The 7+ Most Important PPC KPIs Every Marketer Should Be Tracking

Campaign success used to be measured by clicks and impressions, but this may no longer be adequate to measure the success of campaigns today. Since paid media has become increasingly automated and competitive, marketers should be focusing on the most important top PPC KPIs, not just at the surface level activity of a campaign, but the actual impact on a company’s business.

It is important to have an understanding of what these essential PPC KPIs are, as this will assist you in optimising campaigns more effectively, making better use of your budget and improving communications between yourself and the stakeholders associated with the campaign and all of its activities.

Why PPC Measurement Needs to Go Beyond Clicks

Today’s advertising platforms collect tons of data; however, manufacturers must be careful as to how they analyse this information. The majority of advertisers still rely on the basic PPC performance metrics, thus running the risk of misinterpreting these statistics and wasting money on ineffective advertising.

In order to effectively analyse PPC campaigns, advertisers need to focus on value instead of vanity metrics. As a result, they will be able to determine what factors contribute to growth and what needs to be kept on the front page, as well as which ads should be suspended altogether.

1. Profit and Revenue Impact

Having revenue yet not being profitable represents a higher risk of doing business. Experienced Pay-per-click (PPC) advertisers will often monitor a specific key performance indicator (KPI) and that is profit after deducting costs associated with running pay-per-click analytics or campaigns. This KPI is directly aligned with the ROI of the PPC campaigns’ true value and assists in providing a more accurate measurement of the effect of paid advertisements when budgets come under review.

2. Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)

Some customers deliver different long-term values to companies. LTV is how we can determine the value of that customer after that first conversion. As one of the most essential PPC KPIs, LTV gives us the ability to make informed bidding decisions regarding our online advertising and ultimately determines if we are sustainable as a company. Specifically, for subscription and repeat purchase models, LTV is an increasingly critical KPI to support long-term sustainable growth strategies.

3. Incremental Conversions

The purpose of incrementality is to determine if every conversion would occur whether or not the advertisement were present. Incrementality is a common KPI overlooked by many advertisers; it is one of the top PPC KPIs for advanced advertisers. Without incrementality, many campaigns may seem to produce successful results, without actually contributing any real value or addition to the company’s bottom line. Incrementality can also prevent many of the common Google Ads mistakes made inside Google Ads, like excessive spending on branded traffic or low-value traffic sources.

4. Cost Per Incremental Acquisition

Traditional CPA is not necessarily accurate. Cost per Incremental Acquisition (CPIA) will give you the actual cost of conversions that are directly attributable to Advertising.

CPIA gives you a clearer view into your PPC performance metrics while providing you with a more refined baseline for making better decisions about Budget Scaling or Reallocation.

5. Conversion Rate (With Proper Context)

Not only is the conversion rate a valuable metric, but if you segment Conversion Rate accurately, you can leverage the Powerful Conversion Rate to improve your business’s ROI with lead quality.

To obtain an accurate picture of your General PPC Performance, look at Conversion Rates along with Intent, Audience Type, and Funnel Stage, not in isolation.

6. Lead or Sales Quality

Quality is more critical than quantity in lead generation. Integrating your sales or Customer Relationship Management (CRM) data with your PPC or pay-per-click analytics enables marketers to determine the campaigns that generate revenue instead of simply inquiries.

This key performance indicator (KPI) enables teams to move away from basic reporting to provide more reliable measures of their Paid Media efforts.

7. Time to Conversion

Typically, customer journeys take time rather than happening instantaneously. So the “time to conversion” measures how long it takes for users to take meaningful actions after they click through an ad. Knowing how long it takes to convert into sales gives insight into customers’ buying patterns and how long they generally take to complete a sale. This helps ensure that optimization efforts are aligned with actual sales cycle timeframes as the PPC trends in a PPC change.

8. Pipeline or Revenue Contribution

Pipeline contribution is one of the most important metrics for businesses that engage with other businesses, and for companies that sell premium services (like an attorney). Advertisers should measure how their ad spend contributes to increasing revenue for their company. In addition, by measuring pipeline contribution, advertisers can present a clearer understanding of how their ad spend impacts company profitability and demonstrate to senior leadership that PPC investment is necessary to achieve profitable growth.

Supporting Metrics vs Strategic KPIs

Although CTR, CPC, and impression share can be valuable metrics for PPC, they should not dictate how success is defined; rather, they should serve as diagnostic tools to evaluate performance.

High-performing teams understand the importance of separating the metrics that support PPC campaigns from the actual KPIs, which allows them to respond appropriately to fluctuations in results due to short-term events such as holidays, seasonality, and other external factors.

How to Build a Smarter Measurement Framework

You can improve PPC Measurement Without a Massive Investment in Technology by Starting With the following Steps: 

(1) Aligning KPIs With Your Business Goals

(2) Reviewing Attribution Windows

(3) Integrating Analytic Data With Sales Data. 

This Can Be Achieved by Utilizing the Same Best Practices as In The Article “How To Develop a PPC Campaign Versus Winning At All Costs.”

When External Expertise Adds Value

With the increasing complexity of tracking and attribution, many organisations are looking to external experts for assistance. By working with an experienced PPC specialist, companies can implement advanced reporting frameworks while continuing to receive adequate performance results.

In the case of highly competitive areas, companies are frequently finding a top Dubai PPC agency to help them establish a strong local presence, create and implement tracking methods, and provide better performance benchmarks.

Conclusion: Measure What Truly Matters

It’s not about how much data you’re collecting, but what metrics you decide to measure. Depending upon the metrics selected to measure, paid media will either drive your business growth or serve as another cost centre for companies.

Use the top PPC KPIs that show the real business impact(s) of essential PPC KPIs and advertising when evaluating PPC advertising to promote growth. When marketers have an understanding of what is required to effectively manage and grow PPC channels, they will see PPC advertising as a strategic channel for a company.