What is a KPI in digital marketing?
A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) in digital marketing measures how effectively your business achieves its marketing objectives. KPIs track marketing performance over time, evaluate the success of campaigns, and support data-driven decisions.
The term “Key” is essential here—KPIs aren’t just general metrics. They focus on what matters most to your business goals.
For example, while metrics like impressions and clicks show activity, KPIs like conversion rates and customer acquisition cost (CAC) reveal how well those activities translate into meaningful business outcomes.
Want more detail? Our article on digital marketing metrics breaks down the difference between general metrics and actionable KPIs.
Examples of KPIs in digital marketing
While KPIs may vary depending on your business and its goals, several key indicators are commonly used across most online efforts. With high probability, these examples are your go-to KPIs for the overall digital strategy.
- Conversion Rate shows the percentage of visitors who take a specific action, like buying something or filling out a form. Simply put, it shows how good you are at turning visitors into customers.
- Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) tells you how much you spend to bring in each new customer. It’s calculated by dividing all your marketing and sales costs by the number of new customers you have.
- Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) measures how much revenue you make for every ad dollar spent. It helps you see if your ad spend brings in more revenue than it costs.
- Click-Through Rate (CTR) shows how many people clicked on your ad or link out of everyone who saw it. It’s a good measure of how engaging your ad is.
- Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) estimates how much total revenue a customer will generate during their time with your business. It’s critical for understanding long-term profitability.
- Bounce Rate indicates the percentage of people who leave your site after viewing only one page. A high bounce rate often means visitors aren’t finding what they expected.
How to choose KPIs for a marketing campaign?
Although marketing processes can vary, the core KPIs for campaigns remain largely the same. The difference is which metrics are prioritized.
For example, e-commerce businesses often focus on average order value (AOV) and conversion rates to boost transaction value and turn visitors into customers. SaaS companies, however, prioritize customer retention and lifetime value (CLV) to drive long-term relationships and recurring revenue.
That’s not to say conversion rates aren’t important for SaaS companies or that CLV doesn’t matter for e-commerce. They just play different roles depending on the business model and goals.
Similarly, while B2B digital strategy might focus more on lead generation and nurturing with metrics like CLV, B2C digital strategies are typically more concerned with conversion rates and AOV, where volume and speed of transactions are key.
Ultimately, choose KPIs for marketing campaigns that align with your business goals and ensure they measure what truly impacts your digital growth.
Which KPIs are a good choice in various performance marketing channels?
KPIs can vary depending on the level at which they’re applied—some are broad, aligning with overall business goals, while others track the performance of individual marketing channels.
Let’s explore KPIs that are specific to the most popular digital marketing tactics.
KPIs for PPC and Programmatic marketing
The role of paid traffic in digital marketing is enormous, whether you’re aiming to drive targeted traffic or build brand awareness.
Even though PPC (Pay-Per-Click) and Programmatic Ads operate differently—PPC is limited to a single platform like Google Ads, while programmatic ads can be displayed across various channels, even outdoor billboards—their KPIs focus on performance and cost-efficiency.
- Click-Through Rate (CTR) measures the percentage of users who click on your ad.
- Cost Per Click (CPC) or CPM (Cost per Mille) tracks how much you pay for each click or per thousand impressions.
- Conversion Rate shows how well those clicks convert into actions like purchases or sign-ups.
- Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) evaluates the revenue generated for every ad dollar spent.
KPIs for SEO
The role of SEO is to increase your website’s organic visibility and attract unpaid traffic from search engines. The KPIs focus on improving website visibility and organic traffic.
- Organic traffic measures the volume of visitors arriving from search engines.
- Keyword rankings track where your site ranks for target search terms.
- Click-Through Rate (CTR) calculates the percentage of users who click on your site from search results, reflecting the relevance of your titles and meta descriptions.
- Bounce Rate indicates the percentage of visitors who leave after viewing just one page.
- Conversion Rate shows how many organic visitors take the desired action, like purchasing or signing up.
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KPIs for content marketing
The role of content marketing is to build brand authority, engage your audience, and drive organic traffic. Content KPIs focus on how well your content engages your audience and drives conversions.
- Engagement Rate tracks how much users interact with your content, such as likes, shares, and comments.
- Time on page measures how long visitors consume your content, indicating its relevance and value.
- Click-Through Rates (CTR) measure how many clicks a specific link gets compared to total page views.
- SEO impact – how your content contributes to organic traffic and keyword rankings.
KPIs for organic social media marketing
In social media marketing, KPIs focus on engagement and community building, particularly for organic efforts.
- Engagement Rate measures likes, comments, shares, and other interactions.Follower Growth tracks the increase in your social media audience.
