Marketing leadership requires smart decision-making. When budgeting and strategizing for campaigns, it is wise to have a dashboard of key performance indicators (KPIs) that measure the effectiveness of marketing efforts. The following 10 metrics should definitely be tracked, analyzed and interpreted by every marketing leader:
1. Traffic
Traffic is a fundamental online measurement tool. It indicates how many individuals are visiting a website and how they interact with the content. Tracking traffic helps your team to understand what types of campaigns will draw more people to the website.
2. Engagement
Engagement metrics show how visitors interact with your site. It evaluates how long visitors stay and what they are clicking on. Understanding the engagement level of visitors helps marketers adjust campaigns to keep viewers actively engaged.
3. Conversion rates
Conversion rates measure how many web visitors take a specific action on a page. It is a great indicator of the effectiveness of calls to action and subscriptions.
4. Lead volume
Lead volume evaluates the number of qualified leads coming into the organization. It allows marketers to assess how well their campaigns are resonating with target audiences and the effectiveness of lead-generation initiatives.
5. ROI
ROI is a classic metric used to measure the return on investment for campaigns. It helps marketers to see where budget should be allocated for future campaigns to get the most bang for their buck.
6. Click-Through Rate (CTR)
CPC and CPM campaigns are great for generating traffic. CTR measures how effective they are by calculating how often a click is successful.
7. Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)
CPA measures the effectiveness of up-and-down funnel campaigns. It evaluates how much it costs the organization to acquire one customer. It is essential for optimizing campaigns and understanding the true value of customer acquisition.
8. Referral Traffic Sources
Referral traffic sources show which external sites are sending visitors to your website. This helps marketers to understand where their campaigns are successful, double-down on effective partners, and cull unsuccessful channels.
9. Organic Traffic Sources
Organic traffic sources measure the organic flow of visitors to a website without any campaign incentives. Tracking organic sources helps marketers to understand which pages and content is popular on its own and encourages them to create more evergreen content.
10. Social Media Performance
Social media performance measures the effectiveness of social media campaigns. It evaluates the number of clicks, shares, and likes and helps marketers determine what type of content resonates the most with their target audience.
All 10 of these metrics help marketers to gauge the success of their campaigns. Collecting, analyzing and interpreting them is essential for strategic decision-making in any marketing leadership role.
