17 Key Marketing Metrics Marketers Should Know About| QuickScream

Last updated on November 6th, 2022 at 11:42 am

Big data is everywhere. And if you are a marketer, it is everything. The data-reliant, information-based model of marketing has changed business forever. But at the same time, too much data has made it challenging to determine key marketing metrics a company should track.

Statistics were significant in the past too, but now they’re indispensable. The success of your business depends on how well you’re able to manage your data.

Earlier, information was scarce and hard to come by. The situation couldn’t be more different today. Information overload is a real issue that all modern organizations worldwide must tackle. And if you don’t have a plan, you better hope Saint Juda (The Patron Saint of Good Luck) is on your side!

Compiling data is half the work, although this does take a little bit of effort. The hard part, though, is sorting it all out.

Despite all the strides we’ve made with technology, no algorithm can help you decide what information you need.

Bad data costs the US $3.1 Trillion annually.

This is where analytics come into the fray. There are plenty of applications, websites, and resources you can use to understand how you’re performing online.

But here’s the catch. There are several parameters being tracked, which can, at times, be a bit overwhelming. So, how do you determine what information is critical?

Most companies only analyze 12% of the data they have.

Over the last few years, we’ve narrowed down a list of metrics and reports you should analyze. They help you keep track of your data, achieve your goals and understand how your marketing strategies are playing out.

You’ll also recognize what platforms work best for you and how to make the most of them.

Marketing Metrics You Should Know

Here are 17 key marketing metrics that every digital marketer should keep an eye on if they wish to take their business to the epitome of success

1. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

Customer Acquisition Cost refers to how much you spend on each customer to convince them to buy your product or service.

For example, if your company spends $100,000 on marketing and advertising per year and acquires 10,000 customers, your CAC will be $10.

Measure your CACs across different channels to find out your most effective medium. If you’re spending more on acquiring customers than earning from them, it might be time to re-think your strategies.

Work on your customer experience and CRM systems. A good experience is what keeps your customers coming back for more.

2. Lead Conversion Rates

Lead conversion rates measure the percentage of leads you can convert into customers. If you generate 100 leads, and 25 of them become paying customers, your lead conversion rate is 25%.

It indicates how effective your sales and marketing teams are. If you struggle with lead conversion, use a lead scoring system.

Update your lead quality standards, and revamp your lead nurturing strategies. They’ve been proven to boost opening rates by 14% and conversions by 10%.

3. Click-Through-Rates (CTR)

Click-through rate is a metric that measures the number of times an ad, call-to-action (CTA), or email is clicked versus the number of times it is viewed (impressions).

If your ad had 10,000 impressions and received 200 clicks, your CTR is 0.5%.

Your CTR reveals the strengths and weaknesses of your ad copy, keywords, positioning, etc.

A low CTR can indicate that you need to change your advertising strategy. To improve your CTR, try to improve your site’s loading speed. Writing better meta-descriptions and using more optimized keywords are also helpful.

4. Bounce Rate

A “bounce” occurs when someone visits your website and exits without browsing other pages. Your bounce rate refers to how often that happens for every hundred visits.

If 200 people visit your website, and 140 leave without browsing other pages, your bounce rate is 70%.

A lower bounce rate indicates your website’s success in garnering their interest. Create more engaging content if you’re struggling with a high bounce rate. Include more CTAs, and make your site more user-friendly and easier to search on.

5. Average Lead Score

Your lead score is a value that estimates how valuable a particular lead will be. The average lead score helps you understand how promising the leads you generate are.

It is calculated based on pre-set criteria such as demographics, buyer behavior, and user activity.

Lead scoring can benefit businesses that spend much of their time on lead generation. By finding their most valuable leads, they can identify the leads most likely to convert to paying customers.

6. Referral Traffic

Referral traffic describes visitors who come to your site via links to other websites. It is one of the most organic ways to build engagement on your website.

Many referral links can help increase your Authority and visibility as a website. However, it’s necessary to know that not all referral traffic is valuable.

Keep track of how many pages a day and how long your visitors spend on your website. Accordingly, curate your content to make it as appealing as you can.

7. Unique Visitors

Unique visitors refers to the number of unduplicated visitors to your website over a specified period. The number of unique visitors that come to your site indicates the popularity of your website.

Unique visitors are an excellent way to understand your audience. You will know which channels are most effective by tracking where most of your visitors are coming from.

Track the pages they visit, their engagement with your website, and how many of them convert to customers. It also helps you evaluate your partnerships with other websites and how effective they’re turning out to be.

8. Traffic Sources

Web traffic sources provide an overview of the various sources that drive traffic toward your website. By keeping track of these sources, you will know where most of your visitors come from.

Several sources can drive traffic to your website. Some of them include the following:

Direct traffic: People who visit your site by typing in the URL
Search engine: Traffic directed via Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines
Email marketing: Communicating with the audience using personalized emails
Others: These channels include social media, direct marketing, etc.

