The Top 3 Digital Marketing Metrics & KPIs — And How To Track Them
As marketers in the digital space, we are constantly presented with an overwhelming amount of data. From performance measurements to customer engagement activity, there are many key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics you can track to gauge the performance of your campaigns.
Trying to make sense of the marketing data coming at you from different angles can be a full-time job. Luckily, there are tools that can help you hone in on the most critical digital marketing KPIs and some of the best methods to track them.
In this article, we will discuss some core digital marketing KPIs you can focus on and walk through some metrics every marketer needs to understand to achieve successful campaigns.
Define Your KPIs & Metrics
Before implementing marketing campaigns or rolling out those paid ads, you must define your specific objectives and corresponding KPIs.
You must establish KPIs to accurately track your success or measure the effectiveness of your efforts. Some examples of KPIs and metrics you can set up and monitor for digital marketing campaigns can include:
Click-Through Rate (CTR): The percentage of users that click on a link or call to action.
Cost Per Lead (CPL): The average amount you pay to acquire one lead through digital marketing efforts.
Conversion Rate: The rate visitors convert into customers or complete desired actions such as email subscribing — this metric is often influenced by social proof and other factors.
Return on Investment (ROI): The ratio of revenue generated to the cost of campaigns in digital marketing efforts.
Social Media Engagement: The average number of likes, shares, and comments across your social media channels.
Website Traffic: The total amount of web traffic your website generates over a certain period.
Email Open Rate: Email open rate measures the percentage of people who open your emails.
Bounce Rate: Bounce rate is a metric that calculates the percentage of visitors who exit a website after exploring only one webpage.
While these are not all the KPIs and metrics you can track, any of them is a great way to start. Establishing the what before the how is imperative to monitoring campaign progress over time and making informed decisions moving forward. If your team needs assistance strategizing and establishing your tracking methods, consider working with a performance marketing agency which will help you set up your target KPIs and move in the right direction.
How to choose the best KPIs for your digital marketing campaign
When it comes to choosing the KPIs and metrics you will focus on, it’s important to take into consideration the goals of your marketing campaign. Different campaigns can have different objectives, so define what success looks like for each campaign before diving into the data.
From the metrics and KPIs we have laid out above, you can also cherry-pick which ones are attainable within your timeframe, as well as how much time and resources you can dedicate to managing your marketing campaigns.
For example, Pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns will focus more on click-through rate and cost per lead, while social media campaigns may prioritize engagement activities such as likes, shares, and comments. So if you’re considering a PPC strategy, it’s crucial to keep an eye on metrics like click-through rate and cost per lead.
No matter what type of digital marketing strategy you employ, setting up specific KPIs ahead of time will help you measure success and determine whether or not the strategy you have implemented is working.
1. Analyze Your Data
With the established core KPIs and metrics figured out, your next step should be focused on the how.
This typically starts with analyzing your data and tracking efforts to make sense of everything. With all digital marketing campaigns living online, it helps to get plugged into programs like Google Analytics or Hootsuite that provide powerful insights into your digital marketing performance.
These reporting and data analytics platforms can generate reports such as funnel analysis, demographic breakdowns, and engagement metrics, allowing you to pinpoint patterns in user behavior and measure your campaign success over time. You can also use enriched data to further improve your analysis.
2. Monitor Your Results & Adjust Your Strategy As Needed
Once you have the marketing data from your KPIs and metrics appropriately tracked, you need to review the results regularly so you can adjust your strategy as needed.
For example, if you notice a low click-through rate in any of your campaigns, it might be time to reevaluate your message or the design of those ads. You could consider using an email template builder to kick off those visual improvements. On another note, if you are seeing high bounce rates on your website, look at how easily users can navigate around your site and make navigational or conversion rate optimization (CRO) improvements accordingly.
By tracking KPIs and metrics regularly, you can identify opportunities for improvement and optimization that will lead to greater success over time.
3. Software to manage all your campaigns
Digital marketing can be anything from a simple email marketing campaign to a 360 branding campaign complete with social media marketing and an SEO overhaul. This means that measuring your efforts will also look different, and may include monitoring conversions through the marketing funnel, analyzing search engine rankings, or simply tracking email open rates. In short: the simplicity or the complexity of your digital marketing campaigns and the KPIs you decide to track will impact the software you need to help you along the way.
Investing in a software platform with all the tools needed to manage your campaigns in one place will streamline your workflow and help you easily track results. In addition, having a single source of truth for reporting, tracking, and optimizing will save time from switching between different programs to generate reports and make changes.
When you manage all your marketing efforts with a single source of truth, it also allows you to quickly access important data when making decisions or strategizing how to move forward with marketing efforts. This can be incredibly useful when setting goals, creating new strategies, and testing tactics.
Hive is a great project management software platform that can help you accomplish this. Hive provides a comprehensive KPI dashboard that allows you to monitor all your digital marketing KPIs and metrics in one place. Whether you are tracking website traffic, conversion rates, or social media engagement, Hive integrates with platforms to bring all of your analytics into its single dashboard.
Providing you with a birds-eye view of your marketing data, you can quickly identify trends, patterns, and areas that need improvement and make data-driven decisions to optimize your marketing campaigns. Also, Hive’s automation features and AI assist saves time, streamlining your marketing operations, and improving collaboration, and will help you drive better results for your business.
