Template

Digital marketing benchmarking

templates
Quickly review your capabilities for the key digital marketing techniques

Author: Dr. Dave Chaffey

Part of the Digital Marketing Strategy and Planning Toolkit

Contents

Introduction

Transform your digital marketing to Digital Marketing excellence

RACE planning lifecycle benchmarking

Actionable Analytics

Campaign planning process

Content marketing excellence

Email marketing and marketing automation excellence

Digital customer experience excellence

SEO capability

Social media governance

Influencer relationship management

International marketing and localisation

E-commerce marketing

Marketing agency services

Digital Marketing Capability Review Templates. Updated. 1st May 2019.

© Smart Insights (Marketing Intelligence) Limited. Please go to www.smartinsights.com to feedback or access our other guides. 2
Introduction
Benchmarking templates for
improving your digital marketing

Kickstart your Digital Transformation with our benchmarks

Whatever the size of your business or clients, ‘How do we compare to our competitors?’ is
a common question when companies are looking to get more from their integrated digital
marketing. A great question! But how do you know which capabilities to compare and how you
can structure your review and recommendations of actions to improve results?

These audits, edited by Dr Dave Chaffey, aimed at medium to large businesses, will help you:

þþ Review how well you are currently exploiting the key digital marketing techniques
þþ Identify, and communicate to colleagues, the gap with where you need to be to compete
þþ Create a prioritized plan to plan, manage and optimize improvements

How do I use the capability review audits?

Our benchmark templates use the recognized 5 point scale of the Carnegie Mellon capability
maturity model which rates different processes from an unmanaged approach as you start out
at Level 1 up to a well-managed process at Level 5.

Score your business from Level 1 to Level 5 for the different ‘best practice’ activities you are
using for each of the core processes we have identified as each row.

What next?
Once you have defined the priorities for
1
improvement, you can then put in place an action on
Op

plan to go to the next level. You may need new

ti
3 Ac

resources, but with our do-it-yourself 7 Steps

portunity

guides and templates for core techniques like SMART objectives

SEO, Social Media and Email marketing you Activities to optimize
can learn and apply the best practices. Defined deliverables

Alternatively, take our detailed Digital marketing

health check audit for premium members – this
y
2 Strateg
gives an Excel spreadsheet to improve your
activities for each part of the RACE lifecycle.

If you’re feeling like you’re way behind don’t despair! Digital moves fast and our
research shows many businesses are at Levels 1 to 3.

All the best for getting to the next level!

Digital Marketing Capability Review Templates. Updated. 1st May 2019.

© Smart Insights (Marketing Intelligence) Limited. Please go to www.smartinsights.com to feedback or access our other guides. 3
 AIMING FOR DIGITAL

Take your digital marketing to the next level with our
capability assessment. Use our visual checklist to audit

Executive summary
MARKETING EXCELLENCE
how well your business or clients are exploiting their digital
marketing and then plan how to take it to the next level.
© Smart Insights (Marketing Intelligence) Limited. Please go to www.smartinsights.com to feedback or access our other guides.
Digital Marketing Capability Review Templates. Updated. 1st May 2019.

FIVE. Optimised
FOUR. Quantified
THREE. Defined
TWO. Managed
Digital
Capability ONE. Initial Defined vision and Business-aligned
Agile strategic
approach
Outline plan with strategy for strategy and roadmap
A. Strategic prioritised marketing Digital Transformation
No strategy activities
Approach

B. Performance Quality-based KPIs Value-based KPIs Lifetime-value KPIs

Volume-based KPIs
Improvement No KPIs ‘Last click’ attribution Weighted attribution Structured experiment
No dashboards
Process Business dashboards Ad hoc tests / CRO programme

Sponsorship and
C. Management Verbal support, but Active championing and Digital is an integral part of
Limited increased investment for
Buy-in inadequate resourcing approriate investment strategy development
Digital Transformation

D. Resourcing
Core skills centralised or Centralised hub and spoke Decentralisation and Balanced blend of
and No specific digital skills
agencies Dedicated resources reskilling marketing skills
Structure

