What are metrics in digital marketing? Here are the 10 that you should always measure.

Why is measuring so important? Measurement is a technique we use to obtain precise data. It is used in everyday things, like knowing how long it will take for lunch to be ready, so we know the exact time to eat. Or when we go to the supermarket and add up the costs of each product we put in the shopping cart, so we know how much we will spend before we reach the checkout.

Just like in daily life, in digital marketing you must measure to understand the results of the specific actions you have launched in your strategy.

What are metrics in digital marketing?

Metrics or KPIs are key performance indicators. In short, they are used to understand the level of success in your digital campaigns. How are these metrics read? Each one expresses in numerical form the type of result you are looking to discover. For example, if you want to know how many people your ads reach, the reach metric is the one to give you that data.

That’s why it’s so important to have one or several well-defined objectives, and with the help of metrics, you will know if you are achieving them.

And what are the benefits of tracking metrics?

1. You have the ability to see in real-time the performance of your marketing actions.
2. You can modify your actions to improve results.
3. Gradually increase sales.
4. Gain a deep understanding of your ideal customer.
5. Have an idea of the overall picture of the entire strategy.
6. Identify winning products as well as those that don’t sell much.
7. Know which channel you should invest more effort in.
8. Optimize budgets in the best possible way.
9. Discover where your potential customers are and when they are most likely to buy from you.

The advantages of knowing and measuring your KPIs are many, but the most important thing is that they are vital for the success of your campaigns and also for the growth of your business.

The 10 most important metrics in digital marketing

There are dozens of metrics we can measure in the digital world. But in this article, I will talk about the most relevant ones to increase sales in your digital assets. These metrics directly or almost directly impact your brand's sales volume.

1. Engagement

Is it worth tracking the number of likes on your brand’s posts? Engagement is not just about likes. Many think it is merely an irrelevant metric, but don’t take it lightly. While it’s true that this varies from sector to sector, it’s always important to keep it in mind. The community that follows you, comments, shares, and likes is essential for growing your brand on social media.

It’s all a cycle; if you’re creating amazing content, people will interact, the algorithm detects that you’re doing well and shows your profiles to more and better audiences.

How is it calculated? You divide the total interactions of a post (likes, shares, comments) by the number of followers on the page and then multiply by 100. The same goes if you want to calculate it over periods of time; you just need to sum all interactions during that time and divide by the followers, then multiply by 100. Do you know what your engagement percentage was last week? It’s a good time to calculate it.

2. LTV (lifetime value)

The famous lifetime value is the long-term value that a customer represents for your company, compared to your investment to acquire that customer. It’s a relevant metric because it indicates the gross margin of each customer from the moment they start until they stop buying your products or services. At this point, it’s important to ask yourself: “How long do I retain my customers?” The longer, the better to increase your LTV and make each customer a more and more relevant asset for your business.

How long? A week, two months, or ten years? LTV is easier to calculate in businesses with a long history; in younger brands, it’s complicated at first because historical data is needed to make a real estimate. But it is possible to calculate it.

3. CAC (customer acquisition cost)

Customer acquisition cost means how much money it has cost your company to acquire each customer. How is it calculated? You need to take the marketing and sales costs over a period of time and divide them by the number of customers you acquired during that same period.

What if your CAC is very high? Something is happening in the marketing or sales process; you should analyze to determine the problem and make changes.

4. Cost per lead (CPL)

A lead is a potential customer who enters your marketing and sales funnel. CPL refers to the investment you are making to acquire each lead. You can calculate it by dividing the marketing investment by the number of leads obtained through various digital channels.

Did you know that leads can be up to 3 times cheaper if you use inbound marketing strategies that involve SEO and social media? It’s time to try new things.

5. ROAS (return on ad spend)

How much money do you earn for every dollar spent on advertising? To calculate that, ROAS works. It’s the key indicator to know if a campaign has been successful or not. It’s almost always used in businesses with an e-commerce model, but it can also be applied to other businesses.

How is it calculated? Very simply: (Revenue / Investment) x 100. The result will be your return on ad spend for every dollar invested.

6. Bounce rate

Do people enter your website but leave immediately without buying or interacting? That’s the famous bounce rate. It’s an important metric because when it’s too high, it indicates a deficiency in user experience that is causing you to lose traffic and consequently, sales.

Can your users easily find what they are looking for on your website? Is there clear and precise pricing and shipping information? Not paying attention to all these factors will cause problems in your UX or user experience, leading to traffic and sales losses.

7. CTR (click-through rate)

It’s the number of clicks your ads receive relative to the number of impressions they have. Why is it relevant, and what is considered a good CTR percentage? It’s important because that way you know if your ad is relevant to the audience or not. A good CTR percentage should be above 4%; if you have less than 2%, it’s time to make changes to your ad. Do you already know the CTR of your last campaign?

8. Open rate

This is a metric related to email marketing campaigns. Why is it so important? It’s key to the success of such a campaign. The open rate calculates the number of people who open your email compared to the total number of people who receive it.

How can you improve this metric? Using attention-grabbing subject lines is vital to achieving that first objective. With copywriting or persuasive writing techniques, you can achieve it. However, an attractive subject line is just the first step. The content of the email must be amazing and have a clear call to action, so that people take the action you want them to take.

9. Abandoned carts

Do you have an online store? This metric should interest you. It can help you uncover errors in your user experience, such as hidden costs, slow loading times, or unnecessary processes. It’s easy to calculate the abandoned cart rate; you just need to divide the number of carts by the total purchases and multiply by 100.

If the rate is too high, it’s time to run remarketing campaigns to close as many sales as possible. But before that, it’s very important to discover the reasons for the abandonments.

10. Organic and paid web traffic

Traffic to the site directly affects your sales. Why? What happens if no one knows you sell X product? You won’t sell, and the same goes for your online store. The website is one of the most important digital assets for your business. The more qualified traffic, the more sales.

It’s important to emphasize that it must be qualified traffic because it’s not the same for 10,000 people who are not looking to buy your products or services to 1,000 who are interested in what you sell. There are two ways to increase traffic to the website: paying for ads on Google Ads or working on the SEO (organic positioning) of your website. It’s not about using one or the other; successful brands have multi-channel strategies to have a presence in all the places where their potential customers are.

We’ve reached the end, and you’ve learned a lot about digital marketing metrics. Are these all that exist? Not at all. Each marketing tactic has its own metrics, and there are many more. But these are the most relevant to start measuring in your digital campaigns. Which one is your favorite? Are you already measuring the success of your marketing efforts?