Modern marketing means ‘accountable’ marketing. And with accountability comes an increased need for proving that the marketing budget-spend is paying off as expected. That is the primary reason why Web analytics is becoming hot these days. With more and more marketing activities moving online, measuring results is becoming easier. Or let me put it this way: Getting a lot of data about your marketing programs, audience and ROI has become easy. But, unfortunately, that raw data is just numbers and stats. What about converting all this data into understandable metrics and useful business intelligence? For most marketers, crunching data is not a beloved part of the job, but it can be, if you’re working with the right analytics tools.

Analytics of online publications

A key part of most digital publishing solutions is the capability to capture data on reader usage. It is very valuable to know not only which magazine or brochure is the most popular, but also how many readers are actually reading it, and how much time they spend on a particular page. Measuring actual readership online closes the loop that, with print, you would typically need to setup focus groups or surveys in order to get insight on how your content resonates. And, when spending that time and money on feedback, you would only learn about what your audience “says” that they’re doing – not what they actually do. Getting reliable data is why smart marketers love analytics.

Benchmark your results over time to see progress

It’s good to know results from your own marketing programs, but it’s even better to benchmark the results over time. Doing so, consistently, gives you insight into where you should focus your time and effort when optimizing your content.

Get the new analytics whitepaper

At Zmags, we’ve put together a whitepaper that helps you turn all those raw numbers into useful analytics. We analyzed statistical data from the 1,000 most-read online publications of various kinds. We gathered data from digital magazines, catalogs, brochures and newsletters, and found some interesting benchmarking points on overall usage of online publications. It’s all collected in our recently published whitepaper – How to Improve the Effectiveness of Your Digital Magazines.