E. Data, Martech Separate marketing Partial integrated Integrated systems Latest innovations, e.g. AI
No or limited
and technology, limited data Martech stack and data and 360o view data and Machine Learning can
customer database
Infrastructure integration quality controls sources in Martech stack be integrated

F. Integrated Integrated inbound Integrated, Personalised,

Core push activities Media optimised for ROI
Customer Not integrated approach. Last-click Paid-Owned-Earned
synchronised and to maximise CLV
Communications evaluation. media attribution

G. Integrated Desktop and mobile Partially personalized Integrated, Personalized Full contexual personalized
Static brochureware
Customer support, not personalized. desktop and mobile web, mobile, email and experiences and
website
Experience Landing pages in place. experience social media recommendations
“Developing “Competent average “Above-sector average “Market leading
“Laggard” capability” capability” capability”
capability”
4

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AIMING FOR INTEGRATED Take your digital marketing to the next level with our
capability assessment based on our RACE Planning

LIFECYCLE MARKETING framework. Use our visual checklist to audit how well your
business or clients are exploiting their digital channels to
identify and prioritise techniques to improve.
#DIGITALBENCHMARKING 5. Optimised
4. Quantified
3. Defined
2. Managed
1. Initial Digital transformation
‘Always-on’ omnichannel Retention and LTV model.
marketing plan in place. implemented. Structured
Plan Pritoritised activities. Goals 90 day planning. Martech
No strategy. Unclear goals Revenue-based funnel testing and optimisation
Creating a not modelled or aligned. roadmap and structured
or prioritisation. acquisition model. programme.
strategic roadmap Martech adoption ad-hoc. evaluation.

Reach Limited ad hoc use of Search target keywords Structured approach to Programmatic. Regular Media fully optimised
Build awareness paid media. No outreach. defined. Simple use of paid, owned and earned improvements to media. based on attribution and
Drive visits SEO not proactive. Google Ads/paid media. media to agreed targets. New media review ad hoc. evaluation of new options.

InterAct No insight on personas Some hero content and Content marketing and Personalisation optimised. Multivariate testing. High
Experience, flow and customer journeys. CTAs for lead generation personalised journeys to Ad hoc AB testing of quality content marketing.
and content No content strategy. and profiling encourage leads/sales. site sections. Structured testing.

Convert No paid retargeting. Initial media retargeting. Re-targeting optimised Segmented lifecycle Retargeting and
Build multichannel No email welcome or Targeted newsletter. Welcome and abandon emails, personalisation & personalisation optimised
sales nurture. Simple welcome emails. emails. Personalisation. paid media retargeting . across touchpoints.

Engage Limited experience No loyalty programme Customer research Loyalty programme. NPS. Retargeting and
Customer loyalty research. Email newsletter Targeted newsletter. informs site improvement. RFM-based email and personalisation optimised.
and retention and social media. No personalisation E-mail re-engagement personalisation Machine Learning applied.

Brand Basic brand identity, Brand values defined, Online value prop defined Brand personality and Fully integrated brand
Building emotional but brand benefits not but not clear on-site. Blog and social media defects researched and reputation management
connection communicated. Customer reviews. develop brand. acted on promptly. including PR.

Governance Analytics in place, not
Managing growth reviewed. No social media
approach governance. Skills gap.
“Basic Lifecycle Marketing”
Analytics reviewed ad-hoc
Regular performance
reviews. Social listening.
“Improving Lifecycle
marketing”
Dashboard reviews. Social
governance. Minimum
digital skills in place.
“Planned Lifecycle
marketing”
Value-based KPIs
90-day planning review.
Skills improvement.
“Managed Lifecycle
marketing“
Lifetime value KPIs.
Structured defect
reduction programme.
“Optimised Lifecycle
marketing”

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Take your digital marketing to the next level Check out our Lifecycle Marketing Toolkit page for our
planning templates and best practice guides to improve
with Smart Insights premium resources advanced resources available to Business-level members
lifecycle
AIMING FOR DIGITAL
Adopt actionable analytics to take your data-driven digital
marketing to the next level with our capability assessment.
Use our visual checklist to audit how well your business

