Key performance indicators (KPIs) are metrics used to evaluate the success of marketing efforts and campaigns. Tracking the right KPIs provides vital insights that can inform marketing strategy and optimize ROI. There are several important marketing KPIs that all businesses should measure.
Brand awareness KPIs
Building brand awareness is a key goal for many marketing campaigns. Here are some of the top metrics used to gauge brand awareness:
Brand recall
Brand recall reflects how easily a brand comes to mind for consumers. It is often measured via surveys that ask respondents to name brands in a particular category. Higher brand recall indicates consumers associate the brand strongly with the product or service area.
Social media followers
The number of followers a brand has on social platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter shows its reach and awareness. Strong growth in followers over time signals rising brand visibility.
Website traffic
Website visits, unique visitors and page views help quantify brand exposure. Traffic surges during and after marketing campaigns can indicate their impact on awareness.
Search engine rankings
Higher search engine results pages (SERP) rankings for relevant brand and product keywords also demonstrate increased brand visibility and recognition online.
Lead generation KPIs
Lead generation is focused on capturing consumer interest and contact information for future marketing and sales processes. Lead gen KPIs include:
New leads generated
The number of new leads measures the raw output of lead gen efforts. Especially useful for quantifying campaign or channel performance.
Lead to customer conversion rate
This metric looks at the percentage of leads that end up becoming customers. Higher conversion rates reflect better quality leads.
Cost per lead
Dividing total lead gen spending by number of leads provides cost efficiency analysis. Lower cost per lead is better.
Sales qualified leads (SQL)
SQLs are leads that sales deems viable prospects based on criteria like demographics, interests, and intent signals. High SQL rates indicate quality leads.
Engagement KPIs
Engagement metrics evaluate how well marketing content and campaigns generate interest and interaction. Common examples include:
Social media engagement rate
Engagement rate measures the level of interaction with social media content based on reactions, comments, clicks and shares. Higher rates signal greater consumer interest.
Average time on page
More time spent on website pages or blog content indicates higher engagement and interest from visitors.
Email open rates
Open rates show how compelling and relevant email content and campaigns are to subscribers. Higher open rates equal more engagement.
Content shares
When social media, emails and other content are shared organically, it reflects highly engaging and resonating messages.
Conversion and sales KPIs
These marketing metrics directly evaluate how campaigns and channels contribute to business revenue:
Sales revenue generated
Total sales directly attributed to marketing provides a clear picture of marketing ROI. Uplifts in revenue during and after campaigns highlight their financial impact.
Conversion rates
The percentage of website visitors that take a desired action – like downloading content or making a purchase. Improving conversion rates shows better performing content and pages.
Cost per acquisition (CPA)
CPA measures the average spend required to acquire a new customer. Lower CPAs mean more efficient customer acquisition spending.
Marketing influenced revenue
Tracks revenue from customers who engaged with marketing content or campaigns earlier in their buying journey. Shows total marketing contribution.
Content marketing KPIs
For content-focused digital marketing strategies, these are important metrics:
Consumption metrics
Measures how much and how often content gets viewed, clicked, downloaded and shared. Shows content reach and engagement.
Lead generation from content
Tracks leads captured directly from content offers like gated assets, checklists, quizzes. Reveals content’s ability to drive conversions.
SEO rankings for target keywords
Monitors search engine rankings for terms relevant to content focus areas and topics. Helps gauge content’s impact on SEO.
Cost per lead or acquisition
Measures content marketing ROI by comparing spending to leads and sales generated. Lower is better.
Conclusion
KPIs provide data-driven insights that are indispensable for improving marketing results and ROI. Brand awareness, lead generation, engagement, sales and content metrics each give key vantage points to guide strategy. Tracking the right mix of these marketing KPIs based on business goals is crucial for optimizing performance. With a dashboard displaying real-time trends across these metrics, marketers can take decisive action to maximize their marketing effectiveness.
Some additional KPIs that provide valuable marketing performance insights include:
Customer lifetime value (CLV)
This metric calculates the average revenue generated from a customer over their entire relationship with a brand. Higher CLV shows greater customer loyalty and satisfaction.
Customer retention rate
Measures the percentage of customers retained over a period. High retention demonstrates customer satisfaction and reflects strong brand equity.
Net promoter score (NPS)
NPS measures customer loyalty and satisfaction levels based on their likelihood to recommend a brand. Higher scores indicate happier customers.
Return on advertising spend (ROAS)
Compares advertising expenditure to sales revenue generated. Higher ROAS indicates greater advertising efficiency and productivity.
Brand favorability
Surveys gauge how favorably consumers view a brand. Increased favorability shows improving brand perception and affinity.
Carefully selecting the right mix of KPIs to track based on specific business goals and targets is key. The metrics should provide insights across the entire marketing funnel from initial brand exposure down to revenue. Marketers can then optimize efforts at each stage of the customer journey. With a data-driven approach focused on the key performance indicators that matter most to the business, marketing productivity and ROI can be maximized.