17 Digital marketing ROI Metrics to Track Your Online Business

One truism of digital marketing is that technology will continue to rocket ahead, giving marketers an increasing number of ways to obtain return on investment analysis for their digital campaigns. Like technological advances in say, television, the benefits of using digital tools to measure marketing ROI are for the most part enthusiastically welcomed—nobody wants to go back in time to black and white television or inputting your marketing data into an Excel spreadsheet. But this boon of digital marketing ROI information can also be overwhelming, in the same way that TV viewers are now inundated with too many TV shows or streaming options to wrap their heads around. The same can be said for those trying to figure out their marketing ROI—just what data points are worth your time? Luckily, there are a few key metrics that have more value than others for those focused on ROI marketing. We break down the dozen metrics that you should keep a close eye on.

To improve your digital marketing ROI, below are 12 metrics you need to pay attention to:

1. Cost Per Acquisition

The CPA metric, also known as CAC or “Customer Acquisition Cost,” tells you what the cost was to acquire a customer. In some cases, this is a simple matter of dividing your marketing costs by the number of customers you have acquired. This metric is not to be confused with the “Cost Per Lead” metric, which focuses on leads generated.

2. Cost Per Lead

Cost Per Lead is a very important metric because it gives you one of the best understanding of how effective your marketing strategy is at lead generation. This is most precise when you are using paid marketing efforts; organic initiatives like SEO or content marketing can have Cost Per Acquisition as well but it is a less exact calculation. Cost Per Lead is one of the most important metrics for those working in ROI marketing—fine-tuning this number can be an exercise in precision.

3. Lead Close Rate

Your Lead Close Rate gives you insight into how many leads your sales team closes out of the total number of leads generated. You can draw a number of conclusions from your Lead Close Rate, including the effectiveness of your sales representatives and the quality of your leads. It’s important to not only measure this metric, but to do so digitally so you can integrate this metric into your reports and your return on investment analysis.

4. Unique Monthly Visitors

Get an understanding of how many people are visiting your site with the Unique Monthly Visitors metric. This metric is often tracked directly in Google Analytics. You can get a more detailed look at your traffic by segmenting it into specific categories, such as paid traffic vs. organic.

5. Conversion Rates By Channel

With this metric, you can zero in on specific traffic sources to see the conversion success of different channels. You can use this to learn how well organic traffic converts and compare it to organic or social media traffic. If you’re looking for an edge in your ROI marketing, Conversion Rates By Channel is an ideal way to see where some of your most valuable traffic is coming from.

6. Conversion Rates By Device

While not always as illuminating as Conversion Rates By Channel, understanding your Conversion Rates By Device may help you identify missed opportunities in your strategy. For example, you may see that mobile users are converting at a higher rate than other devices and decide to double down on your mobile efforts.

7. Branded Search Lift

A great metric for understanding what kind of impact your digital marketing efforts are having on awareness of your brand, Branded Search Lift is a measurement of how many monthly searches your brand receives. This is useful for getting a return on investment analysis of your marketing efforts across all your channels.

8. Landing Page Performance

Measuring your Landing Page Performance isn’t so much a single metric as it is a comprehensive understanding of the effectiveness of your landing page. You can look at multiple data points, like your conversion rates, sessions by source, bounce rate, and average time on page to judge how your landing page is performing.

9. Average Order Value

An easily-missed metric, knowing changes in your Average Order Value can tip you off to key trends in your sales funnel. This metric tells you how much each customer is eventually spending once they convert. If you practice ROI marketing, finding changes in this metric can greatly influence your return on investment—especially if you notice that your latest traffic is spending more or less per conversion.

10. Blog Click-Through Rates

If SEO and content marketing are a major part of your ROI marketing strategy then you’ll want to know your Blog Click-Through Rates for sure. This gives you a more precise understanding of the value of all your blog traffic. Answer questions like: Are visitors exploring more of your site? What percentage of your blog traffic is actually converting? Discovering this will help you adjust your content strategy.

11. Non-Brand Click-Through Rates

Get a better understanding of your SEO performance by studying your Non-Brand Click-Through Rate. This metric provides insight into how well your SEO efforts are working and also shows the success of your paid search campaigns. While it doesn’t explicitly relay data related to your leads or conversion, your Non-Brand Click-Through Rate remains very useful when you’re taking stock of your search strategies.

12. Customer Lifetime Value

When measuring your digital marketing ROI, one important factor you won’t want to ignore is the Customer Lifetime Value. This metric is essential because it tells you what you can afford to pay for a customer to stay profitable. For example, if your Customer Lifetime Value is below your Customer Acquisition Cost, then it is likely you have a big problem. But if you have a very high Customer Lifetime Value, that means you have the freedom to spend more on your marketing efforts as long as you don’t raise your Customer Acquisition Cost by too much. Don’t forget to connect with Phonexa on Facebook and LinkedIn for new content and company updates.