ANALYTICS EXCELLENCE or clients are using analytics to review and improve results

5. Optimised
#DigitalBenchmarking 4. Quantified
3. Defined
2. Managed
Cross-business
1. Initial Dedicated experience
integration and
Wider use in business and media optimisation
collaboration
HiPPO engaged Dedicated analysts resources to implement
A. Management No engagement Simple reporting (larger businesses)
and Resourcing No dedicated resource

Satisfaction scoring
B. Metrics Marketing outcomes Customer Lifetime value
None selected Financial value or proxy KPI dependencies
Selection Last click Media attribution models
Simple media attribution

Basic web analytics + Customer feedback + Voice of customer +Real-time social media + Predictive analytics
C. Tools
Basic Social media + Basic social analytics + Personalisation + Offline report + Econometric models
(Typical types)
Basic Email reporting + Benchmarking tools + BI visualisation + CRM/Individual tracking (large businesses)

Goals Segmentation, Events

D. Analytics ‘Out-of-box’ Automated real-time
Custom reports Simple threshhold alerts Fulll dashboards
Customisation standard reports alerts
Mailed reports RACE Dashboards

Campaign source codes Rules-based AI / Machine learning Data Lakes or Data

E. Data None defined, e.g. for Email and personalization system personalization. 360 warehouse data storage
Integration social media integration Marketing Automation degree customer view and analysis

Persona consideration Optimisation of

None / Ad hoc AB Tests Structured AB testing
F. Optimisation Simple in-page and visitor Personalisation.
HiPPO-led Media testing programme.
path analysis Multivariate testing

Increase in number of
G. Review No structured reviews and Regular 90-day planning defining
Continuous programme tests
Process WILFING (weekly, monthly) programme of testing
of new techniques

“Directionless” “Reporting” “Structured testing” “Customer-centric“ “Optimising”

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Check our blog for lots of examples of how to
actionableanalytics for our free blog articles, fast
Plan, Manage and Optimize your digital marketing
start checklist.
Join our premium members to learn how to achieve more
actionable analytics by improving KPIs, people, process and
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AIMING FOR CAMPAIGN Take your campaign planning to the next level with our
capability assessment. Use our visual checklist to audit

PLANNING EXCELLENCE how well your business or clients are planning and
executing campaigns to improve their effectiveness.

5. Optimised
#DIGITALBENCHMARKING 4. Quantified
3. Defined
2. Managed
Clear success criteria of
1. Initial response volume, CPA Specific objectives per Specific objectives
and ROI based on channel modelled per media
Idea of overall response
A. Campaign General goals forecast. Lifetime value assessed platform
No other success criteria
goals and No SMART objectives Standard for analytics in time
Basic analytics tracking
tracking No analytics tracking campaign tracking

B. Campaign Audience characteristics Detailed targeting New options included

Limited research Top-level demographics
insights and and motivation considered including Exclusion and within targeting:
Poorly-defined audience used for targeting
targeting in targeting Lookalike targeting 70:20:10 rule

Known core offer, but Clear primary and Audience journeys, Offer testing during Offer testing before and
C. Campaign
secondary offer and secondary offers Keywords and competitors campaign, Real-time during campaign
theme and offers
messaging not known Online brand benefits reviewed marketing response Real-time marketing

Campaign response not Custom attribution

D. REACH: Media Top-level media budget Detailed channel Attribution considered
modelled. models used.
plan and budget created budget for campaigns during budgeting
Poor integration. New media options tested.

