The Essential Metrics for Evaluating Marketing Channels

Welcome back Nerds! Today we'll be talking about marketing and more specifically marketing channels and the metrics we believe are some of the most important for you to watch. Each marketing channel—whether it’s social media, email, paid search, or video marketing—has its own unique way of contributing to your overall strategy. The key to optimizing your marketing efforts lies in understanding which metrics matter most for each channel and how they work together to achieve your goals.

Let’s break down some of the most important metrics you should be tracking for each marketing channel, and why it’s important to view them differently.

1. Social Media: Engagement Over Vanity

When looking at social media performance, it’s easy to get caught up in vanity metrics—those big follower numbers or how many “likes” a post gets. But these aren’t always the best indicators of success. Instead, focus on engagement metrics that show how actively people are interacting with your content:

• Engagement Rate: This measures how many people are liking, sharing, or commenting on your posts relative to your total audience. Higher engagement usually indicates that your content is resonating well with your target audience.
• Click-Through Rate (CTR): If driving traffic to your site is one of your goals, the CTR can help you gauge how effective your posts are at encouraging people to take action.
• Conversion Rate: Ultimately, you want social media efforts to turn into tangible results. Track how many people who interact with your content end up taking meaningful actions—like signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase.

2. Email Marketing: It's All About Conversions

Email marketing often offers a more direct way to communicate with potential customers. While open rates are important, they don’t always tell the full story. The real value lies in the ability of your emails to drive action:

• Open Rate: This shows how compelling your subject lines are and whether your audience is interested enough to open your emails.
• Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR): Once people open your email, you’ll want to know if they’re engaging with the content. CTOR measures how many people clicked on a link compared to how many opened the email.
• Conversion Rate: Did those clicks lead to the desired outcome? Whether it’s a purchase, registration, or other action, conversion rate is the ultimate indicator of success in email marketing.

3. Paid Search: Maximizing Value for Your Spend

Paid search, like Google Ads, is all about making sure you get a solid return on your investment. While impressions and clicks are important, cost efficiency and the quality of those clicks matter just as much:

• Cost Per Click (CPC): This tells you how much you’re spending every time someone clicks on your ad. Keeping this low is important, but only if those clicks are leading to valuable actions.
• Click-Through Rate (CTR): A higher CTR shows that your ad copy is compelling and relevant to the people searching for your targeted keywords.
• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): This is one of the most important metrics for paid campaigns. It measures the revenue generated for every dollar spent. A healthy ROAS indicates that your campaigns are bringing in more than they’re costing.

4. Video Channels: Display vs. CTV Metrics

Video marketing has become an essential part of digital strategies, but the metrics you should focus on differ depending on whether you're using video display ads or Connected TV (CTV). Let’s break down the key metrics for each:

Video Display Ads:

• Completion Rate: This measures the percentage of viewers who watched your entire ad. A high completion rate suggests that your ad is engaging and relevant to your audience.
• Viewability: This metric tracks whether your video ad had the opportunity to be seen by the user. For an ad to be counted as "viewable," it needs to appear on screen for a minimum percentage of time (usually at least 50% of the video).
• Cost Per View (CPV): CPV shows how much you're paying for each view of your video ad. It’s a key indicator of cost efficiency, especially for campaigns focused on brand awareness.
• Click-Through Rate (CTR): For video display ads, CTR measures the percentage of viewers who clicked on your ad. If your goal is to drive traffic to your website or landing page, CTR is a critical metric.

Connected TV (CTV):

• Completion Rate: Like video display, completion rate is crucial for CTV ads. However, CTV often has higher completion rates because ads are typically unskippable. This metric shows how well your ad keeps viewers’ attention.
• Impressions: This metric tells you how many times your ad was displayed on CTV devices. While impressions don’t necessarily translate to engagement, they’re important for understanding the reach of your campaign.
• Cost Per Completed View (CPCV): Since CTV ads are often priced on a completed view basis, CPCV is a useful metric for determining how much you’re paying when someone watches your entire ad. A lower CPCV means you’re getting more views for your money.
• Brand Lift: One of the key advantages of CTV is its ability to measure brand lift, which tracks how your ad influences viewers’ awareness, perception, or intent to purchase. Surveys or third-party tools often measure this by comparing responses before and after ad exposure.

5. Overall Channel Health: Metrics to Keep in Mind

While each channel has its own set of metrics, it’s important to evaluate overall channel health by looking at how they contribute to your broader marketing goals:

• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): This metric applies to all channels and helps you understand how much it costs to acquire a new customer. Lowering your CAC while maintaining quality leads is a sign of a well-optimized channel.
• Lifetime Value (LTV): It’s not just about acquiring customers but keeping them. The LTV metric helps you determine how much value a customer brings to your business over time.
• Attribution: With multiple touchpoints across channels, it’s essential to have a way to measure which channels are contributing the most to your conversions. Multi-touch attribution models help you see the full picture of your marketing efforts.

The Role of Dashboards in Data Evaluation

Understanding how each channel is performing is just the beginning. To make the most of your marketing data, you need a centralized place to view and analyze all your metrics. This is where dashboards come into play.

A well-built marketing dashboard allows you to track key performance indicators (KPIs) across all your channels in real time. It gives your team instant access to the metrics that matter most, helping you make informed decisions and adjust your strategies quickly. With everything in one place, it’s easier to spot trends, compare channel performance, and optimize your campaigns for the best results.

Conclusion

Each marketing channel plays a unique role in your overall strategy, and understanding the right metrics to track is key to making data-driven decisions. By focusing on the most relevant performance indicators for each channel—and using dashboards to keep a close eye on them—you’ll be better equipped to fine-tune your approach and maximize the return on your marketing efforts.

Dashboards of course are our bread and butter over at RADaR. If you want to learn more about how a dashboard can be utilized to not only help you watch these metrics but also help you tell your business' full story through data give us a shout.

Warm regards,

The Data Journal Team

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