Key performance indicators (KPIs) in online marketing

Online marketing metrics are collected and gathered through web analysis, web controlling, and tracking. This results in a vast amount of data, but not all of it is relevant for every web project.

How to choose the right KPI for personal goals

Before diving into specific online marketing KPIs, it’s important to define clear goals. KPIs are simply tools for tracking how well those goals are being met. The term Key Performance Indicator (KPI) refers to a performance metric — a measurable value that indicates the progress and success of your activities.

Every marketing team must define its own objectives in consultation with other departments like sales or customer service to use the KPIs effectively. The goals can be divided into four main areas:

• Branding/brand building: Those who want to make their company known and build or strengthen a brand typically monitor website and social media channel visitor numbers, pay attention to positive mentions on social networks, and primarily aim to generate organic traffic for brand terms.
• Leads: A lead is a qualified prospect, and it is particularly valuable for consultation-intensive products with a longer decision process. Contacts, sign-ups, downloads—any lead generation activities where potential customers show interest and leave contact information are relevant.
• Sales: The classic goal in e-commerce is to increase sales. In addition to the number of orders, it is important to know where the paying customers come from.
• Engagement: For what is known as user engagement—all actions and interactions a user performs in connection with a company—numerous KPIs are relevant. Social media metrics, in particular, provide insights into the social context of a company and what the target audience looks like.

An overview of KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)

Once your goals or sub-goals are set, the next step is to choose from the key performance indicators described below the ones that best match your objectives. Broadly speaking, KPIs fall into primary metrics and secondary metrics. A separate category is made up of social media metrics. Each marketing discipline also has its own specialized KPIs — for example, in e-commerce, search engine optimization, or newsletter marketing.

Primary metrics in online marketing

Primary KPIs in online marketing are directly tied to your goals and are mainly transaction-focused. They reveal how profitable specific actions are and serve as the most critical metrics for financial reporting. These indicators are essential to measuring the success of any online marketing campaign.

• Number of conversions: Depending on the business model and goals, conversions can include sales, email contacts, downloads, or sign-ups.
• Conversion rate: The conversion rate describes the ratio of clicks or visits to the counted conversions. It indicates how many visitors completed the desired action.
• CPA: This key indicator quantifies the cost per specific goal or action. Often referred to as cost per order (CPO) or cost per lead (CPL).
• ROI: The ROI (Return on Investment) describes the ratio of profit to invested capital and is thus the most important economic key performance indicator for marketers. It shows whether marketing efforts are profitable.
• ROAS: The ROAS (Return on Advertising Spending) describes the ratio of marketing budget spent to revenue generated. It reveals the efficiency of a campaign.

Secondary key indicators in online marketing

Secondary key indicators have an indirect relation to the goals mentioned above. They are primarily information and communication-based and provide insight into the path a potential customer takes during the information and purchasing process. This can easily identify obstacles and weaknesses in usability.

• Visitors: Among the simplest and most fundamental online marketing key indicators in web analytics is the number of visitors. The impact of implemented advertising measures is reflected not only in revenue but also in traffic, which can be tracked through the visitors.
• Unique visits: Unique visits indicate the net number of individual visitors to a website. In web analytics, the IP addresses of users are tracked, and each unique IP is counted only once within a defined time period. For instance, if the same device accesses a page five times in that period, it is still recorded as a single unique visit.
• Returning visitors: Not only the absolute number of visitors but especially the number of returning visitors reflects the appeal of a site. A high rate of returning visitors indicates loyal, dedicated users or readers and indirectly signifies good, relevant content. However, caution is advised: if the number is too high in relation to the absolute visitors, efforts should be made to reach more potential new customers.
• Page impressions: To determine how active a site’s visitors are, you should look at page impressions. They reflect the page views per visitor. A high number of page impressions indicates strong visitor engagement. Conversely, a low value for this KPI suggests that more in-depth information should be included or the internal link structure should be improved.
• Bounce rate: The bounce rate describes the ratio between visitors who stay on a website and click on further subpages and those who leave immediately. A high bounce rate indicates that many users may not find what they expect or that the site’s usability/appeal could be improved.
• Time on page: Time on page measures the average amount of time visitors spend on a page. It indicates both user engagement and the quality of the content. This metric is especially valuable for content performance checks — for example, if users exit a long-form guide within seconds, it’s a clear sign the page may need immediate optimization.
• CTR: The Click-Through Rate (CTR) is typically measured for individual ads, such as AdWords or newsletter campaigns. It provides insight into the attractiveness of an ad or a message by showing how often it was clicked.

Social media metrics

In social media, especially in social media monitoring, established metrics are used by marketers to keep an eye on the company’s social media performance. Online marketing KPIs are largely interaction-based. In areas such as reach measurement, sentiment analysis, engagement, and social influence, there is a wide range of metrics to consider. Below is an overview of the most important ones:

• Social media awareness: The so-called social media awareness (also known as social buzz) is measurable through common social media tools. These tools enable monitoring of your brand in the social network. All mentions of companies, brands, or products are captured and displayed as an online marketing KPI. The share of buzz also reveals how the number of mentions compares to competitors.
• Feed and newsletter subscriptions: For email marketing, there are specific tools and key indicators relevant to campaign success. However, because new newsletter subscribers are often generated through other marketing efforts, primarily via the website, the number of subscribers is also an important key performance indicator for onsite measures. Email and RSS feed subscribers are indicators of customer loyalty and an important retargeting tool.
• Social media contacts: The number of contacts is purely a quantitative figure and provides insight into the potential and reach of social media campaigns. However, it offers little in terms of qualitative analysis. Thousands of “likes” are worthless if users don’t interact with the page. Engagement is what makes social media contacts into success-relevant numbers.
• Number of reposts/replies/posts/comments/likes: The number of reactions—such as reposts, replies, posts, comments, or likes, depending on the channel—measures the aforementioned user engagement, providing a qualitative key indicator in the context of social media. With the right tools, one can measure not only activity but also perceive sentiment and discover the context in which one is mentioned.
• Reach/views: Reach or the number of views initially only shows how many people have potentially seen a post, making it purely a quantitative key performance indicator. It provides an impression of a campaign’s visibility but says little about its actual impact. Without further interaction, reach remains superficial. Only when views turn into clicks, comments, or shared content does reach realize its true value for success.

Analysis and evaluation of key performance indicators in online marketing

To analyze and evaluate KPIs in online marketing, one must track them over a sufficiently long period. This is the only way to meaningfully understand changes, trends, and outliers and identify them unmistakably. Seasonal fluctuations and weekly rhythm differences can thus be overlooked. Of course, it’s always dependent on the business model which figures are relevant—KPIs only make sense in an industry-specific context.

An example from the e-commerce sector: An online store selling small items uses a completely different evaluation basis in terms of CTR or conversions compared to a store offering very expensive, consultation-intensive products. In the B2B sector, different parameters are applicable since fewer conversions are needed for a good ROI. What becomes clear is that anyone working with KPIs must keep their individual goals and the industry context in mind. Learn more in our guide on website optimization.