E. ACT: Audience Limited use of Landing Limited core content Audience journeys and Detailed editorial plan.
Testing of new interactive
interaction and Pages or interaction. assets to support range of content assets Outreach built-in to
content assets
participation No Editorial plan. campaign. Top level plan. considered content campaign

F. CONVERT: Limited campaign More advanced Retargeting optimised

Simple retargeting, e.g. in Full retargeting through
Optimise and retargeting follow-up or retargeting, e.g. Google Offline contact prioritised
Google Display Network social networks and Email
test Sales optimisation RLSA based on lead-scoring

G. ENGAGE: Social sharing and Attribution reviewed post

Sharing facilitated through Social proof Detailed campaign
Sharing and campaign review not campaign. Lifetime value
sharing buttons only Post-campaign review review
review considered assessed in time.
“Integrated “Integrated plans with “Coninuous optimisation of
“Unplanned campaigns” “Starting to plan” campaigns and media”
campaign plans” real-time response“

Take your campaign planning to the next level Check out our hub page http://bit.ly/smartrace for our Join our premium members to download planning templates
with Smart Insights member resources. templated download. and our 7 Step guides to Campaign Planning.
AIMING FOR CONTENT Take your Content Marketing to the next level with our
capability assessment. Use our visual checklist to audit

MARKETING EXCELLENCE how well your business or clients are exploiting their
Content Marketing to prioritise areas to improve.

5. Optimised
# DIGITALBENCHMARKING 4. Quantified
3. Defined
2. Managed
1. Initial
Detailed targets and Gap analysis linked to Optimisation based on
Outline target keywords
performance review SEO and AdWords performance and updates
A. Audit and No target keywords Funnel model with target
Set goals or Content Themes goals for reach & leads

B. Audience: Outline personas Detailed personas Review content relevance

No personas Optimisation of
Personas and Understand main Defined content mapping and effectiveness
No defined journeys retargeting
Journeys customer journeys on-site & off-site across journeys

C. Content No strategy or ideation New content types Focus on high quality Managing gaps and Ongoing review and
marketing for content types defined to meet goals ‘nuclear’ content limitations of Content optimisation to
strategy No outreach or distribution Initial outreach/distribution Structured distribution Marketing strategy remain competitive

Outline style guide Full style guidance and Content relevance

D. Editorial No style guidance Content archived and
Short-term calendar annual editorial calendar reviewed against
Management No content calendar refreshed to optimise
themes and ad-hoc Detailed themes competitors in detail

No hub Basic blog hub Content hub well ‘Resource centre’ Real-time content
E. Create Typically text content only Some original image integrated Experimentation with full creation to follow memes
Content or social media updates content Content curation range of content types and breaking news

Social media updates Initial influencer outreach Managed influencer Optimised influencer
F. Content Sharing mainly via
Email newsletter Experimenting with paid outreach. Adv. SEO. outreach, SEO and paid
Distribution social media updates
SEO best practices distribution Managed paid distribution distribution

Some analytics goals, Detailed content Real-time identification

G. Evaluate and No goals within analytics Full goals in analytics
costs and benefits defined, optimization of of problems and
Measure ROI No model for content value ROI model defined
but no ROI models content types and assets opportunities
“Ad hoc Content “Starting to structure “Structured “Competing with “Optimised
Marketing” Content Marketing” Content Marketing” Content Marketing” Content Marketing”

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AIMING FOR EMAIL AND Take your Email marketing to the next level with our
capability assessment. Use our visual checklist to audit

MARKETING AUTOMATION how well your business or clients are exploiting their email
marketing and then plan how to take it to the next level.

EXCELLENCE Optimised
“Integrated lifecycle

#DigitalBenchmarking Defined
Quantified
“Starting to integrate”
targeting”

“Starting to automate”
Managed
“Targeted emailing”
Initial Value reporting Response data > CRM
“Pray and spray” ‘Beyond the click’ tracking Hurdle rates and activity system/warehouse
Regular report of opens/ of marketing outcomes engagement levels
Email capabilities Simple clicks Segment tracking
and evaluation response tracking

List-building options
List quality Not managed increased List quality improved Reactivation and removal Preference centres
Privacy law compliance

Targeting Full lifecycle sequences Additional sequences

None: ‘Pray and Spray’ Demographics Basic triggers
(relevance) Lead scoring and grading added

Proposition and Increased frequency

More automations, e.g. Full lifecycle automation, Optimised automations
communications Newsletter and Eblasts Marketing Automation, e.g.
nurture e.g. Reactivation emails and frequency
strategy Welcome email

