In these slides from INBOUND 2014, learn how the HubSpot marketing content team measures the effectiveness of its blog and offers content. Get the scoop on our content goal-setting methodology, and discover which metrics we track and prioritize and why.

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How HubSpot Measures Its Marketing Content
Shannon Johnson
Content Strategist, HubSpot
Pamela Vaughan
Manager of Optimization & Growth, HubSpot Content

2. Fun fact: If you’re a HubSpot customer, you can spot me in the stock photos pre-loaded into your software. I may even be the face of one of your personas.
@pamelump
PAMELAVAUGHAN

3. Fun fact: I’ve never broken a bone.
@shannopop
SHANNON
JOHNSON

4. 1How the HubSpot Content Machine Works
2About the Blogging and Offers Teams & Our Goals
3The KPIs We Track: What, Why & How
4Final Thoughts About Content Reporting
AGENDA

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1
HOW THE HUBSPOT CONTENT MACHINE WORKS

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Ebooks,
Whitepapers & Guides
Blog Posts
Webinars
Content Creation Assets
Checklists
Templates
HUBSPOT’S CONTENT MACHINE
•11,000+ customers in over 70 countries
•1.5M visits / mo.
•250 articles / mo.
•4-6 long form pieces of content / mo.
•Thousands of downloads / mo.

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BLOG CONTENT:
•What: Short-form, ungated content housed on HubSpot’s blog
•Purpose: Fill the top of the funnel and convert traffic into new leads
•Measurement Focus: Quantityof traffic, subscribers, and leads
OFFERS CONTENT:
•What:Long-form, gated content housed on HubSpot’s landing pages
•Purpose:Qualify and nurture existing leads
•Measurement Focus: Qualityof Leads and quality of content
BLOG CONTENT VS. OFFERS CONTENT

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WHERE CONTENT LIVES IN HUBSPOT MARKETING
CONTENT TEAM
(CONTENT)
FUNNEL TEAM
(DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS)
Offers
(Long-Form Content)
Blog
(Short-Form Content)
Paid Marketing
Landing Pages
SEO
Email
Social Media

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BLOG = CONTENT + DISTRIBUTION
+

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OFFERS = CONTENT
Paid Marketing (Funnel Team)
Landing Pages (Funnel Team)
(Relies on Other Teams for Distribution)
Blog
(Blogging Team)
SEO
(Funnel Team)
Social Media
(Funnel Team)
Email
(Funnel Team)

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Where do our content goals come from?
Marketing’s Service-Level
Agreement (SLA) With Sales:
Quantity of Leads +
Quality of Leads

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Why do we do reporting?
For two reasons …

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to track progress
toward our goals

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to be prescriptive,
actionable,
and optimization-driven

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1
ABOUT THE BLOGGING TEAM & OUR GOALS

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•6 Full-Time Employees + Network of Contributors
•3 Main Blogs: Marketing, Sales, The Agency Post
•250 Blog Posts Per Month
•Primary Goals: Traffic, Subscribers & New Leads (Measured by Quantity)
BLOGGING TEAM

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specific goals depend on each
blog’s maturity

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INFANT BLOGS
Primary Goals =
Traffic + Subscribers
Why? To build up a critical mass of dedicated readers who will share and evangelize our content to new visitors

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~70%
of the initial traffic to a new post on HubSpot’s Marketing Blog comes from email subscribers.
Internal HubSpot Data

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Over time, that initial surge of traffic leads to views & social sharing that translates into organic search traffic growth.

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In other words, subscribers are critical to a blog’s long-term traffic growth.

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MATURE BLOGS
Primary Goals =
Traffic + Leads
Why? To convert visitors into leads while continuing to grow the top of the funnel

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3
BLOGGING TEAM KPIs: THE WHAT, WHY & HOW

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What are our monthly blog goals based on?
1)Total New Leads Goal From SLA
2)Historical Blog Lead Contributions
3)Blog Growth

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How often do we do
blog reporting?
How often do we do blog reporting?

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three frequencies …

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monthly report on all key blog metrics

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daily/weekly progress
check-ins for primary goals

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documentation
of one-off
analytical
projects

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•Blog Topic Analysis:“I wonder which topics generate the most view/leads …”
•Blog Type Analysis: “I wonder if infographic posts generate more views/leads than SlideShareposts …”
•Subscriber Email Analysis: “I wonder which email frequency option (instant, daily, weekly) has the best clickthroughrate …”
•Blog Traffic Analysis: “I wonder how much traffic we get to new posts vs. old posts …”
•Blog Leads Analysis: “I wonder how many leads we get from new posts vs. old posts …”
EXAMPLES …

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Which metrics
do we track?