9. Returning Visitor Metrics

The returning visitor metric tracks what happens when a user visits your website multiple times. It allows marketers to understand how successfully they retain their audience. It also helps them know how they are trending over time.

This metric organizes visits based on how often a visitor returns to a website in terms of these groups-

2-3 visits
4-9 visits
10+ visits

Pay attention to average visits per user. This will help you understand whether your content matches what your visitors want.

10. SEO Keyword Ranking

The SEO Keyword Ranking metric measures your search engine rankings for targeted keywords. It helps you understand your website’s effectiveness in attracting organic website traffic.

Several things can enhance your SEO ranking. If you have been posting content that follows SEO regulations and has plenty of high-quality backlinks, your content will likely rank high on search engines.

To get more clicks, group and organize your keywords. Ensure they are evenly scattered across your content. For maximum effectiveness, place your primary keyword within the first 100 words of your content and your conclusion.

11. Search Engine Traffic

Search Engine Traffic measures the number of visits your website receives due to paid and organic search traffic. It contextualizes your performance regarding organic traffic with respect to your competition.

Study your target audience well, and create content based on what they’re most willing to read. Delve into your prospect’s habits and understand what they’re looking for.

SEO is a system that’s impossible to deceive, so you will not get positive results unless you play hard and fair.

12. Domain Authority

Domain Authority (DA) is an SEO metric developed by Moz to measure the Authority of a website. Domain Authority is measured on a scale of 1-100. Many factors go into calculating it, including total backlinks, linking root domains, and how long your website has been around.

If your website is recent, your DA will have a much lower score. It’s necessary to post relevant content; doing so regularly will encourage an increased frequency of user visits.

Optimizing your overall SEO game is the best way to improve your DA. Get rid of broken links, and get in touch with an SEO agency with legitimate backlinks to boost your DA score.

13. Email Forwarding Rate

The email forwarding rate measures the number of times a piece of content is shared from one viewer to another.

It’s a valuable metric that helps you calculate how many on your email list will vouch for your brand.

Recommendations and referrals are among the best ways to drive organic traffic to your website. You can also invest in reliable email lists to increase your email forwarding rates.

Email marketing is the most effective content marketing medium. That is why acquiring brand advocates via email is an excellent strategy.

Up to 81% of consumer buying decisions are influenced by social media posts of friends or acquaintances.

14. Engagement Over Time

Tracking your customers’ engagement with your company via email will give you valuable insights. They let you know the best time of the day to interact with your customers.

Engagement helps you track what kind of emails are getting the highest clicks. It’s also beneficial in gauging the opening and click rates of emails that are not automated.

Take the help of automation to send emails based on customer behavior triggers. Automation helps save time and resources for your marketing team and allows them to focus on the bigger picture.

15. Unsubscribe Rates

Your unsubscribe rates refer to how many people choose to unsubscribe from receiving emails from you. You can find this on your main dashboard or alongside your other metrics.

While a high number of unsubscribes is undoubtedly discouraging, it is also an opportunity to fine-tune your email list. It helps you to target your audience better and to get to know their needs.

By giving your audience an option to unsubscribe, you also provide them with a choice regarding the type of content they want to receive. This helps build organic trust between both parties.

16. Interaction Rates

Interaction rates are the number of actions users take regarding creative execution. This includes swipes, touches, shares, and clicks. It’s a great metric to create a successful mobile marketing campaign.

Divide the number of total interactions by the number of impressions to calculate how much your audience interacts with your campaign.

A successful marketing campaign will have a minimum interaction rate of 1.8%. Anything lower than that is an indication of an unsuccessful campaign.

17. Retention Rates

Retention rates are a great way to measure the effectiveness of your mobile marketing campaigns. They show you how many people use your app and how often within a given time frame.

To calculate your retention rate within a specified time frame, divide the number of users retained at the end of that respective period by the number of installs at the start.

Just knowing the download rate of your app is inadequate. A user could download your app once and never use it again, rendering it ineffective.

This metric helps you understand how many users find your app useful. Based on this, you can tweak and make adjustments that would result in a favorable response from your audience.

Track Your Effort to Improve

Tracking your data can be frustrating and monotonous. Considering the volume of data generated, it can feel like you’re climbing a summitless mountain.

Thankfully, analytics have changed that landscape. Now, it’s easier to understand and analyze your data and say goodbye to data fatigue. With the help of these seventeen marketing metrics, you’ll be able to focus on data that matters and reach out to people that want to connect with you.

Do you know any other key marketing metrics that could be useful? We’d love to hear from you! Let us know in the comment section below.

About Author

Kate Anderson is the content marketing manager at ReachStream and is responsible for driving more traffic to the website. Her sharp wit, creativity, and extensive knowledge about the industry have allowed her to precede over the content team, turning in more leads and retaining more customers.

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