Video review Advanced real-time

Creative and
Simple headers Multiple templates Dynamic content insertion Mobile optimised content, e.g. weather,
templates
location

Feedback loops and

Delivery Not reviewed Reported Reported by ESP Continuous monitoring
delivery service

Multivariate testing
Experiments with different Structured offer/subject Layout reviews
Optimisation None Use of AI and Machine
offers/subjects testing AB testing
Learning

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DIGITAL CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE Improve your desktop website and mobile experience
by using our visual checklist to review your capabilities

EXCELLENCE REVIEW
for management, evaluation and personalisation.

#DIGITALBENCHMARKING 5. Optimised
4. Quantified
3. Defined
2. Managed
1. Initial Dedicated team
Clear responsibilities in
Defined individual each area of business
(larger organisation)
Ad hoc - cross-functional responsible
A. Responsibility No defined responsibility responsibility

Value of interactions Long-term value Detailed understanding

B. Evaluation and Volume of Quality of interactions and
Simple satisfaction Long-term engagement of Loyalty and customer
KPIs interactions short-term engagement
assessment (Hurdle rates) satisfaction drivers. NPS.

C. Journey Path analysis in analytics Visitor intent surveys Usability studies

Limited understanding Cross-channel analysis
Analysis Simple funnels Customer journey and Multichannel funnels
of journeys e.g. panels
Techniques Personas content mapping Content optimization

Ad hoc tests
Ad hoc changes Continuous structured
D. CRO Process No optimisation Simple AB test Multivariate testing
“Suck-it-and-see” testing programme
on key pages

E. Personalisation Specific content Limited dynamic Cross-journey Optimising

None
Techniques for personas personalisation personalisation personalisation

Simple cross-channel Mobile responsive design Mobile PWAs and AMPs Optimised multichannel
Website not integrated
F. Integration signposts and offers. and mobile apps. reviewed for relevance. integration. Mobile
with other channels
Social media integration. Remarketing (paid media) Social sign-in? adaptive.

Web Analytics Simple analytics Rules-based Advanced AI/Machine

G. Tools Real-time feedback tools
(not customised) customisation. Surveys. personalisation Learning personalisation

“Brochureware” “Taking control” “Starting to test & personalise” “Dynamic experiences“ “State-of-the-art”

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SEO CAPABILITY REVIEW Take your SEO to the next level with our capability
assessment. Use our visual checklist to audit how well your
business or clients’ are exploiting their SEO to identify and
prioritise areas to improve.

#DIGITALBENCHMARKING
1. Initial
No proactive use of SEO.
A. Targets, Audit
No dedicated resources
and Resourcing
for SEO.
2. Managed
Target keyword lists.
Basic audit completed.
Dedicated SEO resource
Top-level goals to improve.
5. Optimised
4. Quantified
3. Defined
Integrated responsibilities Skills and capacity to
Keyword gap analysis. and teams in larger respond immediately to
SMART objectives organisation. most issues.
and KPIs. Segments in
SEO activities prioritised.
Analytics.

Not audited and no Using Google Search Mobile optimised. Using Site section/content Site section/content
B. Indexing and
exclusions. Duplicate Console (GSC) to monitor. Geo-targeting, Schema specific reporting and specific reporting and
Crawling
content likely. Some exclusions set up. markup as relevant. improvements. optimisations.

Page Titles, headings and Page Titles, headings

C. On-page Not proactive. Usually an Structured testing of Title/ Continuous optimization of
copies used to support and copy engineered to
Optimization afterthought Description/Keyword Use. key content types.
SEO. support SEO.

Cornerstone or Content types and

D. Content No content marketing Integrated Content/PR Use of community and
Skyscraper content formats selected for SEO
Marketing strategy. and SEO campaigns. UGC supports growth.
created to support SEO (and marketing goals).

Links mainly organic, plus More use of outreach. Structured outreach Consistent quality of
E. Link building No record of external links. from some partners. Link Backlink profile reviewed programme linked to content limits need for
re-configuration as need. for balance. Disavowing. campaigns. outreach.

