There are a variety of ways to attract people to your podcast – everything from creating a podcast trailer and using CTAs (call to action), to leveraging social media and strategic guesting.
However, once you launch your show and leverage the different ways to get people to download your podcast, the big question becomes, how do you measure conversion?
What is a podcast conversion?
How and what you track as conversions depends on the brand. In the world of audio, a conversion can be an audience member downloading and listening to a podcast episode, a report download, webinar signup, sales conversion, and the list can go on.
But as many marketers have become aware of, podcast attribution isn’t black and white. Typically on other content channels, you’ll get direct data that tells you when a user converted and where that conversion can be attributed to. But podcasts aren’t like that. Marketers may have to get a little creative when it comes to measuring ROI and podcast attribution, but we’re here to tell you that it can be done.
If your company is investing time and effort into branded podcasts, you want to ensure that those activities perform and give you a strong ROI. Keep reading to get a breakdown of the best ways to track and measure your podcast conversions.
1. Make a trackable link for each episode release
Get into the habit of creating a unique and trackable link for every podcast episode you make. Point all your marketing efforts – such as emails, social media, newsletters, and blogs – towards a unique link.
When it comes to podcasts, there aren’t many tools out there that assist in tracking download source data. One of the few includes CoHost Tracking Links which are built into our platform. Podcasters can create a single tracking link for every episode and share it across their typical marketing channels such as social media. When listeners start clicking on the link and downloading your episode, CoHost will give you data on where those downloads came from so you can better understand which marketing channels are performing and which ones aren’t.
Additionally, you can use a UTM link generator, like the one provided by Google Analytics, to track sources if you’re driving audiences to your podcast on your website. For this, you’ll need to create a different UTM link for every channel you’re promoting your podcast on.
2. Create a discount or promo code that is only mentioned on the podcast
A great way to measure podcast conversions is to include a promo/discount code in the podcast. By making this voucher or code solely available to people to listen to your podcast, you can create a sense of exclusivity and it’s easier to track which promo codes payoff and where people are coming from.
Listeners will commonly see this tactic used for podcast advertisements. You’ll hear hosts advertise a brand on their show and give a unique discount code for the show. Luckily, brands can use this for their own branded podcasts too.
Promo codes can be used for really any offer you’re giving to listeners whether it’s a physical product, subscription, webinar, conference, etc. Remember to make the promo code meaningful and timebound so you create a sense of value but also urgency for your listeners to use it.
3. Ask users where they heard about you when they’re converting
If you want to get right down to it, you can directly ask your leads where they heard about you and ensure that your podcast or any podcasts you’ve guested on are listed. At the very least, this would be a dropdown option in your contact form or sign-up page that asks: “Where’d you hear about us?”
But the best option would be to add an open field to that form that allows them to type in exactly how they heard about you. Whatever their answer is, make a note of that in your CRM’s ‘original source field’. This allows you to measure if your podcast is driving people to convert into leads. We’ll flag that with that option it does require your leads to put in a bit more effort to write it out rather than clicking a drop-down but it does help with the accuracy of responses.
4. Tag your guest and their company in your CRM
Before we get into it, what is a CRM (customer relationship management) software? Salesforce identifies a CRM as “a technology for managing all your company’s relationships and interactions with customers and potential customers”.
Some popular CRMs include:
But how do CRMs relate to your branded podcast?
This seems like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many companies don’t think to do it. Anytime you’re a guest on someone’s podcast or instead, if you have them on your show, make sure to add them to your CRM software. If they ever become a customer in the future, your podcast will get credit as a major part of that customer’s journey.
Measuring branded podcast conversions
These are just a handful of ways you can measure branded podcast conversions and a great place to start.
Reminder: Don't get lost in conversions and direct attribution. The power of podcasts is their ability to connect with audiences, tell stories, and shift brand perception. Lead generation shouldn't be your primary focus or goal. But if you are looking for an even more robust approach to measuring your conversions, feel free to reach out and our team can assist with any questions!
