What are the most common mistakes in measuring communication impact?

You shouldn't be doing any activities without your objectives clearly outlines. But that doesn't mean that every single activity you do has a number associated with it. There are other ways to measure the success of your comms activities, strategies, and programs. For example, is Share of Voice actually telling you anything you need to know for PR? Or would number of reporters who agree to cover your embargoed story a more important metric (because it shows that your story resonates)? For internal communications, is open-rate important? Or is knowing that people actually understand the information important? Figure out the way to measure the latter—it will look different in every org. Same is true for all other comms functions.

While it can be tricky, a well-defined communication objective is a game-changer for impact measurement. Here are some tips: 1. Be specific: A broad goal like "improve customer satisfaction" is too vague. Be more specific, like "increase customer satisfaction by 20% over the next 6 months." 2. Make it measurable: Define how you'll measure your objective, using metrics like customer surveys, NPS scores, customer support inquiries, etc. 3. Keep it achievable: Your objective should be realistic and doable within your resources and time constraints. 4. Make it relevant: Ensure your objective is aligned with your overall business strategy and goals. 5. Set a timeline: Give yourself a deadline to hold yourself accountable and track progress.

We've found useful is to set up a simple chart where the communication objective is clearly defined in the left hand column --and then the corresponding right hand column lists the metric used to track the outcome of that specific objective. For example, if your objective is to improve lead generation, conversion rates are the corresponding metric. If your objective is to increase lifetime value of every customer, lowering attrition from your communication channels (social, newsletter, events) and improving engagement (comments and likes, subscribers, attendance) would be the corresponding metrics. Simply put, it's critical to prioritize metrics that drive business outcomes, (conversion rates, LTV, and revenue per customer.)

Stop doing things just for the sake of doing them. Think about WHY you’re doing something (or measuring something). What outcome are you driving towards? Is whatever you’re measuring helping you to achieve said outcome? If it’s not, it’s a vanity metric and not worth your time to track nor report. It’s hot air that fills space and serves no purpose. Ditch vanity metrics and figure out what indicators you can measure that DO help you see if you’re moving in the right direction towards your goals. And they shouldn’t be static—they’ll change regularly, just as your objectives will. For example: rather than reporting how many analysts mention you in a report, focus on the number of leads you’re getting from promoting the report instead.

Here are 3 starter tips to avoid only using a single method to measure communication impact: 1. Use a measurement matrix to map methods to objectives. Visually identify where you may have gaps only using a single approach. Ensure each key objective has at least 2 potential measurement methods mapped to it. 2. Layer quantitative and qualitative methods. For example, follow a survey with interviews to put numbers behind stories and personal experiences. Or, precede a focus group with social media listening to better understand perceptions. 3. Assign ownership across teams and external partners for different methods. Have digital analytics own quantitative methods, market research own qualitative methods, to bake in a diversity of approaches.

Benchmarking is key to setting realistic goals. You can find them from external sources... 1. Industry reports and surveys from market research firms or industry associations. 2. Competitor analysis - observing their performance, content, engagement, and results. 3. Social media analytics tools - like Sprout Social, Hootsuite, or Buffer - to track your own performance and compare it to your competitors. Or from internal sources: your own past performance - compare your current results to past results to see progress or areas for improvement.

We are big believers in "actionable" strategy. Assigning ownership, allocating time, and facilitating literacy around communication analytics are key to driving ongoing optimization. Results must be actionable and accessible to various audiences to tangibly inform strategy. In order to motivate a "bias for action" we recommend: 1. Make time for regular data analysis. 2. Create easy-to-digest summaries for leadership. 3. Define action items to optimize based on findings. 4. Share reports widely. 5. Train everyone to interpret data. 6. Connect data to business outcomes. 7. Avoid paralysis by analysis.

Communications professionals are responsible for ALL the stakeholders of a brand: employees, media, analysts, investors, executives, governments, customers, etc. That means that you need to constantly figure out ways to measure the effectiveness of your communications at the audience level for each of these. There’s no set metrics that represent each constituent because they are goal-dependent. If your goal is to get funding, your focus should be on the investor community and metrics should align more heavily towards measuring these campaigns. On the flip side, if you are launching a new product you’ll want to measure effectiveness of your messaging to these audiences, like analysts and customers.