Some testing of internal

F. Internal Some use of internal links Navigation designed to
Not assessed. link methods along with Internal linking optimised.
Linking to support SEO. support SEO.
usability.

Contribution of SEO Segments to assess Good knowledge or Capacity to immediately

G. Measurement Top-level target keywords
known and tracked value (VQVC). GSC APIs. performance across site. identify problems
and reporting defined.
through time at top level. Detailed keyword/content Keyword Deltas monitored compared to competitors.

“Not Proactive” “Reviewing effectiveness” “Applying best practices” “Improving“ “Best-in-class”

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AIMING FOR SOCIAL Take your Social Media Marketing to the next level with our
capability assessment. Use our visual checklist to audit

MEDIA EXCELLENCE your business or clients’ use of Social Media Marketing and
then create an action plan with our social media resources.

Optimised
#DIGITALBENCHMARKING Quantified
“Fully-integrated
Social strategy”
“Starting to integrate”
Defined
“Starting to Plan”
Managed ROI reviewed.
“Using Social” Goals agreed throughout
Initial Attribution using analytics. the business
“Starting out with Social” SMART objectives defined
Social media integrated Social integrated into Social a key part of
1. Goals and into website. Automated offline campaigns. integrated multi-channel
No goals beyond ‘doing General goals defined.
Channel Email integration. strategy
social media’. Social buttons on website.
Integration

2. Social Monitoring of brand Defined process for Proactive PR - Influencer Proactive outreach to
No Social Media
Listening and mentions. Reputation customers reporting outreach customers. Inputting into
Monitoring
Governance Management issues via social Social Media care New Product Dvlpt.

No planned content
3. Content
creation. Page updates
Planning
only - not linking to hub.
Social hub/blog with Monthly content plan with Longer-term 90 day 90 day content plan
content being created and key content thems and content plan with themes with themes which are
shared in social updates engaging assets. for different audiences. announced and integrated.

4. Interaction Proactive interaction with Community management Team in place for

Limited, reactive interaction Monitoring and replying
and community fans, influencers company resource for facilitating personalised replies and to
on social media. to comments.
management pages. Social care. discussions. Localised. facilitate discussion 24/7.

5. Company Branded pages on priority Branded pages set up on Branded pages set up on Additional page features
Pages set up, but not well
Page social channels (e.g. common and newer social channels requiring non- such as integrated videos
branded. channels (e.g. Pinterest)
Optimisation Twitter, Facebook) text content e.g. YouTube and apps utilised.

Experimenting with Targeted ads to boost Remarketing for leads Optimised investment
6. Paid
Not using paid advertising. promoting updates page fans, site visits or or sales. Power Editor in based on attribution and
advertising
without targeting leads Facebook. ROI review.

Recording basic stats Benchmarking reach, Using analytics tools to Integrated dashboard of
Not analysing page
7. Evaluation of growth (e.g. Page interaction rates. Tracking evaluate behaviour of Social media performance
statistics.
Followers, Likes). site outcomes. audience. Attribution. and alerts on key issues.

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articles, and Fast Start checklist.
INFLUENCER RELATIONSHIP Take your IRM to the next level with our capability
assessment. Use our visual checklist to audit how well your

MANAGEMENT EXCELLENCE business or clients are exploiting their influencer outreach

to identify and prioritise areas to improve.

5. Optimised
#DIGITALBENCHMARKING 4. Quantified
3. Defined
2. Managed
Optimisation based
1. Initial Good continuous ‘always-
on annual and end of
Good campaign-based on’ and campaign
Ad hoc activity process campaign reviews
processes
A. Audit IRM Limited activity Repeatable process ‘Sufficient’ resource
process No process ‘Insufficient’ resource

Targets for number of Detailed funnel targets and Influencer activity targets Influencer pogramme
B. Set goals No targets
influencers performance review by segment ROI targets

Dedicated influencer
C. Select Process for using tools Process for optimizing
No tools Spreadsheets outreach and tracking
technology effectively using tools
tools

