Overview

Understanding your metrics helps you evaluate campaign performance, identify growth opportunities, and make data-driven decisions. This guide explains standard metrics across key areas such as website traffic, lead generation, paid campaigns, etc.



1. General Website Traffic and Traffic Sources

What It Measures:
The volume, origin, and overall quality of visitors to your website.

Sessions:

Total visits to your site (includes repeat visits).
Example: 5,000 sessions this month.

Unique Visitors:
Number of individual users visiting your site.
Example: 4,000 unique visitors this month.


Engaged Sessions:
The number of sessions where visitors meaningfully interacted with the site, based on Google Analytics 4 standards.
An engaged session occurs when a visitor:


  • Spends more than 10 seconds on the site, or

  • Views two or more pages, or

  • Completes a tracked action (such as Apply, Request Info, or Schedule Visit)

This metric helps distinguish higher-quality traffic from quick exits or low-intent visits.

Traffic Sources:
Breakdown of where visitors come from:

  • Direct Traffic: Visitors who type your URL directly.

  • Organic Search: Visitors from search engines like Google.

  • Referral Traffic: Visitors from other websites.

  • Paid Traffic: Visitors from paid campaigns (PPC, programmatic, or social).

How to Use This Data:

  • Monitor both sessions and engaged sessions to understand traffic quality, not just volume.

  • Focus on increasing high-value traffic sources that also produce strong engagement.

  • Analyze spikes or drops in traffic and engagement together to assess campaign impact.

  • Expect engagement to shift before inquiries or applications during enrollment cycles.


2. Organic Website Ranking

What It Measures: The visibility of your site in search engine results.

  • Keyword Rankings: Position of specific keywords in search engine results.
    • Example: "Student enrollment software" ranks #5.
  • Click-Through Rate (CTR): Percentage of users who clicked your link from search results.
    • Example: 100 clicks from 1,000 impressions = 10% CTR.
  • Domain Authority (DA): A score indicating how well your site might rank on search engines.

How to Use This Data:

  • Identify opportunities to improve underperforming keywords (e.g., ranks #11–20).
  • Monitor trends in rankings to measure the impact of SEO efforts.

3. Lead Generation

What It Measures: The effectiveness of your campaigns in capturing leads.

  • New Leads: Total leads captured during a specific period.
    • Example: 150 leads this month.
  • Lead Source: Where leads originated (e.g., organic, paid campaigns, email).
    • Example: 50 leads from social media, 100 from website forms.
  • Cost Per Lead (CPL): Average cost of acquiring a single lead.
    • Example: $1,500 spent ÷ 150 leads = $10 CPL.

How to Use This Data:

  • Focus on channels with the lowest CPL and highest lead quality.
  • Test different lead magnets (e.g., eBooks, webinars) to boost conversions.

4. Paid Per Click (PPC) Campaigns

What It Measures: Performance of paid search campaigns on platforms like Google Ads.

  • Impressions: How often your ad is shown.
    • Example: 10,000 impressions this month.
  • Clicks: How often users clicked your ad.
    • Example: 500 clicks from 10,000 impressions.
  • Cost Per Click (CPC): Average cost of a single click.
    • Example: $500 spent ÷ 500 clicks = $1 CPC.
  • Conversion Rate: Percentage of users who completed a desired action.
    • Example: 50 conversions from 500 clicks = 10% conversion rate.

How to Use This Data:

  • Optimize ads with high impressions but low CTR.
  • Monitor CPC trends to control costs.

5. Programmatic Campaigns

What It Measures: Performance of automated display or video ad campaigns.

  • Impressions: Total views of your ads.
  • Viewability Rate: Percentage of ads that are actually viewable.
    • Example: 75% viewability = 7,500 of 10,000 ads were seen.
  • Click-Through Rate (CTR): Percentage of clicks vs. impressions.
  • Conversion Rate: Actions taken after seeing your ad.

How to Use This Data:

  • Focus on optimizing viewability and CTR for better engagement.
  • Test different creative assets for higher impact.

6. Paid Social Media Campaigns

What It Measures: Engagement and conversions from social media ads.

  • Impressions: Total times your ad was seen.
  • Engagement Rate: Percentage of likes, comments, and shares.
    • Example: 100 engagements from 1,000 impressions = 10%.
  • Clicks: Number of users who clicked the ad.
  • Cost Per Click (CPC): Average cost of each click.

How to Use This Data:

  • Test different audiences and creative types to boost engagement.
  • Adjust budgets to favor the most cost-effective platforms.

7. Email Campaigns

What It Measures: Engagement and effectiveness of email campaigns.

  • Open Rate: Percentage of recipients who opened the email.
    • Example: 25 opens from 100 emails = 25%.
  • Click Rate: Percentage of recipients who clicked a link.
    • Example: 10 clicks from 100 emails = 10%.
  • Bounce Rate: Percentage of undeliverable emails.

How to Use This Data:

  • Optimize subject lines for higher open rates.
  • Use clear CTAs to increase click rates.

8. Blog Performance

What It Measures: Engagement and traffic generated by your blog posts.

  • Page Views: Number of times the blog was visited.
    • Example: 1,000 views this month.
  • Time on Page: Average time readers spent on the blog.
    • Example: 3 minutes.
  • Backlinks: External links pointing to the blog.

How to Use This Data:

  • Repurpose high-performing blogs into other content formats.
  • Update older blogs with new information to boost traffic.

9. Landing Pages

What It Measures: Performance of specific pages designed for conversions.

  • Conversion Rate: Percentage of visitors who completed the desired action.
    • Example: 50 conversions from 200 visitors = 25%.
  • Bounce Rate: Percentage of visitors who left without taking action.

How to Use This Data:

  • Test headlines, images, or CTAs to improve conversion rates.
  • Monitor bounce rates to identify areas for improvement.

10. Press Releases

What It Measures: Reach and engagement of distributed press releases.

  • Reads: Number of views or reads.
    • Example: 2,000 reads this month.
  • Shares: Number of times the release was shared on social media.
    • Example: 500 shares.
  • Referral Traffic: Visits to your website from the release.

How to Use This Data:

  • Focus on distribution platforms with the highest reach.
  • Use press releases to build backlinks for SEO.

Pro Tips for Using Metrics

  • Always look at trends over time, not just single data points.
  • Focus on metrics aligned with your business goals (e.g., conversions for sales-driven campaigns).
  • Test and refine campaigns based on performance data.

Need Help?

If you have questions about specific metrics or need assistance interpreting them, contact support@sonoritygroup.com.