- Click-Through Rate (CTR) measures how effectively your social media content drives traffic to your website.
- Reach is the total number of unique users who have seen your content.
KPIs for influencer marketing
Influencer marketing uses the trust and reach of social media personalities to get your brand in front of the right audience. By partnering with influencers, you can significantly impact your company’s growth, and the KPIs for influencer marketing focus on how well those collaborations drive that growth.
- Influencer Engagement Rate measures how much the influencer’s audience interacts with content like likes, comments, and shares.
- Reach and impressions show how many people saw the content.
- Conversion Rate tracks how many people took action after seeing the influencer’s content, like buying a product or signing up.
- Referral traffic measures the number of visitors who come to your website from the influencer’s posts.
- Audience growth keeps tabs on how much your follower count grows due to the influencer collaboration.
KPIs for email marketing
Email marketing is a tool for building and maintaining direct communication with your audience. KPIs focus on engagement, conversions, and list health.
- Open Rate measures the percentage of recipients who open your emails, giving insight into how compelling your subject lines are.
- Click-Through Rate (CTR) tracks how many people clicked on links within your email, indicating how engaging and relevant your content is.
- Conversion Rate shows how many email recipients took a desired action, like purchasing or signing up for a service.
- Unsubscribe Rate measures how many people opted out of your emails, helping you understand if your content is resonating or missing the mark.
- Bounce Rate indicates the percentage of emails that couldn’t be delivered, highlighting potential issues with your email list quality.
KPIs for creative testing
What is creative testing? It’s all about experimenting with different ad creatives—whether it’s imagery, copy, or layouts—to determine what resonates most with your audience.
KPIs for Creative Testing will, therefore, focus on evaluating the performance of different creatives and their impact on marketing goals.
- Click-Through Rate (CTR) measures how many users clicked on your ad after seeing it, giving insight into which creative captures the most attention.
- Conversion Rate tracks the percentage of users who took action after engaging with your creative, showing how well it drives results.
- Engagement Rate reflects how often users interact with your creative (e.g., likes, shares, comments), highlighting which designs or messages are most engaging.
- Cost Per Click (CPC) evaluates the cost efficiency of your creative by tracking how much you’re paying for each click.
- Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) measures the revenue generated for every dollar spent on ads, showing which creative yields the highest returns.
KPIs for affiliate marketing
Affiliate and influencer marketing use partnerships to promote products, but they differ in focus. Influencers build brand awareness by leveraging their trusted audience, while affiliate marketing is performance-based, meaning affiliates earn based on conversions. This focus on performance shapes the most critical KPIs for affiliate marketing.
- Conversion Rate measures how many affiliate-driven visitors purchase or take a desired action.
- Revenue Generated tracks the total income generated through affiliate links, providing insight into the effectiveness of affiliate campaigns.
- Click-Through Rate (CTR) indicates how often affiliate links are clicked, helping evaluate their promotions’ engagement.
- Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) measures the cost of acquiring a customer through affiliate efforts, showing the efficiency of your spending.
How to track KPIs and create good dashboards
Once you’ve established which KPIs to track, you must start monitoring them.
Here are a few simple tips for tracking KPIs and setting up an effective digital marketing KPI dashboard:
- Use web analytics tools. Tools like Google Analytics, Piwik PRO, or Adobe Analytics are your go-to for tracking important metrics like traffic, conversions, and user engagement.If you’re not sure where to start or if you’re squeezing the most out of these tools, take a look at our web analytics services.
- Automate your reporting. Save yourself time by using tools like Looker Studio or Tableau to pull data from multiple sources into one easy-to-read marketing KPI report. No more manually gathering data—everything updates automatically, so you always have the latest info.
- Create clear, visual dashboards. A good dashboard doesn’t have to be complicated. Keep it simple and use visuals like charts and graphs to show key data points. This makes it easy for you and your team to quickly see what’s working and what needs attention.
- Keep KPIs relevant to your goals. Ensure the KPIs on your dashboard reflect what matters most to your marketing goals. Whether you’re focused on boosting brand awareness or driving conversions, your dashboard should always highlight the KPIs that align with those objectives.
- Review and adjust regularly. KPIs aren’t set in stone. What’s essential for one campaign might not be for the next. Regularly review your marketing KPI dashboard to ensure you track the right metrics as your goals evolve.
Are you ready to track KPIs effectively?
If there’s one takeaway from this article, it’s this: no matter your business, you need to track KPIs to scale it.
Can you grow without them? Sure, but only to a certain point. Running a business without tracking metrics is like flying blind—you lack the visibility to know where you’re headed.
And if you’re looking to take your business to the next level (with a clear vision!) and need help defining and implementing KPIs, don’t hesitate to reach out.
