Evaluating performance marketing campaigns impactfully

• Today, marketers cannot settle after merely creating brand campaigns - they must navigate a sea of data and the unpredictability of the online world to ascertain what makes a campaign work.
  
• Organisations can combat this uncertainty conducting a periodic and in-depth analysis of critical online marketing metrics.
  
• The experts at Infosys BPM explore eight key performance indicators for digital marketing professionals to pay attention to when assessing campaigns.

Marketing agencies operating in the digital space came to take the moniker of digital marketing agencies. With the passage of time and higher measurability of the digital medium, marketing agencies are today all about elevating performance using multiple channels – both traditional and digital media. Hence the latest and trending, Performance Marketing agencies.

With performance being the criteria for success, performance marketing professionals are constantly analysing copious amounts of data from various sources to optimise ad campaigns in real-time. Several performance-related metrics can be monitored and tracked using digital analytics. This will help marketing teams precisely interpret a campaign’s performance and make appropriate changes to deliver the best possible impact. Let’s take a closer look at eight key metrics that marketers must deploy.

1. Impressions: This is one of the most basic metrics to track ad campaign performance, capturing data on how often a particular ad has run on a website or an app. This metric also captures the number of times a campaign appears in search results, or when the ad banner is displayed on any of the network sites. Due to an increased share of bot-generated internet traffic, impressions data may not be an accurate indicator of ad reach in today’s times. But when integrated with the data of a third-party ad verification service, a clearer picture emerges of the number of times potential customers saw the ad.
   
   
2. Clicks: This performance marketing metric measures the number of times users interacted with a particular ad and followed the CTA (call-to-action) link. The higher the number of clicks, the more people are engaging with your ad and are interested in finding out more about the product or service. Cross-referencing click data with website analytics insights on the number of website visits can be revealing of any system failure or technical glitch that could have prevented the user from landing on the website. A standard rule of thumb says a 15% variation in this data is acceptable, anything beyond that needs to be looked at.
   
3. Clickthrough rate (CTR): The CTR adds meaning to impressions and clicks metrics, and is calculated as the total number of clicks divided by the number of impressions. This metric indicates ad efficiency and is highly instrumental in fine-tuning marketing campaigns. CTR data highlights both high-performing ads and campaigns that could benefit from an increased budget and the underperforming ones that are a drain on resources. Proper analysis of CTR data helps marketing teams optimise ad spending by focusing on effective campaigns and reducing the budget on underperforming ones.
   
4. Cost: Marketing budgets are limited, which is why it is important to consistently monitor ad spend. A data integration solution helps consolidate ad spending from various platforms and campaigns on the performance marketing dashboard. This gives marketers clear insights into spending dynamics and helps with informed budgeting decisions.
   
5. Average cost per click (CPC): This performance marketing metric provides marketers with insights into the profitability of various promotions and ad campaigns. Average CPC is calculated as the total cost of the clicks on an ad, divided by the total number of clicks on the ad. Average CPC can vary depending on the industry, location, and several other factors. The idea is to keep the average CPC as low as possible without compromising on campaign quality, which could negatively affect impressions and clicks, and positions on Google search.
   
6. Cost per mille (CPM): Mille is French for one thousand, and the CPM metric is also referred to as cost per thousand. It indicates the price of one thousand ad impressions. This KPI is more relevant to branding and awareness campaigns than it is to acquisition and direct conversion campaigns, where CPC values are more relevant. As mentioned above, impression data isn’t always accurate due to large amounts of automated internet traffic. A critical measure of impressions is also the Ad-Viewability factor – which determines if the entire ad was loaded and actually viewed or not. Ad platforms use various methods to estimate how often a person views an ad to arrive at the viewable CPM (vCPM) metric.
   
7. Conversions: The conversions metric takes things a step beyond the clicks and CTR KPIs. A conversion requires users who have read the ad, clicked on the CTA, and arrived at the business’ website to complete a specific action. This could include creating an account, signing up for a newsletter, contacting the business, or completing a purchase online.
   
8. Cost per conversion (CPC or CPCon) / Cost per Lead (CPL) / Cost per Acquisition (CPA): This KPI is the total ad spend on a particular campaign, divided by the number of conversions generated by the campaign. This metric indicates which marketing campaigns are providing the best ROI on the marketing budget. CPC data can help marketing teams fine-tune and optimise various elements of an ad campaign, leading to a positive response from users.

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Disclaimer: This article is authored by Sreepriya Swaminathan, Senior Domain Principal, Infosys BPM. The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Business Insider India