Statistics for Success: 10 Marketing KPIs You Should Be Tracking
If you aren't tracking your marketing KPIs, how are you measuring your business success? Here's what you really should be tracking in 2020.
If you’re trying to grow your brand through marketing, how do you know when your efforts are successful?
Without the right metrics in place, you could be throwing good money after bad on a marketing campaign that is not scoring you the customers and sales you deserve.
Key performance indications, or KPIs, are specific, measurable metrics that let you know how various elements of your business are performing. They focus on the critical areas of your business.
Every business is different, and marketing KPIs often need to specific to the company or even the project.
But what are the basic ones marketing departments should be using? Here are 10 marketing KPIs that you should be tracking in your business.
Without the right metrics in place, you could be throwing good money after bad on a marketing campaign that is not scoring you the customers and sales you deserve.
Key performance indications, or KPIs, are specific, measurable metrics that let you know how various elements of your business are performing. They focus on the critical areas of your business.
Every business is different, and marketing KPIs often need to specific to the company or even the project.
But what are the basic ones marketing departments should be using? Here are 10 marketing KPIs that you should be tracking in your business.
1. Sales
One essential marketing metric is sales.
Monitoring sales performance will help you to identify the overall success of your cumulative efforts as a business. Sales performance could factor marketing, customer service, buying strategy, and many other aspects.
To gauge the success of a marketing campaign, you will need to monitor sales performance.
Comparable sales are essential. Compare the sales in the period that you have been running your current marketing campaign with the same stage in the previous period’s campaign. Compare week-on-week, month-on-month, and year-on-year figures.
Comparative sales are only useful with the benefit of context. How is the business, or your approach different in the periods compared?
Monitoring sales performance will help you to identify the overall success of your cumulative efforts as a business. Sales performance could factor marketing, customer service, buying strategy, and many other aspects.
To gauge the success of a marketing campaign, you will need to monitor sales performance.
Comparable sales are essential. Compare the sales in the period that you have been running your current marketing campaign with the same stage in the previous period’s campaign. Compare week-on-week, month-on-month, and year-on-year figures.
Comparative sales are only useful with the benefit of context. How is the business, or your approach different in the periods compared?
2. Leads
Leads represent people who have a potential interest in your products or services.
Not all leads convert to sales. But generating leads can be costly and measuring the cost per lead is useful to ensure you are getting value from your marketing spend.
To understand your cost per lead metrics, take the amount in money that your campaign has cost the business and divide it by the number of leads that it has generated.
Calculating the specific cost of your campaign should factor manpower, technology, advertising, and any other expenses. You also need to know how many leads you are converting.
Not all leads convert to sales. But generating leads can be costly and measuring the cost per lead is useful to ensure you are getting value from your marketing spend.
To understand your cost per lead metrics, take the amount in money that your campaign has cost the business and divide it by the number of leads that it has generated.
Calculating the specific cost of your campaign should factor manpower, technology, advertising, and any other expenses. You also need to know how many leads you are converting.
3. Conversion Rates
Whether you run a brick-and-mortar business or operate solely online, you will have to track your conversion.
Conversion in a retail environment would compare the number of people who enter the store, referred to as footfall, with the number of sales.
In an online business, the conversion will compare the number of website visitors with the number of sales. Tracking conversion will allow you to understand how effective your service, merchandising, content, or product is at making the sale.
Conversion in a retail environment would compare the number of people who enter the store, referred to as footfall, with the number of sales.
In an online business, the conversion will compare the number of website visitors with the number of sales. Tracking conversion will allow you to understand how effective your service, merchandising, content, or product is at making the sale.
4. Website Traffic
The number of visitors your website receives is a beneficial measure of the success or failure of your efforts to bring people in.
Website traffic can be broken down into:
Monitoring organic and referral traffic will give you an indication of how successful your SEO strategy is. You can monitor this through the use of tools such as Google Analytics.
Website traffic can be broken down into:
- Organic traffic: people who have found the website through an internet search
- Social traffic: visitors reaching the site through content or links shared on any social media platform
- Direct traffic: where your website address has been typed directly into the browser
- Referral traffic: this refers to people who have arrived at your site after following a link elsewhere online, such as in a blog post
Monitoring organic and referral traffic will give you an indication of how successful your SEO strategy is. You can monitor this through the use of tools such as Google Analytics.
5. Bounce Rate
The bounce rate is a useful metric to analyze. This lets you know how long a visitor was on your site before they left.
Bounce rates look at visitors that look at just one page of your website, and those that leave within five seconds.
You want a longer dwell time. You want your visitors to explore other content or products on your site, and you want their visit to convert into sales.
If people are not staying, it may signify issues with how easy it is to navigate the site, the quality of the content, or issues surrounding the products and how they are presented
Bounce rates look at visitors that look at just one page of your website, and those that leave within five seconds.
You want a longer dwell time. You want your visitors to explore other content or products on your site, and you want their visit to convert into sales.
If people are not staying, it may signify issues with how easy it is to navigate the site, the quality of the content, or issues surrounding the products and how they are presented
6. Social Media Reach
There are several KPIs that are effective in measuring the growth in your social media reach.
These include:
It is vital to track these numbers month-on-month to see look for growth in these areas.
These include:
- Total followers
- Post likes, comments, and shares
- Post impressions
It is vital to track these numbers month-on-month to see look for growth in these areas.
7. Email Marketing
Do you send out emails to your customers? How many get opened?
Of those that get read, how many go on to generate clicks or even sales? What are the signup rates for new subscribers?
Tracking these metrics is a useful test of how successful your email marketing campaign is at generating sales.
You may want to run an A/B email campaign to compare different marketing messages.
Of those that get read, how many go on to generate clicks or even sales? What are the signup rates for new subscribers?
Tracking these metrics is a useful test of how successful your email marketing campaign is at generating sales.
You may want to run an A/B email campaign to compare different marketing messages.
8. Measure Employee Brand Advocacy
Measuring your brand awareness will allow you to understand how people view and interact with your products and services. A great way of building brand awareness is through employee brand advocacy.
Encourage your employees to share posts on social media. Talking about your products and services you offer will help build a brand.
Track this through the use of social listening apps.
Encourage your employees to share posts on social media. Talking about your products and services you offer will help build a brand.
Track this through the use of social listening apps.
9. Customer Response Time
Your customers want to get in touch. If they have queries or complaints, they need a response promptly.
Measuring your customer response time will help you to ensure your customer service standards are high.
Measuring your customer response time will help you to ensure your customer service standards are high.
10. Customer Reviews
What do your customers think of your business, products, and service?
Maintaining a high percentage of positive customer reviews is important. Using services such as Feefo or Trustpilot to track the review-related metrics is essential for exploring how your brand is perceived.
Maintaining a high percentage of positive customer reviews is important. Using services such as Feefo or Trustpilot to track the review-related metrics is essential for exploring how your brand is perceived.
Using Your Marketing KPIs to Their Best Effect
Of course, marketing KPIs are only useful if you do something with them. Monitor your statistics, analyze them, and then act on the information.
Don’t make the mistake of blindly tracking these valuable metrics without taking affirmative action. Set benchmarks or targets for each KPI. Unless you know what you’re aiming for, you won’t hit the mark.
For more marketing tips, why not explore some of the other articles on the blog?
Don’t make the mistake of blindly tracking these valuable metrics without taking affirmative action. Set benchmarks or targets for each KPI. Unless you know what you’re aiming for, you won’t hit the mark.
For more marketing tips, why not explore some of the other articles on the blog?
