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Defining and Measuring Paid Campaign Success

 

Once you’ve set up a paid campaign, how do you measure the performance? We’ve all heard the saying, “You have to pay to play.” Certainly, digital campaigns can eat up a good share of a marketer’s budget. That’s why it’s so important to define and measure the success of paid campaigns, so you can accurately measure return on investment (ROI).

 

When we measure paid campaigns, what we’re really doing is tracking campaign metrics against key performance indicators (KPIs) and goals. Every brand is going to have unique KPIs and goals, so there’s no reason to compare your paid campaign to any other. Instead, as a best practice, brands should define KPIs before launching their campaigns, and then track how those KPIs correlate with actual results.

 

When tracking the success of paid campaigns, keep these metrics in mind:

 

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

 

The CTR is the number of times someone clicks on an ad, divided by the number of times an ad is shown online. CTR is the most well-known metric that marketers use when tracking paid campaigns, and as such, you’ll want to pay close attention to CTR as a way to gauge how many people were interested in your ads. 

 

Goal Completion Rate

 

What goals did you define for your paid campaign? Was your goal to bring people to your landing page or subscribe to an email newsletter? No two brands will likely have the exact same goals in mind when developing a custom campaign. Regardless, tracking the goal completion rate is how we evaluate how well a campaign is stacking up. 

 

Cost Per Lead

 

How much are you paying for each conversion? The cost per lead is measured by dividing the amount that’s been spent on a paid campaign by the number of leads that campaign has generated. If a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign cost $2,000 and it generates 20 leads, then the cost per lead is $100. If a PPC campaign cost $200 and it generates 20 leads, then the cost per lead is $10. Clearly, brands are shooting for the lowest cost per lead possible, so keep an eye on that metric to watch for opportunities for improvement.

 

Most brands can track performance and analytics through their built-in campaign dashboards. However, larger companies and multi-location brands will often need additional assistance measuring campaign success. Agencies like SOCi can offer support in these cases to help brands track paid campaign performance, in addition to organic search and SEO.

 

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