Ad campaigns are a good way to bring attention and new customers to your business.

Measuring the success and results is crucial when running campaigns, as it allows you to understand if you have achieved your KPIs and goals.

Some may find it intuitive, but figuring out which metrics you want to track and measure can be a struggle.

What are the key metrics to track to measure success? 

1. Impressions
2. Click-through Rate (CTR)
3. Conversion Rate
4. Cost per Click (CPC)
5. Return on Investment (ROI)
6. Engagement
7. Brand Awareness

Impressions

Impressions are the number of times that your ad has been shown to your target audience.

Tracking your impressions can help you understand the reach of your ad campaign, and how many people have seen it.

Impressions cover how many people it reached, it doesn’t include any engagements or conversions that have come from seeing the ad.

The more impressions you get, the more visibility and reputation you will have, so it’s still important to keep an eye on it.

Click-through Rate (CTR)

Your CTR is the percentage of people who actually clicked on your ad after seeing it.

To calculate this, you would divide the number of clicks by the number of impressions, then multiply by 100, for example:

280 people saw your ad, and you had 14 clicks.

(14/280) x 100 = 5

Your CTR is 5%

The higher your CTR is, the more likely it is that your ad is resonating with your target audience.

If it resonates, then it’s more likely to drive conversions.

Conversion Rate

A conversion rate is the percentage of people who carried out the desired action on your website, after clicking on your ad.

Similar to CTR, your conversion rate can be measured pretty easily, you divide the number of conversions by the number of clicks, then multiply by 100.

The ad got 14 clicks, and you had 5 conversions.

(5/14) x 100 = 35.7

Your conversion rate is 35.7%

A conversion can be a whole range of things, from filling out a form, making a purchase, or signing up for a newsletter.

Tracking your conversion rate lets you understand how effectively your ad drives conversions.

You may want to tweak your Call-to-Actions (CTAs) if you have a low conversion rate.

If you have a high CTR and low conversion rate, then you should ensure that your ad isn’t misleading or unrelated to the action you want them to take.

Cost per Click (CPC)

Most online advertising platforms follow a Pay per Click (PPC) model, so instead of paying the platform a sum of money to advertise, you pay a much smaller amount every time someone clicks on your ad.

This means you are only paying for actual results. 

CPC is simply the amount you pay for every click your ad receives.

The CPC will vary depending on the platform, audience, and what you are advertising.

For example, on Google Ads, if you are trying to advertise a niche product or service with low search volume, the CPC will be much lower than trying to advertise a saturated and popular product, that will receive many searches monthly.

It’s important to track your CPC so that you can fully grasp the cost-effectiveness of your ad campaign, and how much you need to spend to drive clicks and conversions.

Return on Investment (ROI)

Your ROI is the amount of revenue you generate from an ad campaign, compared to the amount you spent on it.

It can be calculated by dividing the amount of revenue by the amount of investment, then multiplying by 100.

You spent £1500 on an ad campaign, and you make £1800 in sales generated from the campaign.

(1800/1500) x 100 = 120

Your ROI is 120%

When you track ROI, you can understand the profitability of your ad campaign, which can advise you in decision-making on your future investments and campaigns.

Engagement

Engagement is the number of likes, comments, and shares your ad receives.

Similar to clicks, using engagement metrics allows you to see if people are enjoying and resonating with the ad.

The kind of engagement you are receiving also matters, think about comments.

If a user is taking the time to comment on a Facebook ad, by asking a question or making a statement, that shows obvious interest in what you’re offering.

A share is also incredibly valuable, as it acts as a type of endorsement and recommendation to their audience.

If you are receiving engagements, it shows that your brand is creating a buzz, and if you have meaningful engagements, it can drive sales.

Brand Awareness

There are a few different ways you can measure your brand awareness (According to Zapier) :

1. Social Listening
2. Branded search volume
3. Change in direct traffic
4. Backlink profiles
5. Brand awareness surveys
6. Social share of voice
7. Earned media coverage

Brand awareness measures how well your target audience recognises your brand.

An unknown brand won’t have anywhere near as many sales as a well-renowned brand does.

When you track brand awareness, you can see the effectiveness of your ad campaign in building your reputation.

When someone thinks of the type of product you’re selling, you want to be the first brand that comes to their mind.

When you are tracking these key metrics, you can gain insight into the overall effectiveness of your ad campaign.

You can then make data-driven decisions to optimise the campaign and create more successful ones in the future.

The more data and knowledge you have, the more successful you will be.

You can only fix things when you’re aware of them.

If you need help with your ad campaigns and analytics, contact our team and see how our marketing experts can help you.