21 Advertising Metrics to Help You Measure Your Performance

Ads person to beryllium a large portion of your trading strategy. But smart and successful campaigns request information to optimize wherever you tally ads, really you tally ads, and to way your gross from ads. In short, you request metrics to spot really your ads perform. 

After all, you tin only power and amended what you measure. 

The pursuing metrics are the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for immoderate advertizing campaign. They fundamentally measurement really successful your ads are because they way your main desired outcomes. 

As a norm of thumb, you should beryllium monitoring all the pursuing superior advertisement metrics for each advertisement strategy you launch.

1. Conversions

Conversions are the logic you’re moving ads. They are the full number of times a personification interacts pinch your advertisement successful the measurement that you want – and this doesn’t ever mean sales. For example, a conversion could beryllium a customer subscribing to your newsletter, downloading your app, aliases taking different action - for illustration buying your product. 

Conversions are a apical metric because they show you if your advertisement is achieving what you want it to.

Tools to Measure Conversions:

Tools for illustration Google Analytics (where conversions are called “Key events”), Google Ads, Meta Ads Manager (for Facebook ads), and conversion-tracking pixels (for LinkedIn and Meta ads) tin thief you measurement the number of conversions you achieve.

2. Conversion Rate (CVR)

Conversion complaint (CVR) is moreover much useful to know, arsenic it gives you the percentage of group who complete a desired action retired of the full number of group who clicked aliases engaged pinch your ad. It tin thief you optimize your ads, by ensuring you are moving the astir effective and businesslike campaigns. Note that this is not the aforesaid metric arsenic number of Conversions – which is the full magnitude of conversions you achieved. 

CVR tin bespeak the value of postulation that you bring to your website – i.e. that the group who get location are the group you want to get there. 

A precocious conversion complaint tin truthful beryllium an parameter that your advertisement content, flow, and personification acquisition align pinch your customers’ expectations. A little than expected conversion complaint tin thief you pinpoint areas successful your advertisement chimney that tin beryllium improved.

While astir of the advertisement search platforms you usage will cipher the conversion complaint for you, you tin do it yourself pinch a elemental formula:
Your CVR is calculated by dividing the number of full conversions by the number of full advertisement clicks (or impressions) and past multiplying that by 100.

For example, if you had 1,200 advertisement clicks and received 34 conversions, you would execute the pursuing calculation:

34/1200 = 0.028
0.028 * 100 =  2.8% conversion complaint (from clicks to conversions)

As mentioned above, conversions don’t simply measurement sales. This intends the CVR tin additionally thief pinch mid-funnel conversions for illustration personification registration, proceedings sign-up, email subscription, and demo booking. 

While these secondary conversions don’t straight lend to your return connected advertisement spend, they are an integral portion of the customer journey. The CVR for these actions informs you astir the value of what you’re offering (in customers’ eyes) and really overmuch imaginable location is for customers to person further arsenic a paid action.

Tools to Measure Conversion Rate:

Google Ads, AdRoll, Supermetrics, and Klaviyo tin each supply information for your conversion rate.

Competitor Ad Spend is really overmuch your competitors are investing successful their advertisement campaigns. This information lets you benchmark your ain advertisement spending and ensures that you’re staying competitory pinch different brands.

Tools to Measure Competitor Ad Spend:

AdClarity from Semrush is an app that estimates really overmuch brands walk connected ads complete specified timeframes. It provides information astir brands’ estimated expenditure for Google show ads, societal ads, and video ads connected YouTube.

Below is an illustration for Lego’s advertizing walk crossed each channels complete the past 7 days, focusing connected the US. 

We tin spot that the artifact shaper spent $1.6M overall, mostly connected video ads that were bought programmatically and arsenic show ads.

Semrush Advertising Research instrumentality tin besides estimate the advertisement walk for your competitors connected paid search. The estimate is based connected the keywords that their ads rank for, cost-per-click (CPC), and position information from Semrush.

Below shows the estimated advertisement walk and paid hunt positions for Lego.

Both AdClarity and Advertising Research are disposable done a Semrush free proceedings aliases paid subscription.

ROAS looks astatine the gross you make for each dollar you walk connected ads. It’s a elemental dollars in, dollars retired formula, calculated by dividing the full gross from your advertisement run by your full spend. A precocious ROAS intends that your advertisement campaigns are performing well.

Ultimately, ROAS tells you really profitable your run has been, meaning you tin determine really overmuch to put successful the future. It besides allows you to find which advertisement campaigns you want to prioritize erstwhile allocating fund and resources.

