4 Essential Digital Marketing KPIs to Track For Your Next Campaign

““Data really powers everything that we do.” ” Jeff Weiner

Did you know that the annual global revenue generated from big data and analytics is projected to exceed $260 billion by the year 2020? That’s mind blowing, to say the least.

Data is all around us and as marketers, it’s up to use to utilize this wealth of insights, stats, and metrics to our advantage.

If you can use “big data” in an analytical, value-driven capacity - squeezing every last drop of the value from the data available at your fingertips - you'll be able to make the kind of informed decisions that will ultimately accelerate the success of your marketing campaign.

But with so many insights and such little time, sifting through rafts of unstructured data and drilling down into what’s really important can seem like an impossible feat.

While every digital marketing campaign is unique in its own right, there are fundamental elements you should consider to ensure your efforts result in success.

That said, when it comes to using big data to boost your digital marketing campaigns, there are particular metrics you can track to not only measure your performance, but evolve your efforts in a way that will boost brand awareness and resonate with your audience on a more meaningful level.

To help steer your success, here we explore the power of working with data-driven key performance indicators (KPIs) when developing and delivering your digital marketing campaigns, in addition to the four essential areas you should track for ongoing success.

The benefits of using key performance indicators (KPIs)

KPIs are integral to digital marketing success as these particular metrics offer measurable values applied to key promotional objectives.

For instance, you may set digital marketing KPIs based on return on investments (ROI), conversion rates, and customer lifetime value, among others. But we’ll look at this later.

By using KPIs to track particular elements of your digital marketing campaign, you’ll give your data direction, meaning that you’ll be able to gain a clearer understanding of which metrics will best benefit your initiatives and omit any insights that are surplus to requirement.

KPIs make a powerful addition to any modern digital marketer’s toolkit. To put this into perspective, here are the primary benefits of working with digital marketing KPIs:

• Clarity: KPIs offer a means of identifying potential strengths and weaknesses in your campaigns, empowering you to make vital improvements that will yield a host of positive results.
• Setting Goals: KPIs offer a quantifiable point of reference for making real-time, predictive or historic comparisons. In doing so, you'll be able to spot trends that will help you evolve and enhance your marketing activities over time.
• Responsibility: KPIs typically highlight both good performance and poor performance in a number of critical areas, offering an insight into where you need to improve your efforts and who should tackle the responsibility.
• Consistency: KPIs provide a consistent means of achieving your digital marketing goals on a consistent basis. This is vital if you want to enjoy sustainable success.

Essential KPIs to track for digital marketing succes

It’s clear that KPIs have the potential to offer a great deal of value to any digital marketing campaign or initiative. And here are the key performance indicators you should track for your next campaign.

1. Organic searches

This particular KPI will give you an accurate gauge of the percentage of website traffic earned through organic search.

It's possible to attribute traffic flowing to your site generated by organic searches to your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. That said, if your organic traffic is healthy, your content is performing well due to its value, relevance, and engagement.

These very specific KPIs will help you to understand where your organic traffic is coming from and allow you to make strategic changes that will help you produce more SEO-rich, relevant branded campaign content, like:

• Number of lead conversions assisted by organic search
• Number of customer conversions assisted by organic search
• Percentage of traffic associated with branded keywords
• Percentage of traffic associated with unbranded keywords

2. Website or landing page conversion rate

Whether you've developed a dedicated landing page as part of your digital marketing campaign or you're directing prospects to specific pages on your website, understanding how each is performing regarding conversions is essential.

By gaining a panoramic picture of your conversion rates and comparing these metrics to other pages on your site, you’ll be able to identify potential weaknesses or capitalize on existing strengths. In doing so, you’ll be able to replicate this success elsewhere.

In addition to tracking your general conversion rates for particular site pages, these metrics will also help you gain a comprehensive understanding of how engaging, user-friendly, and value-driven your marketing communications are to your target consumers:

• Bounce rate
• Average session length
• Goal conversion rates: this is a metric designed to visualize when a prospect has successfully completed a niche campaign goal such as subscribing to a mailing list or sharing a piece of content, among a raft of other activities, depending on your goals and aims

3. Cost per click (CPC)

CPC is an especially valuable digital marketing KPI as it offers a clear-cut pricing model that will help you to make your campaigns as effective and cost-efficient as possible.

The CPC KPI will help you to visualize your average spend on your various paid marketing activities including pay-per-click (PPC), display ads, and retargeting.

The aim here is to drive your CPC steadily over time which will result in more effective, efficient, and economical campaign activities. 

In this arena, here are two additional KPIs that you should track:

• Cost per acquisition (CPA)
• Customer lifetime value (CLTV)

4. Return on marketing investment (ROI)

As a data-savvy marketer, you will no doubt understand the importance of tracking the ROI for each and every one of your initiatives or activities. But, this is a campaign metric that is often overlooked, so it’s worth mentioning.

Your digital marketing ROI dictates how efficiently you are spending your budget on a particular campaign. By drilling down into this all-encompassing metric, you’ll be able to tell if your investments are yielding tangible results.

In this case, the higher the ROI, the better. A solid ROI means that your campaign spend is effective. Should your ROI prove to be low, you’ll be able to drill down into your weakest areas and adjust your marketing initiatives accordingly.

““The goal is to turn data into information, and information into insight.” ” Carly Fiorina

By using the right KPIs to measure the performance of your digital marketing campaign, not only do you stand to boost your bottom line and make wiser investments but you’ll also ensure that your promotional communications connect with your prospects on a deep, personal level - which in today’s digital world, is priceless.

Related Articles for Members

Targets and KPIs - Your Essential Toolkit

Exclusive Lecture Video: Paid Search KPIs and Conversion Tracking

5 Essential KPIs for Your Influencer Marketing Campaign