5 More Key Metrics for Measuring Digital Marketing Campaigns

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Measuring digital campaign performanceMeasuring digital campaign performance has come a long way since the days when, as Ad Age notes, nineteenth century merchant John Wanamaker declared, “Half my advertising is wasted; I just don’t know which half.” These days, digital tools exist to give you the information you need to optimize your campaign performance — if you know where to find them.

Users are exposed to an overwhelming amount of information each day, so they have become very selective about what they'll click on and when. They’ll only pay attention to a message if it’s intrinsically valuable to them. To determine if your message is reaching the right audience, you'll first need to determine your objectives, then marry them to the right metrics. Here are 10 metrics to help you decide what’s working and what needs to be retooled or dropped.

1. Conversion Rate

Ultimately, measuring conversions is one of the most important metrics you need to track. But a conversion does not necessarily mean a sale. Conversion goals can include increasing interactivity or generating leads by filling out a form or commenting. You can set up a goal in your analytics toolbox and measure these conversions. If your conversion rates are low, you’ll need to assess aspects of your website, including design, navigation, relevance, engagement potential and the checkout process.

2. Cost Per Click

Cost per click (CPC) is calculated by dividing the total cost of clicks on your ad by the total number of clicks. The cost of each click is determined by the value of the keywords you bid on. If your CPC is high in relation to conversions, you’ll need to review your keywords and adjust them to see which ones work and which don’t. You can use your analytics program to guide you.

3. Cost Per Lead

Cost per lead (CPL) offers more detailed insights into the effectiveness of specific marketing channels. Compare the average monthly cost of a PPC campaign, for example, to the total number of leads generated to determine the value of your campaign. If you spend $1,000 on your PPC campaign and 10 users convert to leads, your cost per lead is $100. If this is too high in comparison to the cost of your product or service — $100 per lead has a different value for a business selling luxury cars than for a toy store — you know you’ll need to adjust your PPC campaign accordingly.

4. Social Metrics

Social is primarily about exposure and is measured by interactivity or “mentions.” For example, if your campaign generates a million new followers but few are interacting, sharing or retweeting, then your campaign can’t be considered a success. Social metrics should include new followers, comments, likes, retweets, channel views, bounces and subscribers, as relevant to your social media platform. When it comes to social, your growth rate is a more important metric.

5. Putting It All Together

Measuring the ROI for digital marketing campaigns can be complicated and confusing. While different marketing channels have different objectives, depending upon your goals and where your customer is in the sales funnel, calculating the ROI for individual channels gives you better insights into which of your campaigns are driving conversions and sales and which areas need to be revised or dropped.

However, in general, ROI can be calculated by dividing customer acquisition cost (CAC) against average customer value — that is, the amount a customer spends on your product or service. If CAC is $100 and each new customer spends more than $100, your ROI is positive. If not, you’ll need to assess your individual campaigns to identify what’s not working.

Given the amount of information served up to users each day and the increase of user-driven content, measuring digital campaign performance can seem like an overwhelming task. But by using the digital marketing tools available to you and using the right metric for each campaign, you can combine each result to get detailed, actionable insights in a well-rounded and informative report that can help shape future digital campaigns.