Tools to Measure ROAS:

Tools for illustration Google Ads and Meta Ads Manager are bully to support ROAS tracking. Shopify besides has an integrated ROAS function.

Also statement that ROAS is not rather the aforesaid arsenic return connected finance (ROI), which is besides a useful metric, but much difficult to calculate. That’s because ROI must return into relationship different factors including salaries, overheads and further costs. 

While ROI is simply a much powerful metric successful the long-run, it’s acold much challenging to cipher efficaciously – and truthful galore marketers opt to way the faster and easier-to-manage ROAS. 

5. Clicks

Clicks are the full number of times users click connected your ads. This metric is simply a nonstop parameter of really galore group person interacted and taken a desired action. Clicks are typically the first measurement toward conversions, truthful the metric is an important instauration for search your advertisement success. 

Tools to Measure Clicks:

Google Ads, Facebook Ads, X (formerly Twitter) Ads, Microsoft Ads, and galore much advertisement platforms automatically cipher the full number of clicks for your ad(s).

6. Click-Through Rate (CTR)

Click-Through Rate (CTR) measures the percent of group who click connected your advertisement aft they’ve seen it. 

It’s a much insightful metric than clicks alone, because it tin springiness you a consciousness of really engaging and applicable your advertisement is to your target audience. The higher your CTR, the much group are clicking connected your advertisement and the much imaginable location is for conversions.

CTR tin besides effect your quality people connected Google Ads (see beneath successful ‘Secondary advertisement metrics’). CTR is calculated by dividing the number of advertisement clicks pinch the number of advertisement impressions, and past multiplying that fig by 100.

Tools to Measure CTR:

Google Ads, Twitter Ads, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, Meta Ads Manager, and galore much platforms supply information for CTR.

7. Cost-Per-Click (CPC)

Cost-Per-Click (CPC) is really overmuch you walk for each click connected your ad. It’s calculated by dividing your full advertisement walk by the number of clicks you received. 

CPC is simply a bully metric because it shows a number of things:

• The ratio of your advertisement walk and reach; ideally you want tons of clicks without spending ample amounts of money.
• Ad platforms want to show highly applicable ads to their audiences. They reward precocious performing ads pinch debased CPCs. A debased CPC is truthful a bully denotation that your advertisement is good targeted.

Be judge to comparison your CPC pinch your CVR, because a debased CPC mixed pinch a debased CVR tin item a problem pinch your landing page, income system aliases moreover a mismatch successful customer expectations (i.e. what they expected to spot versus what they got). 

Conversely, a precocious CPC pinch a precocious CVR is usually little of an issue, because astatine slightest you cognize you are getting sales!

Tools to Measure CPC:

Many advertisement platforms see CPC successful their reporting, including Google Ads and Meta Ads Manager. 

Semrush besides offers CPC estimates successful its keyword investigation tools, wherever you’ll spot the metric listed adjacent to different metrics for illustration measurement and keyword difficulty.

Here it is successful a Keyword Overview study for Lego:

And again successful the array wrong the Keyword Magic Tool:

8. View-Through Conversions

View-Through Conversions are for illustration delayed conversions – the metric represents the number of conversions that hap after someone sees your ad, does not click connected it, but later converts via different channel. This metric tin show you the indirect power of your ad, peculiarly to measure marque consciousness successful your advertisement campaigns.

Tools to Measure View-Through Conversions:

Meta Ads Manager, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, and Google Ads tin each way view-through conversions.

9. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is really much, connected average, you person to walk to get a caller customer. It’s calculated by dividing your full advertisement walk pinch the number of full caller customers complete a play of time.

Knowing your CAC gives you an penetration into really overmuch each customer costs to get – which is simply a very useful point to cognize erstwhile mounting advertizing budgets. It besides intends you cognize really overmuch you’re spending to turn your business done ads. 

You tin past determine whether the costs is sustainable and worthy the conversions that you’re getting (see Customer Lifetime Value and your break-even number below) .

Tools to Measure CAC:

Tools for illustration Google Ads, Meta Ads Manager, and LinkedIn Campaign Manager tin cipher your CAC.

Your break-even number refers to really overmuch money you tin walk connected trading a azygous portion to a customer, earlier you commencement losing money. 

For example, if you are trading umbrellas astatine $10 and they costs you $6, your break-even number is $4. 

If you waste an umbrella and it costs $4 to waste it, you haven’t made aliases mislaid immoderate money connected the deal. But if you walk thing complete $4 dollars to waste a azygous unit, you commencement to suffer money. 

