Spindustry Blog

Digital Ad Metrics You Need in Your Next Report

Posted by Jessica Plunkett on May 13, 2015
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Metrics

So you’re already experimenting with digital ads and seeing results using less money – kudos! However, when the annual budget meeting rolls around, you’re not quite sure of the best way to ask for more digital ad dollars.

Let the numbers do the talking. Spindustry breaks down the analysis metrics you need to monitor to run your ads efficiently and generate real-time money metrics for your team.

 

The Basics

  • Impressions or Reach – the number of people that have potentially seen your message
  • Clicks – the number of people who clicked on your message
  • Cost – the dollar amount of each impression or click
  • Clickthrough Rate (CTR) – total clicks / total impressions – a high level view of how engaged the audience is with the message

Why do these numbers matter? Everyone viewing the report is likely familiar with these terms and what the numbers mean.

 

The Impactful

  • Visits – the number of people who visited your site from an ad click
  • Visit Bounce Rate – the percentage of people who visited your site from a click and immediately left
  • Engagements – the number of people who take an action on your website – this might be downloading a document, signing up for an e-newsletter or buying a product

Why do these numbers matter? Properly tracked metrics allow you to follow the consumer along the path to conversion – stuff the higher-ups love to see.

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The Closers

  • Visit Rate – total visits / total clicks. This calculation tells you how many people clicking actually end up on your site. Remember, high = good, low = bad.
  • Engagement Rate – total engagements / total impressions. This calculation tells you the level of audience engagement for people who were shown the ad.
  • Cost-Per-Visit – total costs / total visits. This calculation tells how you how much it costs for that message to result in a visit to your site.
  • Cost-Per-Engagement (CPE) – total cost / total engagements. This calculation tells you how much it costs for that message to get an engagement on your site.

Why do these numbers matter? These numbers confirm the ad was truly beneficial. If the rates were high and the costs were low, you have your ad budget for next year locked up.

 

Questions You Will Be Asked:

What is a good engagement rate? What is a bad bounce rate or visit rate?

These are questions everyone wants to know. The best answer: a measurement that is better than the one yesterday.

If a previous campaign had a visit rate of 65% and now it’s at 75%, that’s good. If Channel A produced a CPE of $10 compared to a different, yet similar, Channel B CPE of $8.50, then Channel B is better.

These metrics are helpful to optimize your digital campaign by shifting volumes to the best performing channels and messages.

Why did we have such a low visit rate when the CTR is high?

A high CTR next to a low visit rate means there are a lot of accidental clicks on your ads. This ad is not performing well.


Why is the bounce rate high when the CTR and visit rate are high too? 

A high CTR with a high visit rate means your audience likes the message. The high bounce rate indicates the web page they landed on was either confusing or irrelevant to the initial message.

 

Armed with these metrics, you'll finally be equipped with the proof to validate your 
digital marketing efforts. But of course, you knew that a long time ago.

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Want to read more?
Check out blog posts on paid ads and analytics.

 

Topics: paid ads, analytics