What KPIs and marketing metrics do you use to measure success?

Measuring the ROI for your digital marketing efforts can be conducted in many ways. One company might be looking for greater brand awareness while others are hoping to sell one specific product. Still others are searching for charitable donations and increasing overall revenue.

With a marketing landscape that’s constantly shifting and a global economy that affects businesses everywhere, it can be difficult to pinpoint one reason that a business is experiencing success or frustration. But there are many small ways that success can be measured and many different areas to diagnose potential problems.

Here are a few ways that we measure success in digital marketing at USDP.

How do we measure digital marketing success?

Conversions

Measuring an uptick in conversions is a true sign of success. A conversion is a sign that the marketing funnel is working for you. This is the moment that a client stops reading and starts buying or engaging in a way that you want. Conversions don’t always have to mean sales. A conversion can also be measured as a request for a meeting or a request for a quote. If you have lots of traffic but no conversions, it might be time to pivot your strategy.

Views

Views are part of the awareness portion of the marketing funnel. You need visibility to allow the rest of the pieces of your marketing strategy to work. Before anyone can buy your product, they have to know it exists. Some views are less valuable than others, but reaching more people is always a valuable step. “Reach” is the number of unique people that view your content, website, or advertisement, while “impressions” measures the total number of views. If someone watches or views something twice, both views count.

For video- and social-media-based businesses, an increase in views and “going viral” are both strong indicators of successful marketing.

Return on ad-spend

This one is pretty simple. Getting your money’s worth when it comes to advertising can be an excellent source of success. When you’re spending on ads, it’s nice to at least break even, but getting back more than what you invested is a great sign that your advertising investment is paying off.

Sales and Donations

This is another quite simple one. More sales and higher volume of donations are an obvious win for your business or nonprofit. When you're experiencing a period of success, it’s wise to see what might have sparked it and use that data to inform your marketing strategy moving forward. How can you grow and adapt as you learn about your audience and what resonates with them?

Session Durations and Bounce Rates

Session durations and bounce rates are common metrics that measure the quality of traffic on your website.

A “bounce rate” measures the amount of people that visit your site but leave without any action. They never click further to explore more pages or engage with your content.

Session duration measures the average amount of time a visitor spends on your website during one visit. A high average session duration such as three minutes, is often an indication that the person is interested in your business. They are reading your blog posts, watching your videos, or browsing your products.

Expanding Your Business

Another reason to celebrate is when a business expands. This is usually a great metric that your marketing is paying off. Hiring more staff, moving into a bigger facility, or bringing another business under your umbrella are often all signs of success. Don’t forget to stop and think about how marketing efforts have been instrumental in your success.

Good Reviews

In the digital age, reviews are a vital source of credibility and authority. With many on high alert for fabricated internet information, good reviews from real people are gold. They help with your online rankings and ultimately with your conversions. Most customers read reviews online when deciding whether they want to convert or not, so a pool of 4 and 5 star reviews, written by happy customers is a great sign of success.

Quality of leads

While thousands of views and clicks can be a sign of success, the quality of leads is the next metric for your marketing health. A lead who wants to connect but doesn't have the money in their budget to follow through with a purchase will be a dead end. Conversely, a lead who has the budget and understands your services well is more likely to follow through. Both count as leads, but one is higher quality. Sometimes quality over quantity is a better metric for marketing success.

How is your business doing holistically?

There are many metrics out there to measure success, but at USDP we help you look at the whole picture. You might be struggling with site traffic, but your business could still be growing. Your sales might be lower than past years, but the quality of your leads could be improving. There are lots of ways to look at success in digital marketing and there is no singular timeline for any one business.

If you need help checking the pulse of your marketing. Check out the other articles on our FAQ page, or speak with one of our experts.