40 Metrics to Monitor for Healthcare Content Marketing ROI

This post was last updated on March 31, 2022

Content marketing is becoming more and more popular in healthcare among both payers and providers, but according to a recent study, only 23 percent of B2B marketers rate their efforts to measure content marketing ROI as “strong.”  In addition, some go so far as to say, “You can’t measure content marketing ROI.” Well, of course you can. In fact, it’s imperative.

With greater demand for content from consumers as they make decisions about healthcare and insurance coverage, marketers need more than ever to ensure the content they create is valuable… and that it’s being utilized. And there’s good news: there are dozens of ways to measure how consumers are accessing and using content. Dozens.

Of course, every content marketing strategy varies in its purpose, and so you’ll want to start with your goals in order to understand which metrics make sense. A thought leadership campaign, for example, will track different stats than a campaign designed to increase usage of a specialty service or up purchases of an insurance product. With that in mind, here are some metrics you may want to quantify and then monitor as you put your content marketing plan together:

Email metrics

1. Click-through rate (CTR)
2. Conversion rate
3. Delivery rate
4. Open rate
5. Opt-out rate
6. Subscribers
7. Subscriber churn rate

Sales channel metrics

8. Asset downloads
9. Conversions tied to content
10. Leads tied to content via links, specific calls-to-action or direct feedback
11. Renewals tied to content
12. Webinar registration and attendance

SEO metrics

13. Authority (e.g., domain authority, page authority)
14. Backlinks (referring sites)
15. Bounce rate
16. Keyword rankings
17. Local visibility
18. Organic traffic
19. Page speed
20. Mobile rankings
21. SERP ranking

Social metrics

22. Amplification rate (ratio of social shares per post to the number of overall followers)
23. Applause rate (number of approval actions, e.g., likes, favorites relative to your total number of followers)
24. Follow growth and growth rate (per platform and across platforms)
25. Post reach (Your audience and potential audience)
26. Social engagement (replies and comments)
27. Video views

Website metrics

28. Average time on page
29. Behavioral flow
30. Bounce rate
31. Exit rate
32. Mobile traffic
33. New vs. returning visitors
34. Pageviews
35. Pageviews per visit
36. Unique visitors
37. Website traffic
38. New vs. returning visitors
39. Time on site (visit duration)
40. Traffic sources (direct, organic, referral)

As you can see, many of these work together to give a clear picture not only of what resonates with audiences but also of what drives the results you’re seeking. Take note of where you are and watch for trends and activity (increases, declines, spikes, etc.). You will also find value in comparisons and tests of the variables. Here are just a few possibilities:

• Does your content perform best when you amplify it with social, email or both?
• Which forms of content – video vs. blog post, for example –gain the most traction?
• What kinds of posts does your audience prefer (as revealed by the metrics): how-to’s, lists, testimonials, feature stories, etc.?

So if you resolved to make content marketing a greater part of your strategy – and especially if you resolved to measure the effort more successfully – give us a call. We’d be happy to help with development of a goals-oriented, ROI-driven strategy.

Tags: content marketing for healthcare, content marketing strategy, healthcare marketing, hospital marketing, metrics, social media for healthcare