Appropriate tactics
D. Segment Market influencers Influencers better known, Influencers categorised Programme for refreshing
suitable to types of
influencers not known not categorised and prioritised influencers as needed.
influencers

No / unsuitable assets Basic assets Some quality assets

E. Content No hub Ad hoc blogging Influencer-generated More segmented content Refined strategy process
strategy No strategy Campaign plans Basic strategy and plan Full 12 month plans

Limited influencer Mainly content-based Fully-managed

F. Manage No process More continuous
involvement with content outreac process including crisis
outreach Organic sharing outreach
No paid deals Paid deals management

Influence on leads and

G. Evaluate and Basic tracking of Impact of influencers and Comparison to competitor
No measurement sales known from URL
measure ROI total visits ROI known programmes known
PDF and social tracking

“Limited outreach” “Ad hoc outreach” “Structured IRM programme” “Optimizing IRM programme“ “Optimized IRM programme”

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 INTERNATIONAL Take your International Marketing to the next level with
our capability assessment. Use our visual checklist to

LOCALISATION audit your business or clients’ use of Localisation for

International Marketing

BEST PRACTICES
© Smart Insights (Marketing Intelligence) Limited. Please go to www.smartinsights.com to feedback or access our other guides.
Digital Marketing Capability Review Templates. Updated. 1st May 2019.

#DIGITALBENCHMARKING
Initial
“Limited localisation”
1. Roles and
No defined roles or
responsibilities international websites
responsibilities
Optimised
Quantified “Fully-localised”
“Starting to optimise”
Defined
“Localisation managed”
Managed
“Starting to localise” Region-specific cross-
IT/marketing/sales business & cross-
Defined roles and
responsibilities for each department integration & disciplinary integration and
region but online activity collaboration collaboration
Ad-hoc responsibility for
siloed

Data-driven localisation Regular situation review +

2. Strategy and No localisation strategy or Single localisation strategy Separate localisation
strategy with clearly agile strategic approach to
planning plan for all territories strategy for each territory
defined SMART objectives localisation

Separate multi-language Defined approach to Infrastructure decided on Optimised infrastructure

3. Infrastructure Single language site
websites hosted in target infrastructure in different a case-by-case basis to – CDNs, page speed
and data hosted in home territory
regions with ccTLD or regions support users in target analysis & optimisation

Content created is not well Additional static All forms of content such as
Content is ‘culturally
4. Content No local content created tailored to local market content developed to interactive tools and video
customised’ to local needs are localised where effective
needs increase local relevance

No search marketing strategy Source keywords Localised keyword Structured on page TDK Dedicated outreach
5. International / SEO limited to on page identified and translated research, target keywords testing, tracking across programmes, PR, content
search marketing content in source language for target language & onsite optimisation languages and territories marketing on local sites

Limited customer support
6. Customer
and little understanding of
experience
customer journey
Basic understanding of the Site structure and content Usability studies for Fully personalised for
customer journey but no optimised for customer localised user journeys, user preferences in each
action taken journey – but not localised key markets optimised territory

7. Analytics, Analytics installed but Reporting based on traffic Simple page, visitor path Localised dashboards per Dynamic optimisation of
optimisation and not customised for lcoal volumes, measurement of analysis and AB tests of region, multi-variate testing personalised content and
reporting reporting or KPIs traffic per territory content per territory & segment/region competitor benchmarking
14

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next level with Smart Insights member resources Transformation templates and guides
articles
AIMING FOR E-COMMERCE Take your E-commerce marketing to the next level with our
capability assessment. Use our visual checklist to audit

MARKETING EXCELLENCE how well your business or clients are exploiting their digital
channels to identify and prioritise areas to improve.

