series. We’ve journeyed through the realms of branding, experience, inventory, digital advertising, and metrics. We extend our gratitude to RangeMe for partnering with us on this enchanted adventure.

If you’re eager to bring your brand’s magic to life, if you seek the perfect formula for success, or if you simply desire guidance on your marketing journey, don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re here to offer personalized evaluations, channel audits, and support to kickstart your magical marketing voyage.

Your brand’s story is waiting to be written – let’s pen it together. But until then, may your ROI soar, your conversions flourish, and your brand’s loyalty stand the test of time!

About fishbat

fishbat is a CPG marketing a g ency specializing in improving visibility, impact, and bottom line for our partners. We have worked with a wide variety of CPG brands across different product categories, from food and beverage to home goods and beyond, each with its own unique set of goals and challenges.

If you’re looking for expert assistance in developing your brand strategy and executing effective CPG marketing campaigns, don’t hesitate to contact us. Our digital marketing agency has a team of professionals ready to help you navigate the branding landscape and achieve your business goals. Together, we can create a brand that truly stands out in the market and tells your unique story.

Visit the fishbat RangeMe Services profile here!

ROI, Conversions, Loyalty, and More — Getting the Most from Your CPG Marketing Spend