25 Digital Marketing Metrics and How to Use Them Effectively For Campaigns

By: Christine Skopec | March 28, 2022

Without a doubt, you know that marketing works. You’ve seen how the projects you and your team members create attract prospective customers, delight them with exceptional experiences, and ultimately persuade them to become loyal buyers. There might even be a handful of customer testimonials you point to that prove this to be true.

But a few anecdotes, no matter how powerful, don’t provide an entire picture of your marketing campaign performance. So, how do you really know that your team’s efforts are effective as a whole? Look to digital marketing metrics.

By regularly tracking and reviewing a variety of data points, you can gain a clear picture of what’s working, which tactics or campaigns are falling short, and discover ways to continually improve. Before getting into the specifics of which metrics to pay attention to, let’s start with a bit of background on digital marketing metrics to make sure you have a solid foundation.

The Importance Of Metrics In Marketing Today

Take a moment to consider the sheer amount of digital information in existence today. Research from Statista shows that the amount of data created, collected, and stored has skyrocketed over the last decade — and this growth shows no signs of slowing. In fact, this research predicts that the volume will reach 181 zettabytes (each zettabye is 1,0007 bytes) by 2025.

While not all of this data is related to marketing, much of it is. According to a Salesforce report, 88% of marketing organizations make use of analytics and metric measurement tools. Why is so much attention given to analyzing the data marketing teams collect about customers? There are many reasons, but it’s worth specifically mentioning that tracking and evaluating digital marketing metrics allows you to:

📈 Determine whether you’re on track to achieve goals
🤗 Motivate team members to do their best (positive reinforcement, anyone?)
👍 Discover what resonates with audiences
🏆 Identify effective tactics you should replicate in the future
💰 Prove the value of marketing

That last bullet is particularly important. The more you’re able to demonstrate the value that marketing provides to your organization, the more likely you are to get your ideas approved by leadership. According to McKinsey & Company, 45% of CFOs say the reason marketing proposals aren’t fully funded is because they don’t show a clear connection to value. This same research indicates that 83% of CEOs think marketing can be a major driver of growth.

Clearly, it’s important to keep tabs on metrics that help you convey exactly how your efforts are paying off.

Digital Marketing Metrics Vs. Digital Marketing KPIs — What’s The Difference?

As you start exploring the world of marketing metrics, you’ve probably come across a similar term: key performance indicators (KPIs). While KPIs and metrics are closely related, they are quite distinct.

Metrics are numbers you can use to evaluate progress, pure and simple. But KPIs are more about goals.

So, what is a KPI in marketing? As Databox explains, “A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is a metric that’s used to quantify progress towards important business objectives.”

Here’s an example that can help you further understand the difference:

Let’s say, as part of your company’s overarching objective to boost revenue, marketing is focused on driving more prospective customers to request product demos. The KPI might be to increase demo registrations by 20% in the next year. Related metrics that feed into this KPI (don’t worry, we’ll get into the details of these shortly) include conversions, impressions, and social media link clicks.

In other words, KPIs are the goals and metrics are the measurements that allow you to track how close you are to achieving that goal.

Delving Into The Most Important Digital Marketing Metrics To Track

As you get more familiar with digital marketing metrics, you’ll be able to determine which ones are most relevant to you. But to get started, we recommend focusing on a few important ones that align with different marketing tactics. 

SEO Metrics & Website Metrics

Want to know whether your SEO efforts are driving organic traffic? Curious as to how you can improve your website? These metrics will help you gain a sense of overall website performance, which also includes your content marketing efforts.

Social Media Marketing Metrics

According to a recent report from Sprout Social, 88% of marketers say their social media strategy positively affects their bottom line. This means it’s essential to track metrics like the ones below to evaluate performance and identify ways to improve.

 

Video Marketing Metrics

You’re certainly not alone if you’re just dipping your toes into the video marketing waters. But don’t wait too long before diving in because, as Salesforce reveals, video saw the largest increase in value of all channels during 2021. And what better way to kick off your introduction to this new medium than by keeping tabs on relevant data points?

Email Marketing Metrics

Statista predicts that more than 330 billion emails will be sent during 2022. With so many messages headed towards prospective customers’ inboxes, it’s important to have a strong email marketing strategy. By tracking the below metrics, you have a great opportunity to find out exactly what works and what doesn’t.

Paid Media Marketing Metrics

For professionals in other industries, paid media is what they envision when they think of marketing. This makes sense when you consider how multifaceted paid media is and the sheer volume of metrics you could choose to track. That said, homing in on a select number will help you stay focused on reaching business goals

Putting The KPIs, CTRs, CPCs, And Every Metric Acronym All Together

You might be wondering how all these numbers fit into your overall marketing strategy. The truth is that it depends on what the data reveals. If you’re not ranking within the top 5 SERPs for any of your target keywords or growing website sessions from organic traffic, a key part of your strategy might be writing two top-of-funnel blog posts each month for the next year.

Or maybe the data paints a rosier picture, showing that several of your most recent ad campaigns set new records for driving conversions and minimizing CPC. In this case, your marketing strategy might focus on aligning all of your paid media messaging and creative to the new look and feel you were testing out in those campaigns that proved to be high-performing.

In terms of how you can actually leverage metrics to get buy-in from leadership — which we already discussed as being important — keep your sights set on the larger organizational objectives. With so many metrics at your fingertips, you can quite convincingly tell a story that helps you secure more of the resources you need.

Moz illustrates how this can work in practice. Rather than spouting off a bunch of metrics that you see as positive, such as growth in organic traffic and growth in traffic from social media, step into the C-suite’s shoes. Spell out how growth in these channels directly translates to a decrease in the cost to acquire a new customer.

Digital marketing metrics give you the information, but it’s up to you to use it effectively.

Use Digital Marketing Metrics to Start Improving Performance

Taking a data-driven approach to marketing ultimately pays off in the form of higher-performing campaigns, better engagement, and higher conversions. You likely have access to many of the tools you need to start digging into digital marketing metrics, so you can start taking action right now.

Don’t worry if you discover that your metrics are below industry benchmarks or lower than you were expecting. It’s all about making progress and finding ways to improve. In some cases, it may be that you’re simply not connecting with the right people.

While it can be intimidating to identify who your ideal audience truly is, it’s completely doable. Find out what it takes to find your target audience and start tailoring your strategies to their needs.