Knowing your break-even will thief you understand really overmuch you tin fund for ads, what your CAC intends for your bottommost line, and really good your campaigns are doing. 

10. Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)

Customer life worth (LTV) is different important metric to know, but only 1 that you tin measurement aft a definite play of time. 

LTV refers to really overmuch the mean customer is worthy to your business, complete the play that they proceed to walk money connected your merchandise aliases service. 

If your business sells 1 merchandise aliases work once, it’s beautiful easy to cipher – the LTV is the profit you make each clip you get a sale. 

However, if for illustration astir businesses, you get return customers, it’s a awesome thought to spot really often they acquisition from you, what the mean acquisition worth is, really galore years they do truthful for – and what the mean of this is. 

For instance, if you person an e-commerce business and you cognize that complete the people of a “lifetime” pinch your company, a customer will walk upwards of $1000, you cognize you tin walk a small much connected acquiring them successful the first spot - moreover if your first waste comes successful astatine a flimsy loss. On average, you’ll do well. 

Tools to Measure LTV:

You’ll request to person a CRM instrumentality successful spot to way and measurement income to measurement and found this metric. Segment and Google Analytics tin past support LTV reporting.

11. Revenue Per Conversion

A click doesn’t needfully lead to a conversion. That’s why Revenue Per Conversion is simply a metric that dives into the mean gross you make from each conversion you get. 

To find your Revenue Per Conversion, you disagreement your full run gross by your full number of conversions. As a metric it tin pass you astir the worth of your individual conversions based connected the gross that they make. You tin past find really to optimize your spending for the astir conversions, and the astir preferred types of conversions.

Tools to Measure Revenue Per Conversion:

Google Analytics is simply a bully instrumentality to observe your Revenue Per Conversion, arsenic good arsenic e-commerce platforms for illustration Shopify.

These metrics tin springiness you accusation astir why your superior metrics are the measurement they are – they attraction connected the supporting factors that impact your superior outcomes (aka your advertisement goals).

Unlike superior metrics, you should prime the secondary advertisement metrics that are astir applicable to your strategy. Think of the database beneath arsenic a buffet, wherever you prime the metrics that champion lucifer your marque appetite and taste.

Ad wave is the mean number of times a personification sees your advertisement during the clip your run runs. While it’s not a superior metric, it’s valuable to debar advertisement fatigue among your audiences (who are inundated pinch ads each day). 

If your advertisement wave is high, for example, that could awesome that users are seeing excessively overmuch of your advertisement and aren’t responding to it. You could truthful determine to update your advertisement aliases alteration really your target people.

Ad wave is calculated by dividing the number of advertisement impressions by the number of unsocial users.

Tools to Measure Ad Frequency:

Google Analytics, Facebook Ads, and Google Ads are bully resources to support atop of your advertisement wave metric.

13. Engagement Rate

The percent of group who like, share, remark aliases click connected your advertisement are what comprise engagement rate. This metric measures really interactive aliases engaging your advertisement is to your audience, telling you what resonates pinch them intellectually aliases emotionally. It’s fundamentally a measurement to gauge if you really cognize the group you’re talking to.

If you disagreement the full number of engagements pinch your advertisement (i.e. the number of likes, shares, comments, etc.) by the full number of impressions, you’ll get the Engagement Rate.

Tools to Measure Engagement Rate:

To way your engagement rate, effort Google Ads, Facebook Ads Manager and Instagram Insights.

14. Bounce Rate

You whitethorn already beryllium acquainted pinch bounce complaint from your website metrics. In the advertisement space, bounce complaint is the percent of group who click connected your ad, sojourn a landing page, and past time off without immoderate further interactions. 

It’s a bully metric to cheque that your advertisement and landing page are aligned, and the personification acquisition makes consciousness to your audiences. 

If you person a precocious bounce rate, that could mean that group weren’t expecting to get wherever they did, and truthful navigated away. Remember, improving your bounce complaint could boost your conversions.

To cipher your bounce rate, disagreement the number of single-landing page visits by the full number of landing page visits. 

Tools to Measure Bounce Rate:

Google Analytics will springiness you a bully thought of your bounce rate. 

15. Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM)

Every clip an advertisement is shown to someone, it counts arsenic an impression. You tin measurement really galore group person seen your advertisement (the reach) pinch impressions, However, beryllium alert that this is not the aforesaid arsenic personification engaging pinch your advertisement - aliases moreover noticing it. The number of impressions each advertisement gets gives you an thought of your ad’s visibility. 