#DIGITALBENCHMARKING 5. Optimised
4. Quantified
3. Defined
2. Managed
1. Initial Digital transformation
Multichannel marketing Retention and LTV model.
implemented. Structured
Plan Pritoritised activities. plan in place. Profit-based 90 day planning. Martech
testing and optimisation
Creating a No strategy. Unclear goals. Sales goals, not modelled. funnel acquisition model. roadmap and structured
programme.
strategic roadmap Martech adoption ad-hoc. evaluation

Reach Limited ad hoc use of Search target keywords Structured approach to Programmatic. Regular Media fully optimised
Build awareness paid media. defined. Simple use of paid, owned and earned improvements to media. based on attribution and
Drive visits SEO not proactive. AdWords/online media. media to agreed targets. New media review ad hoc. evaluation of new options.

Interact No insight on customer Footfall to different site Content marketing and Merchandising optimised
Multivariate testing. High
Experience, flow journeys. Limited insight on sections and product merchandised journeys to AB testing of different
quality content marketing.
and content product popularity categories understood. encourage purchase. site sections.

Convert No paid remarketing. Initial media retargeting. Re-targeting optimised Segmented lifecycle Retargeting and
Build multichannel Simple broadcast Targeted newsletter. Welcome and abandon emails, personalisation & personalisation optimised
sales newsletter. Simple welcome emails. emails. Personalisation. paid media retargeting. across touchpoints. AI.

Engage Limited experience No loyalty programme Customer research Loyalty programme. NPS. Retargeting and
Customer loyalty research Targeted newsletter. informs site improvement RFM-based email and personalisation optimised
and retention Customer newsletter No personalisation email re-engagement personalisation across touchpoints. AI.

Brand Basic brand identity, Brand values defined, Online value prop defined Brand personality and Fully integrated brand
Building emotional but brand benefits not but not clear on-site. Blog and social media defects researched and reputation management
connection communicated. Customer reviews. develop brand. acted on promptly. including PR.

Governance Analytics in place, not Dashboards for regular Lifetime value KPIs
Analytics reviewed ad-hoc Value-based KPIs
Managing growth reviewed. Ad hoc trading weekly trading reviews. Structured defect
Regular trading reviews. 90-day planning review.
approach reviews reduction problem
“Improving E-commerce “Planned E-commerce “Managed E-commerce “Optimised E-commerce
“Basic E-commerce Marketing” marketing” marketing” marketing”
marketing“

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MARKETING AGENCY agency is running its new business and account growth to
identify and prioritise areas to improve.

SERVICES 5. Optimised
#DIGITALBENCHMARKING 4. Quantified
3. Defined
2. Managed
1. Initial Services roadmap aligned
Agile approach: modified
Defined service as market / tech develops
Services based on own propositions to business growth plan
A. Digital Not offered or sporadic, skills, experience and communicated to market
services offered reactive client and market drivers

Quant and qual results, Ongoing evidence based

B. Value Understood but not well Clearly defined with
Not considered case studies, testimonials case studies, attracting
Proposition articulated with proof supporting statements
and agency registers desirable new business

Scheduled client
C. Existing client Some of team: ad hoc Agency-wide account Tracking of account
Not considered feedback, Net Promoter,
growth approaches to clients growth planning targets by service type
ongoing proactive

Clear new business Opportunities assessed on Planned pipeline, defined

D. New Business No roadmap or Audit of past wins and
strategy, defined tasks and merit, agreed investment team, plan refined based
Framework methodology profitable business
roles level per opportunity on learnings re wins/loses

Benchmarking the Estimate vs actual Value vs time and rates

E. Pricing & No pricing or estimating Estimating framework
market, analyse historic effort / cost tracked for model assessed per
Estimating model used, rate card/s defined
cost v revenue per team profitability engagement, rates flexed

No defined digital Clear process flow, MI. and profitability

F. Process & Some documentation but Workflow platform used
marketing processes in documented process reporting across client,
workflow not across all services across agency
place aligned to roles project

Potential partners audited, Team roles defined, Ongoing talent acquisition, Attracting award-winning
G. Teams / No digital strategy or
in-house talent assessed partner contracts in place, development plans for talent, thought-leader
resources delivery capability in house
for training needs talent recruitment plan staff industry profiles
“Competent - “Market-leading capability”
“Laggard” “Developing capability” “Above average capability“
average capability”

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checklist.