To become successful marketers, the crucial thing is to measure the success of our campaigns. Also, to identify the areas we need to improve and to understand campaign performance.
That said, there are so many different metrics. It can be a little challenging to figure out which ones are key metrics to track. That is the topic that we will talk about in this text.
Why is measuring success important?
While our campaign is in motion we need to know how well is performing. Therefore, if we don`t do it we will not know what improvements we need to make. Additionally, we would not be able to do them at the right time.
Measurement should be done during the campaign because we don`t want to wait until the end to find out that something is wrong. For instance, we don`t want to use messaging that is not having the effect that we intended on our audience. Additionally, it would be a shame to miss out on an opportunity to focus more on a tactic that could help us turn more clicks into conversions.
Another reason why we need to measure the success of the marketing campaign is that we can collect a lot of important information. Doing that will help us keep track of the current progress. But, it will also help us collect data that will be helpful to future campaigns.
Meanwhile, we can feel more confident that we are not wasting money. Likewise, we have enough information or `evidence` to show that our campaign is making a positive impact.
What are metrics and what do they do?
Marketing metrics are measurements that are important for our job. We need to use them to evaluate marketing tactics and campaign and how effective it is. They help marketers to decide if the efforts are reaching the goal that they intended. Also, if they are generating ROI (positive return on investment).
Marketing metrics can be defined differently and that depends on the specific goals or needs of a business. However, the general definition can be that metrics are data points that we collect and analyze so we can understand how well marketing efforts are achieving goals.
Actionable and vanity metrics are the two types of marketing metrics. Actionable metrics contain data points that have a direct impact on a business`s bottom line and we use them for data-driven decisions. Therefore, they include customer lifetime value (CLTV), return on investment (ROI), customer acquisition cost (CAC), website traffic sources, and conversion rate.
Vanity metrics, on the other hand, contain data points that look good on paper but they do not have to indicate some meaningful business impact. For instance, website visitors or the number of social media followers can look great, but, they do not have to correlate with customer acquisition or revenue.
The benefits that measuring the success of your marketing campaign bring
There are many benefits to measuring the success of your marketing campaign and metrics. When you do it, you will be able to:
- Allocate resources in a more effective way. Tracking metrics will help you decide where to allocate your resources for the best ROI
- Measure success in real-time. You will get data points that will allow you to see if your efforts are bringing success and if you are achieving your goals
- Identify the areas that you need to improve. Identifying which tactics or campaigns are performing well and which ones are not will help you make changes and to improve so you can get better results
Key metrics to track when you measure the success of your marketing campaign
Every marketer knows that measuring metrics and performance is vital for their business. Here are the key metrics to track when you want to make sure that your campaign is successful and that is reaching your goals.
Search traffic metrics
For understanding your traffic, you need to know the amount of time that visitors spend on your website. Likewise, the number of pages they see. For that, you need to track bounce rate, website visitors, landing page performance, page view, and session duration.
Conversion metrics
These are different data showing the number of customers who clicked on your ads and then converted. Therefore, they can be converted as a trial, client, or anything else that is the goal of your campaign. The metrics that you will follow to get the results are conversion rate, click-through rate (CTR), and the total number of conversions.
Engagement metrics
This is very important because you want your audience to engage with your brand. So, commenting, liking, clicking, and sharing your content. These metrics will help you keep track of organic social media performance. That way you will know which posts worked out best. Therefore, engagement rate, top posts by engagement, shares, number of subscribers, likes and comments are the metrics that you need.
Productivity
This depends on different metrics and on what your goals are. You should track the sales-qualified lead (SQL) or the number of marketing-qualified leads (MQL). In addition, the number of landing pages your content marketing team could produce. Also, the total revenue over some time period.
Return on ad spend (ROAS)
This is the amount of revenue that your business earns for each dollar that you spend on advertising. In short, it measures if your advertisement is worth your money or not. As for the return on ad spend you can also pay attention to cost per lead (CPL), marketing spend, customer acquisition cost (CAC), and customer lifetime value (CLV). Together, they will help you know how much it costs to bring new leads or new customers to your business.
Search engine optimization (SEO) marketing metrics
This includes every strategy we use to rank better on search engines such as Google. Tools that we can use to do this – Google search console, SEMrush, Google Analytics, Ahrefs, and similar to track your SEO metrics. Therefore, a good way to track your website and SEO performance fast is to use an SEO report template and Google Analytics dashboard.
Clicks and conversions
Adding your social media conversions is important so you can see if your social strategies are directed to the right audience or the audience that will click and convert. You will see if the comments and shares that you have on your post lead to clicking your links or CTA`s and if they converted into clients. So the number of clicks, conversion rate, and click-through rate is important for this part.
Email marketing metrics
If this is just a newsletter or a part of your marketing funnel, you will need to know how email marketing is performing. It is important to know if your subscribers opened your emails, converted as paying customers, clicked on your CTAs, unsubscribed, or else. It does not matter what automation email tool you are using, Hubspot or MailChimp, or any other, this is useful information.
Open rate
When you know the number of leads that opened your emails you will get a good idea of how well is your strategy working. In addition, you will see if your audience is interested in what you send them. To see if your performance is working you can track the number of emails opens and the open rate. Likewise, you need to track how many people unsubscribed, or if there are new subscribers.
Click-through rate
Your audience should open your email, but, they also should click on your CTAs and convert into paying customers. Metrics to help you track this are conversion rate, click-through rate(CTR), and the number of clicks.
Keyword rankings metrics
This is a key marketing metric for your SEO strategies. It can help you figure out which keywords you are ranking on search engines. Likewise, it will show you on which keywords your content marketing team will need to work on. Tools that will be helpful are SEMrush, Google search console, or keyword.com. It includes key performance indicators like top queries by click, keyword position, social media marketing metrics, and keywords position change. For understanding your referral traffic for your website and brand awareness, social media metrics are very important.
ROI (return on investment) and customer satisfaction
As one of the most important metrics to track, it helps you know if your marketing strategies work well or not. Your customer`s satisfaction is important, too and it can impact your bottom line. That is why you need to make sure you track this metric as well.
Conclusion
Measuring the success of your marketing campaign and tracking key metrics that are crucial for your marketing goals will help you easily create reports. These key metrics will make you ready to track everything you need so your business can flourish.
Using these metrics you will track and know if your strategy is working. Likewise, if there are things that you need to change and work on. Every time you gain some information through tracking make sure that you do some changes accordion to the results. This way you will make your content marketing better.