Why does digital marketing not always give the desired result?

There are many ways to promote online sales, including completely free.

However, it is usually a long and laborious process. If you want to increase your sales quickly, you need to use fees digital marketing channels.

But, investments in digital marketing do not always pay off. This article is about why this happens. Short, tea-shaped, without unnecessary blah, blah, blah.

Why are companies and especially private entrepreneurs afraid to invest in digital marketing?

They are afraid of losing money because:

• They are not able to identify causal relationships (if we do this - the result will be as follows), because:
• Can't/don't know how to interpret data because:
  • Does not understand terms used in analytics tools;
  • Lack of knowledge in mathematics and statistics;
  • Therefore, it is not possible to fully use the opportunities provided by analytical tools.

But if:

• You have the necessary knowledge in mathematics and statistics;
• You master the terminology used in statistical tools;
• You can take full advantage of the analytical tools…

Then:

• You understand numbers/data;
• You are able to correctly interpret data;
• You are able to identify causal relationships.

And if you are able to identify causal relationships, you can predict the impact of your actions (advertisements, posts, articles, etc.) on sales results.

You are no longer afraid of losing money investing in paid advertising and the more you invest, the more you earn.

Why Google, Facebook and Instagram etc ads don't work in most cases?

It must be clearly understood that in digital marketing sales are generated/driven exclusively by:

• Advertising text and its visual presentation;
• Appropriate targeting;
• Landing page content.

And that is all.

The main importance is how well you understand the wishes and needs of your potential buyers and how precisely you are able to talk about these topics with them.

The advertising platform as such (Facebook, Instagram, Google …) or specific knowledge about these platforms is of secondary importance.

Focusing on conversions at all costs

Even if no deals are concluded as a result of the digital marketing campaign (more precisely – you are not able to identify them as a result of the specific campaign), it can still be sales-promoting/supportive.

The direct flow of visitors (traffic) to the website does not form by itself - it is the result of your activities, including Facebook, Google, etc.

However, analytical tools do not always indicate the source of conversions (if the referrer is not determined, Google Analytics shows it as a direct visitor flow, which is unlikely in principle, because how could they "dream up" your website address without knowing anything about it beforehand).

But the user journey to your website and further to the purchase decision is complex:

• Users switch between marketing channels (use Facebook, Instagram, Google search...);
• When users repeatedly return to your website, they do not always use the same device (computer, phone, etc. and therefore it is difficult to identify them);
• Marketing channels influence each other's performance;
• All analytics tools have limitations, e.g Google Analytics does not record visitors if they visit your website from a computer with AdBlocker software (AdBlocker is used by about 30 to 40 percent of Internet users).

That is, the buyer has seen your ad, for example on Facebook. Having considered the offer, decided to buy, but made the purchase from another computer or phone or browser...

And you will never know which of your activities, in which media, etc., influenced this decision.

The key to online business is the processing, interpretation of analytical data and the implementation of the resulting insights in future digital marketing campaigns. And this process never ends.

At any given time, on average, only 1 percent of website visitors are ready to make a purchase.

If generating one purchase costs you, for example, 20 euros, then, most likely, after investing 30 euros, only one purchase will also be made.

Knowing Google Analytics does not give you any advantages because:

• Online analytics is a skill, but Google Analytics is just a tool used to implement that skill;
• Google Analytics provides you with data, but you have to do the analysis and interpretation of the data yourself;
• You, not Google Analytics, define KPIs, digital marketing strategy and determine how results will be measured.

That is, the result is provided by the interpretation of your Google Analytics data, not Google Analytics data as such.

Anyone can learn to use Google Analytics or any other online data processing program in a few weeks, but this does not automatically mean that you will be able to improve the performance of your online campaigns.

Because if the data is not interpreted correctly - you will get a wrong idea about what is happening and subsequently - your reaction will not correspond to the real situation.

Why does conversion optimization often fail?

The basis of digital marketing is the analysis and interpretation of data, and conversion optimization is the result of this analysis and interpretation.

Data analysis and interpretation is like knowledge of grammar and your vocabulary, and conversion optimization is like the application of this vocabulary and grammar when talking to potential customers.

If you are good at analyzing and interpreting data, but are new to conversion optimization - you can achieve good results.

But.

If data analysis and interpretation is not your strong point - you are doomed to failure.

What separates a good conversion optimizer from a bad one? How they collect and interpret data to drive sales.

The same situation is with A/B tests - anyone can learn how to do them in a few hours, but this does not mean that these tests will give a positive result. If the interpretation does not correspond to the real reason, there will be no improvement.

Finally, some UX and Seo myths

There are many myths and they multiply with each new article about UX and SEO, whose authors fail to critically analyze the information, but simply republish opinions and life hacks mentioned in other articles (which are also often republished/compiled from other articles, etc.).

Let's look at just two of the most common when it comes to landing page UX.

A high bounce rate indicates poor UX, which in turn affects SEO

Internet users are very fickle and may leave your site for various reasons. One reason is UX.

But maybe they:

• Simply clicked incorrectly, for example - because the previous target page was not yet fully loaded at the time of the click (CLS);
• Or they have already quickly found what they were looking for on that particular page, which is a sign of good UX.

If the visitor of the page quickly finds what he is looking for, then his experience on the page is very good. And even if he leaves without visiting other pages of the site, it would be foolish to penalize the site for it.

Respectively – bounce rate is a measure of visitor engagement with your site, but has almost nothing to do with UX.

Does a high bounce rate necessarily mean that a given page has a poor user experience?

No.

Does this affect the ranking position in Google search results?

No.

Images improve UX

It is believed that every web page should have an image (at least the background image), regardless of whether it somehow complements the rest of the content on the page or not.

It is believed that images (and their alternative texts) provide more information to search engines, and therefore the page can be indexed better/more accurately.

It is useful to use images only to the extent that they complement, illustrate or help to understand the rest of the content of the page. Low-quality or irrelevant images will not improve the UX of the page in any way.

In fact, too many or too large images can have a negative impact on UX, if only because they increase page load times.