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Progress-and goal-based metrics …

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METRIC:
TOTAL VISITS & THEIR TRAFFIC SOURCES
Why: To track blog traffic growth & analyze strengths/weaknesses in traffic sources month over month
How: HubSpot Sources Report

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METRIC:
EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS
Why: To track audience growth and blog stickiness, particularly for infant blogs
How: HubSpot Blog Dashboard

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METRIC:
NEW LEADS
Why: To track how the blog is contributing to the overall marketing SLA and growing leads month over month
How: HubSpot Contacts Report

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prescriptive/actionable metrics …

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METRIC:
TOP POSTS BY VIEWS
Why: To analyze themes from high- performing posts and identify opportunities for conversion optimization
How: HubSpot Pages Report

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Old posts with high traffic become targets/opportunities for conversion optimization.
WHAT NEXT?

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I wonder how big that opportunity is …

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OVER 75%
of our monthly blog post views are of old posts (i.e. posts published prior to that month).
Internal HubSpot Data

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That’s seems like a pretty big opportunity, if you ask me.

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But I wonder how well all those old posts are converting …

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METRIC:
TOP POSTS BY LEADS
(VIA LAST INTERACTION)
Why: To identify top lead-generating posts, spot themes that can inform future content creation, and pinpoint poorly converting posts
How: HubSpot’s New Attribution Report

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OVER 90%
of the leads we generate in a given month are alsofrom old posts (i.e. posts published prior to that month).
Internal HubSpot Data

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I wonder where all that traffic to old posts is coming from …

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The majority of traffic to old, high- trafficked posts on HubSpot’s blog comes from organic search.
How: HubSpot Pages Report
METRIC:
BLOG POST SOURCES

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WHAT NEXT?
Expand that list of high-converting old posts by getting more posts to rank in search. Put more effort into SEO.

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4
ABOUT THE OFFERS TEAM

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We don’t have offers measurement completely figured out.
BELIEVE IT OR NOT …

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LIKE EVERYONE ELSE …
We are challenged with determining the value of what we create.

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•How much did people read?
•Did they like it?
•What didn’t they like?
•Did they share it?
•Was it helpful to the business?
•Should we have packaged it differently?
QUESTIONS WE SEEK ANSWERS TO

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•We have to wait a sales cycle to see how many customers our offers generated.
•The success of an individual offer relies heavily on the promotional effort around it.
•You could technically say our offers are the source of all HubSpot lead generation.
•Unlike blogging, email, or social media, long-form content doesn’t have a built-in promotional channel.
•Company metrics and priorities shift regularly.
•Quality is harder to measure than quantity.
•Content benefits the company in ways that are nearly impossible to quantify.
CHALLENGES: MEASURING LONG-FORM CONTENT

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5
OFFERS TEAM KPIs: THE WHAT, WHY & HOW

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1.Percent of Leads Transferred to Sales Every Month
2.Offer Performance by Lead and Customer Generation
3.Net Promoter Score (NPS) by Offer Title, Author, and Type
THE 3 PRIMARY OFFERS TEAM KPIs

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% OF LEADS TRANSFERRED TO SALES
Measures the offers team’s contribution to our marketing team’s monthly leads- transferred-to-sales goal.

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% OF LEADS TRANSFERRED TO SALES

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TOP-PERFORMING OFFERS
Measures which offers excel at generating leads and customers.

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The longer an offer exists, the more leads and customers it generates.
WE TRACK YTD AND QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE

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TOP-PERFORMING OFFERS: Q2 2014
Offer
Publish Date
Author
Customers
Leads (Total Submits)*
Recognized MRR*
Quality Score*
Lead Generation Workbook
May-14
Erik
60
35,000
$300,000
71
Content Creation Ebook
May-14
Erik
50
20,000
$200,000
70
Facebook 101Guide
Jun-14
Shannon
40
15,000
$100,000
63
Website Redesign Workbook
Jun-14
Erik
30
10,000
$90,000
69
Email Marketing Template
May-14
Funnel
20
8,000
$80,000
67
*Not Actual HubSpot Data

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NET PROMOTER SCORE
Measures our audience’s perception of our content quality.

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NET PROMOTER SCORE (NPS)

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WHAT’S NEXT FOR OFFERS MEASUREMENT?

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To allow us to understand if an offer is a hit without having to wait 3-6 months.
BETTER PREDICT AN OFFER’S SUCCESS

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FINAL THOUGHTS ABOUT CONTENT REPORTING

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1Don’t waste time on reporting just for the sake of reporting.
2Prioritize metrics that enable you to be prescriptive.
3It’s okay to change your metrics over time.
4Keep asking questions –make time for one-off analytical projects.
FINAL THOUGHTS

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QUESTIONS ?