A much useful metric is costs per 1000 impressions (CPM = costs per mille). This is really overmuch it costs for each 1000 times your advertisement is seen. While, again, it doesn’t show you overmuch astir engagement, a debased CPM is an denotation of an effective advertisement that’s getting a batch of clicks. Why? Because platforms reward precocious performing and good targeted ads pinch views.

CPM is calculated by dividing your full advertisement walk pinch the number of full impressions (which has to beryllium successful the thousands). 

Tools to Measure CPM:

Tools for CPM see Meta Ads Manager, Google Ads, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, and more.

Related reading: Average CPM for Display Ads: Benchmarks by Industry [Study]

16. Quality Score

Quality Score is simply a metric from Google Ads that is besides utilized by different advertizing platforms to bespeak the relevance and value of your ads, landing pages, and keywords. 

The people is measured connected a standard of 1-10 and tells you really good your advertisement value compares to your competitors. Your value people factors into really your advertisement ranks, arsenic good arsenic your Cost Per Click (CPC). It’s a awesome metric to consciousness if your advertisement is optimized overall.

Tools to Measure Quality Score:

Google Ads and Microsoft Ads tin make your advertisement value score.

17. Click-To-Open Rate (CTOR)

Click-To-Open Rate applies to email advertisement campaigns and is the ratio of group who opened the email compared to the number of group who click connected an advertisement nexus wrong the email. CTOR is insightful to cognize really good you tin get, and hold, people’s curiosity. For instance, personification whitethorn unfastened an email from you but not take to interact pinch the ad, implying a disconnect from the first constituent of interest.

CTOR is calculated by dividing the full number of advertisement clicks by the full number of email opens. 

Tools to Measure CTOR:

Email trading platforms for illustration HubSpot and MailChimp tin create your CTOR.

18. Cost Per Engagement (CPE)

Cost Per Engagement is really overmuch you walk to person an advertisement engagement (likes, shares, clicks, comments) from your assemblage members. Again, this metric tin uncover the cost-efficiency of your ad, and is adjuvant for brands that are focused connected building consciousness aliases societal impervious done their campaigns.

CPE is your full advertisement walk divided by the number of full advertisement engagements.

Tools to Measure CPE:

LinkedIn Campaign Manager, Pinterest Ads Manager, and much tin show you your CPE.

Your advertisement strategy will apt see video ads, which person their ain further group of metrics to monitor. If you’re utilizing these metrics, retrieve to merge superior advertisement metrics and the due secondary advertisement metrics arsenic well. 

19. Average Watch Time

Average Watch Time tracks the mean magnitude of clip group walk watching your advertisement video. It’s a metric to place if group watch the entirety of the video aliases if they navigate distant – and if so, aft really agelong and astatine what portion of the video.

With this metric, you tin determine what the champion magnitude of a video advertisement is for your brand, and what benignant of video contented is astir engaging.

Tools to Measure Average Watch Time:

Check retired YouTube Analytics, Facebook Video Insights, and TikTok Analytics for your Average Watch Time.

20. Cost Per View (CPV)

CPV is really overmuch you salary each clip a personification views aliases interacts pinch your video ad. A debased CPV suggests that your advertisement is being viewed by tons of group and that you’re spending a mini magnitude to tally it. It’s a bully metric to understand really cost-efficient your video advertisement is, and really galore group it’s reaching.

CPV is calculated by dividing the full magnitude spent connected your video advertisement by the full number of views aliases engagements it gets.

Tools to Measure CPV:

The likes of Vimeo Ads and TikTok Ads Manager way the CPV for your video ads.

21. Video Completion Rate

Video Completion Rate is the percent of group who watch the afloat magnitude of your video ad. This percent tin beryllium a reflection of the value of your video and its contented – a precocious video completion complaint shows that your advertisement tin get, and maintain, people’s attention.

To activity retired your video completion rate, disagreement the number of group who vanished your video advertisement by the full number of group who started watching the video. 

Tools to Measure Video Completion Rate:

YouTube Ads, Meta Ads Manager, and TikTok Ads each make your Video Completion Rate metric. 

Keep successful mind that if you’re comparing Video Completion Rate crossed different video ads, they should beryllium the aforesaid magnitude for a adjacent analysis.

Data is conscionable arsenic captious to your advertisement strategy arsenic the ads themselves. Metrics alteration you to really trial the effect of your work, and refine your ads accordingly – which leads to improved revenue.

In the oversea of metrics, make judge you cognize which ones are your lifeboat (primary advertisement metrics), and which ones make the astir consciousness to support connected committee pinch you (secondary and video advertisement metrics). 

Use devices for illustration Semrush on the journey, and you’ll observe a soft sailing advertisement strategy.