Advertising

15 Digital Marketing Metrics and KPIs to Measure Performance

15 Digital Marketing Metrics and KPIs to Measure Performance

8 Min Read

As a marketer, you want to build as much awareness for your product as possible. But how do you measure performance on the road toward achieving that goal? Or the effectiveness of your marketing spend and sales campaigns?

This article presents you with 15 digital marketing metrics and KPIs you can use to measure performance in your lead generation and demand generation campaigns.

What Are Digital Marketing KPIs?

Marketing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) isolate measurable, quantifiable benchmarks to help determine where your strategic, operational, and financial efforts are working and where they may fall short. KPIs measure performance or overall success contrasted to a set of targets and objectives.

When it comes to digital marketing metrics, it’s crucial to stay on top of your KPIs to ensure all your endeavors are paying off. Here are a few you may be aware of, and a few you may not.

1. Brand Awareness

Brand awareness refers to how well-acquainted consumers are with your brand and its values. A big part of marketing aims to increase brand awareness and create positive associations. But understandably, this can feel like a slightly nebulous concept.

How is Brand Awareness Measured?

When measuring brand awareness, it’s essential to track two different metrics:

  • Unaided awareness: This refers to how knowledgeable consumers are about your product or brand without being prompted.
  • Aided awareness: As the name suggests, this metric will tell you how aware your customers are of your product or brand when asked or assisted.

Both metrics are essential to measuring brand awareness but require different approaches. The tried-and-true method of measuring brand awareness is via a customer survey, typically conducted online or over the phone. But this measurement of aided awareness can be problematic as your very mention of your brand can lead to bias in the results. Using digital data can lead to more reliable measurements of unaided awareness.

Tools like Google Trends, for example, can track the volume of searches for your product or website. Over time, you can see if searches are rising or falling (i.e., if awareness is increasing or decreasing). Data analysts can set a number as your baseline and then measure against that.

Another way to measure brand awareness is through social listening. You can get a snapshot of your brand’s appeal to different demographics by tracking social media mentions. The volume of mentions and the reach are two KPIs for brand awareness on social media. They refer to the number of peripheral engagements your brand can get from mentions.

2. Impressions and Clicks

The internet can track pretty much every move your customers make. When your ad airs, for example, impressions will tell you how many times that ad was viewed. On the other hand, clicks will inform you about the number of times users clicked on the ad.

How are Impressions & Clicks Measured?

While there are different ways to measure impressions, Google’s Ad Manager counts them based on each time an ad has begun to load on a device. Clicks are typically measured every time a consumer clicks on an ad, even if it doesn’t fully load.

3. Click-Through Rate (CTR)

Click-Through Rate (CTR) refers to the number of consumers who actually click through your ads versus those who merely see them on screen.

How is CTR Calculated?

CTR measures the ratio of clicks to impressions; it stands for the percentage of people who follow through on the ads you are serving them. For example, eight clicks for every 100 impressions would mean a CTR of 8%.

CTR varies by industry and delivery method, but the average CTR hovers around 2%.

4. Cost-Per-Click (CPC)

Cost-per-click advertising measures how much advertisers pay for each click on one of their ads. More clicks might mean higher costs but could also indicate a successful campaign.

How is CPC Calculated?

You can calculate the average CPC by dividing your ad spending by the total number of clicks. Another option is to set the cost per click yourself, selecting the price you are willing to spend per click based on your ad budget and goals.

5. Conversion Rate (CR)

Conversion Rate (CR) measures the percentage of users who complete a specific desired action. Depending on your particular goals, your measurable conversions may be:

  • Purchases
  • Clicks
  • Leads
  • Downloads

How is CR Calculated?

The formula is simple: Conversion Rate = Clicks or Visits / Conversions.

For example, if four people out of every hundred who see your ad go on to download your brochure (if that’s your aim), you’ll have a conversion rate of 4%.

Alongside current success, CRs can help you measure your progress over time, as you can compare your results and see whether there’s any improvement.

6. Return on Investment (ROI)

Return on Investment (ROI) is a big-picture assessment of the cost-effectiveness of your investment. ROI represents the ratio of profit (or loss) to your overall investment.

