5 minute read
Before you can measure your KPIs, you have to understand exactly what they are. Key performance indicators (KPIs) are specific, numerical marketing metrics that measure progress toward your defined goal. Depending on the size of your organization, you may have different KPI’s to track for each department or segment within your business.
For marketers, it’s important to know what KPIs to track to measure your marketing performance is crucial to achieving your marketing objectives and goals. Creating a powerful and memorable marketing strategy and marketing campaign is the key to more revenue and your overall business growth.
With there being so many KPIs that can be tracked, how do you know which ones to focus on? These measurements should really be based on your brand’s specific goals and objectives. But if you’re not sure where to start, we’ve gathered the top 15 marketing KPIs that you should track to better understand and analyze your marketing campaigns.
Overall KPIs to Track
Whether you use social media marketing, email marketing, or any other form of marketing, these are the most crucial KPIs to pay close attention to:
- Net Promoter Score (NPS)
This KPI is a way to measure your customer’s satisfaction with your brand and how likely they are to recommend your brand to a friend or colleague. Tracking this metric will help you to better understand how you can improve your business processes and even plan your marketing around your strengths and social proof. - Lifetime Value of a Customer (LTV)
This KPI approximates the total amount of revenue your business can make from one customer. The LTV can also determine how much you spend on future marketing activities and aid you in strategizing future business goals. So, how much is a single customer worth to your business?
- Conversion Rate
The conversion rate is another top marketing KPI to track because it indicates how effective your marketing campaign is and can determine your ROI. The conversion rate measures the effectiveness of customers doing what you want them to do through marketing efforts. The higher your conversion rate is, the better your marketing campaign is.
- Leads
Leads are valuable to all businesses. The more leads you get, the more opportunity for sales, and therefore, your sales growth chances increase.
The most important aspect of marketing KPIs in lead generation is the number and quality of leads you obtain. However, in lead generation, the quality of the lead is more important than the number of leads. Many brands also break down the type of leads into Marketing Qualifed Leads (MQL) and Sales Qualified Leads (SQL), depending on where a prospect is in their buyer’s journey and how much nurturing a prospect may need before their purchase decision.
- Sales Growth
Another top KPI, if not the most important, is sales growth. Sales growth is important to investors, business owners, and employees. Sales growth measures the rate at which a business has grown its revenue from sales over a specific period.
If you have not previously been measuring your sales growth, then it is best to start measuring it now. Sales growth can help you set and forecast realistic sales and revenue goals for your business.
Social Media Marketing KPIs to Track
Today, just about everyone is on social media, and for that reason, social media is a must-have marketing channel for your business. So here are some social media specific KPIs to help you measure the success of your social media activities:
- Page Likes and Followers
Typically speaking, the most obvious sign that your social media marketing campaign is effective would be the increase in page likes and follows. An influx of new followers means that more and more people are attracted to your brand and want to see your posts and updates in their newsfeeds.
However, having millions of followers that do not engage with your content is worthless. It is better to have 1,000 followers that actively engage with your content compared to 1 million followers that never engage with your content.
- Reach
This KPI measures the total number of unique accounts that have been exposed to your social media posts. Having a broad approach is great for your brand awareness, but you should not only aim to reach consumers with your posts but make them engage with them.
- Mentions
If your brand is tagged or mentioned in posts, it shows that people are talking about you whether you are active or not on that social media platform. Being mentioned by consumers is the best way to bring awareness to your brand, plus you receive free advertisements of your product or services that way!
Email Marketing KPIs to Track
Having a powerful email marketing strategy can have a significant impact on your overall marketing success and business growth. Here are the email marketing KPIs to track to help you measure the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign:
- Open Rate
The open rate of your emails is one of the most important metrics you should keep track of. The open rate KPI is the best way to determine if your email marketing strategy is effective. This is done by showing you the percentage of receivers that open the emails your business sends. However, our open rates can be affected by your subject line and sender name.
- Click-to-Open Rate
Your click-to-open rate KPI determines whether your content is resonating with your consumers and determines how effective your email marketing campaign is in compelling the recipient to take action. This KPI measures the percentage of people who not only opened your email but clinked the link within the email. - Unsubscribe Rate
The unsubscribe rate is self-explanatory, this KPI is the percentage of email subscribers who decide they no longer want to receive emails from your business.
Website KPIs to Track
Your website is one of the most important pieces of your brand, so it’s essential to measure how visitors interact with your website. There is a lot of data you can collect from your website visitors. A few notable KPI’s to track on your website include:
- Traffic By Source
This metric will help you to understand where your website visitors are coming from and what channels are most popular. This data can also help you determine which paid channels are impacting your bottom line and allow you to utilize your budget more effectively. Keep in mind, when you are running campaigns across multiple channels, multi-touch attribution should be used to see where each channel plays a role in your buyer’s journey.
- Average Time on Site
Average time on page is a KPI that shows the average time that visitors spend on a single page. This measurement can tell you a lot about your website content and if it’s relevant and engaging to visitors. On the other hand, if the average time on your checkout pages is high, it can indicate that your process is too complicated and needs to be refined.
Paid Digital KPIs to Track
Paid Media metrics are important to track and can help you determine how your campaigns are performing. Your business should look at
- Click Through Rate
Click-through rate (CTR) is a metric in digital advertising and marketing that refers to the percentage of clicks your ad receives based on the number of impressions (times your ad has been shown). A high click-through rate shows the success of your campaign, whereas a low click-through rate can indicate that you are either not reaching the right audience, or that your ad creative needs to be improved.
- Impressions
An impression (or view) is seen as one display of online content on a user’s internet-enabled device. Impressions are defined as the total number of times your content was displayed, whether it was clicked on or not. Each display counts as a single impression.
An impression is one of the key metrics a competent digital marketing agency or specialist must keep track of when measuring the success of a digital marketing campaign, as it measures how often ads are served and can help you
- Creative Engagement
Measuring how viewers engage with your paid ads is key to understanding your campaign performance. This KPI can help you determine how well your audience is responding to your marketing message.
Overall, as a business leader, you should set clear objectives, identify your targets, establish your major KPIs, and choose the appropriate digital marketing tools to help you accomplish these tasks. Using KPI metrics will help you to validate your business decisions, and take action based on the performance data you see. Need help understanding which KPIs you should be tracking? Feel free to reach out for a customized strategy for your brand’s unique needs.
