Digital Marketing KPIs or Key Performance Indicators are quantifiable goals which help you to track and measure success. KPIs are a useful way for Digital Marketers to set expectations and prove that their work is having a positive impact. To outsiders, the success of digital marketing activity can be seen as difficult to measure but this really isn’t the case. In fact, it’s normally easier to measure progress for a digital campaign than an offline one.
The aim of this post is to help you set digital marketing KPIs to measure what really matters in a way which all parties can agree on. We’ll cover negotiating KPIs and how to tie your KPIs into the Smart Insights RACE model.
Choosing what to measure
The most important part of setting a KPI is choosing what to measure. You really don’t want to go wrong at this stage but don’t worry, it’s pretty simple – just make sure you measure factors which will have an impact on your organization’s targets or goals.
Often KPIs are connected to a “conversion”. This can be defined as any valuable online interaction somebody has with your online presence. It’s up to you to define what to track as a conversion depending on what you’re looking to achieve. As a general rule, conversions should be specific (i.e. easily to define and measure) and significantly beneficial (E.G. a user filling in a contact form on making a purchase).
What should you measure:
- Quantifiable metrics which align with the goals of your organization. These will often be sales or leads. If you work for a startup it might be too soon to measure leads but you can always measure reach and engagement.
- Leading Indicators. A leading indicator is used by economists to give an indication of which way the economy is headed. A leading indicator is useful in marketing as it can show that your time and effort is starting to have an impact even if it hasn’t yet had significant results. As an example, you might measure how many people have spent over 3 minutes on your site even if they haven’t filled in the contact form.
What you shouldn’t measure:
- Things you can’t impact. If you can’t change it, there’s no point it being a KPI.
- Vanity metrics. The classic example of a vanity metric is a Managing Director who wants to be at the top of Google for a Keyword that doesn’t provide any traffic which converts.