How is ROI Calculated?

Divide your profit by investment, then multiply by 100 to get a percentage figure—that’s your ROI.

7. Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS)

Like ROI, Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS) represents your profit or loss compared to your advertising or marketing spending. It’s a good measure of how cost-effective your campaigns are.

How is ROAS Calculated?

ROAS is the profit created by an advertisement divided by the total amount spent on an ad.

8. Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)

Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) is the amount it costs to get a single customer down the sales funnel, from the first touchpoint to the ultimate conversion.

How is CPA Calculated?

To calculate CPA, divide your campaign spending by the number of customers acquired via that campaign:

CPA = Campaign Cost / Conversions

CPA is a dollar amount. If you spend $20,000 and net 1,000 conversions, your CPA is $20.

9. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) measures how much it costs to acquire a new customer. Companies commonly use it alongside the Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) to pinpoint the costs and values of a new customer.

How is CAC Calculated?

CAC is the total cost of sales and marketing expenses divided by the number of new customers your efforts attract.

10. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) represents the amount you can expect a consumer to spend on your business during their customer lifetime.

How is CLV Calculated?

CLV relies on two other values:

  • Average Customer Value (ACV) or the average amount a customer spends during a period (say a year)
  • Average Customer Lifespan (ACL), or the average time between a customer’s first and last purchase from your company, typically measured in years

Multiplying your ACV by your ACL gives you your CLV.

11. Cost Per Lead (CPL)

Cost Per Lead (CPL) gives you insight into how much you spend to generate each lead.

How is CPL Calculated?

Divide the amount spent on marketing by the number of leads you generate, and you’ll get CPL. You can track the CPL for a specific campaign, period or marketing channel.

12. Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)

Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) are potential leads who are aware of your product. Typically, they have interacted with your marketing efforts but have not entered your sales funnel. For example, an MQL may have clicked on an ad of yours, visited your site a couple of times or maybe even added items to their cart (without actually buying them).

How are MQLs Calculated?

MQLs are credible consumers who need the right encouragement to move down the sales funnel. They fit the profile of your ideal consumer, so they’re worth considering by your sales team.

You can track MQLs based on the times potential customers visit your web pages, download content, click through CTAs or interact with social posts. A higher number of MQLs indicates that your product has a sufficiently broad appeal.

13. Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)

Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs) are leads—or prospective customers—who have moved through the pipeline to a point where you can nurture and convert them into active customers.

How are SQLs Calculated?

You can calculate the number of SQLs by examining the actions and behaviors of your leads and determining the probability of a purchase. However, there’s no single right formula for determining SQLs. Every sales team will have different criteria for SQLs.

14. Sales Accepted Lead (SAL)

Sales Accepted Leads (SALs) represent a middle step between MQLs and SQLs. They are MQLs that have been vetted by your marketing team and chosen for further interaction. If all goes well, they could become SQLs and eventually customers.

How are SALs Calculated?

SALs can be evaluated based on metrics such as authority, budget, urgency, need and indications of readiness.

15. Customer Retention

Customer retention refers to the number of customers who return as repeat buyers.

How is Customer Retention Calculated?

The simplest way of calculating customer retention is by reviewing a certain period of time (say a year) and subtracting the number of new customers acquired from the total number of customers. Then, you divide the result by the number of customers you had at the beginning of the period.

Performance Marketing Metrics for Connected TV

If you seek expert support in measuring your marketing performance, MNTN Performance TV can help you gain actionable insights from Connected TV (CTV) campaigns. This comprehensive platform enables you to launch self-managed OTT advertising campaigns, target specific audience groups and measure every aspect of your CTV advertising efforts, allowing you to drive measurable conversions, revenue, site visits, and more.

Digital Marketing Metrics & KPIs: Final Thoughts

With an ocean of ad content out there, it’s more important than ever to reach your audience with your performance marketing efforts. Using the right digital marketing KPIs is a big part of following up on your campaign to ensure it’s a success. Let MNTN be your guide.

Contact us today for more information about how MNTN and Performance TV can help take your CTV marketing to the next level.