The business world is drastically changing with technology at the center of it all. If you are still reaching out to your customers physically, that might not be the case a decade from now. Also known as online marketing, digital marketing is a form of marketing that happens on the internet. The digital marketing industry is currently worth billions and it is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years.
The importance of digital marketing was realized by some businesses after the 2020 lockdown kicked in. Businesses that had an online presence were able to still operate, unlike their brick-and-mortar counterparts. Whether you’re an entirely virtual business or a hybrid (physical and online) digital marketing is worth giving a try. That’s because 63% of the world’s population uses the internet in 2022, according to Statista.
To track the success of your digital marketing strategy, KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) must be in place. KPIs or Key Performance Indicators are measurable values that companies set to achieve given targets. We can also say that KPIs are actually a benchmark that indicates a company’s performance over a given period of time. They generally show if the company is achieving its objectives.
Digital marketing KPIs can be used by all types and sizes of businesses across industries. There are many forms of digital marketing, but only KPIs can help you discover which tactic is effective and what to drop. Without further ado, let’s look at the best digital marketing KPIs that can help you track your campaign’s success.
The Most Reliable KPIs for Tracking Digital Marketing Success for any Business
-
Organic Traffic
Many businesses determine their digital marketing success through website traffic. A website serves as a digital home for a business or any company, meaning that more website traffic points to more visitors.
Digital marketing efforts like SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Link Building, and paid advertising can increase a website’s traffic, which could be organic or paid. The most enjoyable type of traffic is organic, generally because businesses don’t have to incur any cost to drive traffic to the site.
Organic traffic is an ideal digital marketing KPI because it shows the number of visitors that come to a site from organic search results. The amount of organic traffic you receive on your site can help know the effectiveness of your content marketing and SEO efforts.
Keyword research, guest posting, quality content, and ensuring a good website load speed can help increase a website’s traffic organically. Google Analytics on your website can help you understand the performance of your website; i.e where your visitors come from, what they look for on a site and how long they spend on it. Tracking organic traffic is very important especially if you are an eCommerce company. Data is the key to self-improvement and you should surely be thankful to the fact that we are living in times of data revolution that makes tracking so simple.
-
Website Ranking
Do you know that hundreds of websites struggle to make it to Google’s first page every year? But how many of them live this dream? If your website is among the top 3 or even on Google’s first page, it means you’re SEO and other digital marketing efforts are paying off!
The Internet has become a hub for all sorts of information and this has made it hard for businesses to reach their target audiences. Besides, search engines like Google have a list of guidelines that website owners must follow to rank high. As a business, with a website as the major selling portal, it may indicate that your digital marketing campaign is headed for success if it is ranking well.
Website ranking also correlates with SEO success which means better traffic, leads, conversions, and sales. Take note that many people nowadays turn to the internet to search for products and services.
It is also known that online users prefer the top three website links and many of them do not even bother scrolling down or to the next page. Think With Google indicates that 53% of shoppers ensure to do internet research before making a final decision. So, if your website is ranking well, it means you’re heading for success and you are well on track to achieve your SMART goals and objectives.
-
Conversion Rate
Conversion rate is a reliable metric in showing the performance of a digital marketing campaign and Google Analytics can help you measure your site’s conversions. Your’s site’s conversion rate shows how many people turn from being prospects to customers or those that take the desired action.
The term conversion can mean different things depending on the type of business. Some businesses may use the term conversion to denote the number of leads obtained, customers, subscribers, or sales. To ascertain the conversion rate, you will have to identify the total number of leads converted and then divide it by the total number of leads generated. You will then have to multiply the product by 100.
-
Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)
CPA is a digital marketing metric that shows the cost incurred to acquire a single paying customer. If your cost per acquisition is high and the generated profit is low, then your marketing campaign is taking you nowhere. In other words, if your cost per acquisition rate is low and the paying customers are more then it indicates that your business is on the right track.
With that, a marketer must pay great attention to CPA when investing in paid advertising like PPC (Pay-Per-Click). Ensure to understand the time value of a customer to ascertain how much you must spend on your marketing campaign. Perform keyword research and deploy keywords based on search intent and locality. Also, remember to revise your marketing strategy to ensure that the CPA is within your budget and that it is meeting your goals.
-
ROI
ROI (return on investment) is the bottom line of any digital marketing campaign. Precisely, your marketing spend will be reflected by the percentage of returns. Navigate your marketing campaigns and identify which strategy is taking more resources and then compare with the output.
If the digital marketing campaign has a huge budget and the results aren’t convincing, then it will negatively impact your ROI. By tracking the company’s ROI, managers can make more informed decisions to help the business grow sustainably.
-
Bounce Rate
Bounce rate is a vital metric in the SEO arena generally because it measures the number of site visitors that leave your site without taking the required action. If your site is recording a high number of bounce rates, it means that it isn’t relevant to a search query and a few changes are required.
You ought to know that bounce rates differ from business to business and from industry to industry. For the case of a website, engaging content can help to lower the bounce rate by increasing engagement. You can make your digital marketing strategies more engaging by producing quality content, using captions, and hashtags, and interacting with your audience often. All these efforts will direct your audience to your website which lowers the bounce rate. Things like customer reviews, comments, feedback, or testimonials are indicators that your audience is engaging with your content and you should make full use of them.
You should also perform keyword research to understand the search terms that website visitors use and Google Analytics can help you monitor your bounce rates.
-
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Click-Through Rate is a vital metric for those who highly rely on a website to generate leads or any platform where CTAs (Call-to-Action) are included in the content. A high click-through rate indicates that your audience is engaging with your content
Tools like Moz, and HubSpot among others can help you understand the engagement rate of your content or marketing channel. You also have to take a close look at the number of new visitors and returning customers. Proper Link building tactics can help you improve your CTR.
Summing it up, digital marketing KPIs are essential in determining the performance of a marketing strategy. Besides, they are indicators of whether the set parameters are meeting the long-term organizational goals.
Depending on the nature of your business, you may have to break your marketing department into teams if you wish to measure their performance separately. Also, remember that different marketing channels may have different KPIs and it is essential to be realistic while setting specific KPIs.
