Understanding where your consumer attention lies will significantly help your business plan for the present and future. Knowing consumer attention on a micro and macro level will allow you to create meaningful content, profitable ads, and customer-focused product solutions.
This article focuses on the most important consumer attention relevance metrics and how to interpret them to improve your business. By carefully analyzing and tracking your progress with likes, comments, etc. you can understand virtually everything you need to know to make your online presence felt in the hearts and minds of your target audience.
As one legendary marketer says, “I day-trade attention.” That means he’s looking at you to understand where you’re looking, so he can be there to capture it.
Micro Relevance Metrics
Basic Social Media Consumer Attention Metrics
Likes
Likes are a metric that is usually taken for granted for consumer attention. You should use likes a good indicator of the visibility of your post.
If your like counts are decreasing, you should know that you’re not taking advantage of the algorithm on your respective social platform.
Likes are one of the most basic of metrics to show consumer attention. If you’re not getting them, then you should probably rethink your entire strategy and start fresh.
Shares
Shares are also a good indicator that you’re striking a chord with your target audience. They are similar to likes in that respect, but they are a poor indicator of consumer attention because we know that shares don’t equal readers.
If you’re getting a lot of shares, understand that it means you’re probably on the right track with your images and headlines, but you’re not getting an open most of the time. That is why you should put a call to action within your post to ensure that it’s being read.
Retweets
Retweets are another mild indicator of consumer attention. I’m sure if you’re on Twitter you’re just as guilty as I am when it comes to retweeting.
Social media is meant to be social. If you just blindly retweet things you think are interesting, you’re essentially defeating the purpose of the platform and creating clutter. If the article or tweet isn’t quality, you could degrade your brand.
Instead, quote the tweet instead of just retweeting. If you put your own spin on what the author has already said it will let your followers know that this is something they should look into. Also if you add a call-to-action (CTA) to the tweet quote, like “respond to a question for a free gift” you can create more engagement with those that engage with your brand.
Better Indicators of Engagement
Comments
For social media, comments are a great indicator that you have captivated your audience.
Think about this example…
One profile has 20,000 followers, and every post has over 2,000 comments and most of them are at least two sentences long.
The other profile has 100,000 followers, but some posts have 5,000 comments and others are under 1,000. However, most of the comments are “nice” or something similar.
Which profile do you think has the best chance of selling more products? The first profile of course. Each one of those loyal two-sentence commenters put real time into that comment. That most likely means that when you present them with a product to buy they will most likely buy it, rather than the other non-engaged commenters of the other profile.
Think about it like this… Likes are nice, but quality comments mean that you’re now an influencer.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
That call-to-action (CTA) I brought up in the “shares” section comes into play when you talk about click-through rate.
When you post a link to a blog or a product page on anything you share on social media, you should look at the click-through rate (CTR) percentage to see how persuasive you’ve been. If you notice that your CTR is low, then you know something like your image, video, or copy is not working. Figuring out which one it could be is tough, but very necessary.
To improve your click-through rate you should create a way for your customers to prove to you they engaged with the post. Many times that’s signing up for your email newsletter or making a purchase. Those are good tactics, but you can do better than that.
Tie in other social platforms, like making a video on Snapchat that says to go to Facebook for your live stream. If you know you have a good following on one social platform, you can enhance your following on another platform by sending your followers with a gift included.
E-Commerce Consumer Attention Metrics
Session Abandonment Rate
In e-commerce, session abandonment rate is one of the most difficult metrics of consumer attention. If your customer is going through your funnel and finally adding the product to their cart, but not purchasing the product, what do you do then? Confusing is not the word the describe this issue.
A low session abandonment rate, or abandoned cart percentage, is sometimes normal, but if there is a large deviation or a steady increase in this rate, you should consider reevaluating your strategy.
Check Your Copywriting
A great way to start understanding what is happening is to check all possibilities. If you notice your customers are making it all the way to the cart but leaving, there could be an issue with your product page. Most likely though, your copy prior to making the purchase is not as persuasive as you might have hoped. It’s a very common problem, but a copy editor can usually clear this up for you fairly quickly.
The problem is you’re not presenting the material in the best way and your customers are second guessing right before they buy.
Another place to check for copy errors is in the product description itself. If there is anything cheesy or clever in the product description, your customer may start to suspect something. Stick the facts and the benefits of making the purchase.
Adding a Money Back Guarantee
Adding a money back guarantee increases the likelihood of a purchase dramatically. At that moment, when their credit card is out and they are typing in their information. If they get a moment of doubt on their mind, there should be a money back guarantee present on that page to remind them that if they don’t like the product, they can return it at no charge to them.
Add Trust Badges
Little thing like adding Trust Badges make a big difference. One of the reasons for high abandoned carts is a lack of trust. It could be because of your copy, as discussed above, but it could be because they are afraid to shop at your store and give you their credit information.
As you know, identity theft is a huge issue online and you wouldn’t think that putting a trust badge can go a long way. People make purchasing decisions in a split second. Everything they see and feel will determine if they buy your product immediately or choose to think about it.
Email Marketing Follow Up
One of the ways entrepreneurs are combatting this is through email and text message followups. If you collect their phone number or email address prior to them making a purchase, you have the ability to send them a message reminding them that they need to continue making their purchase. It’s very easy to automate this process with an email marketing campaign like Constant Contact or Get Response.
You might find some of these emails to be annoying, but they work. That’s why you get them.
They don’t have to long or offer a discount right away. Sometimes just a short reminder is all you need. Other times a discount could push them to do it, but whatever you do, don’t do it out of desperation. Make sure you’re thinking thoroughly about your decision and getting enough data to support a change.
What I like to do is set up three automated emails: 1. A short reminder with the link attached. Maybe they got sidetracked and had to answer their phone and rush out. 2. Offer them a discount a day or two later. 15% sounds good to me. 3. Offer them 15% and a “last chance” email. If you add a timestamp and tell them they have 12 hours to make the purchase for the discount. This will also be a good time to remind them of the money back guarantee.
Session Success Rate
A session success rate is just the opposite of the abandonment rate. You want this to be as high as possible. If you see sudden drops, you should start your analysis.
Adapting to Changing Conditions in Your Industry
The bottom line is your consumers are changing the way they think all the time. Knowing your consumer and how they are evolving is paramount to the long-term success of your company and the product you’re selling.
Sometimes your product just needs a little persuasive revamp and other times it just isn’t necessary anymore. For a CEO, planning for the future is a skill you must have. If you’re not keeping up with current trends around your industry’s pulse you might miss out on opportunities or fall behind your competition.
Stay ahead of the game with other tools like the Pew Research Center, Google Trends, Facebook Audience Insights, and your local news.
