What are the key performance metrics every marketing group should track?

Emily Team
Sep 15, 2025
3 min read

Whether you're managing campaigns for a small business or an enterprise brand, there are core performance metrics every marketing group should track to drive smarter decisions, optimize ROI, and demonstrate value to leadership.

Here’s EMILY®’s guide to the must-track marketing performance metrics — grouped by function and impact:

🎯 1. Lead Generation & Conversion Metrics

Metric	Why It Matters
Conversion Rate (CVR)	Measures how effectively traffic turns into leads or sales
Cost per Lead (CPL)	Essential for budget efficiency and CAC tracking
Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs)	Shows lead quality, not just quantity
Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs)	Indicates alignment with the sales team and pipeline health
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)	Ties total spend to revenue-generating outcomes

💡 EMILY builds full-funnel conversion tracking using GA4, Meta Pixel, Tag Manager, and CRM integrations.

💰 2. Revenue & ROI Metrics

Metric	Why It Matters
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)	The most important paid media performance metric
Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)	Critical for justifying acquisition investment
Marketing-attributed revenue	Proves marketing’s impact on the bottom line
Cost per Acquisition (CPA)	Helps track efficiency in conversion from click to close
Revenue per Lead / Customer	Gauges lead quality and buyer value

💡 We align these metrics with business goals like sales quotas, fundraising targets, or subscription revenue.

📈 3. Traffic & Engagement Metrics

Metric	Why It Matters
Sessions / Users	Tracks growth in top-of-funnel reach
Bounce Rate	Flags poor user experience or misaligned content
Time on Site / Avg. Session Duration	Indicates engagement depth
Pages per Session	Measures content stickiness
New vs. Returning Visitors	Helps segment cold traffic from loyal users

💡 EMILY uses GA4 and heatmaps (via Microsoft Clarity or Hotjar) to refine site UX and content structure.

📣 4. Ad & Campaign Performance Metrics

Metric	Why It Matters
Click-Through Rate (CTR)	Measures ad effectiveness and creative appeal
Impressions & Reach	Tracks brand exposure and audience size
Frequency	Identifies ad fatigue or overexposure
Quality Score (Google Ads)	Affects ad costs and delivery priority
View-Through Conversions	Captures assisted conversions from display/video ads

💡 We continuously optimize paid media budgets using these metrics to improve relevance and reduce waste.

📨 5. Email & CRM Metrics

Metric	Why It Matters
Open Rate	Measures subject line + sender effectiveness
Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR)	Gauges content + CTA strength
Unsubscribe Rate	Signals content fatigue or list misalignment
Lead Score (in CRMs)	Prioritizes sales outreach and marketing follow-up
Re-engagement Rate	Tracks retention and reactivation efforts

💡 EMILY builds lifecycle email automations and lead nurture flows to improve all CRM-facing KPIs.

🧠 6. Strategic & Diagnostic Metrics

Metric	Why It Matters
Attribution (multi-touch)	Shows which channels assist in conversions
Funnel Drop-Off Rates	Identifies weak spots in user journey
Campaign ROI by Channel	Enables smarter budget allocation
Landing Page Performance	Bounce, CVR, scroll depth — critical for CRO
Channel Mix Efficiency	Helps decide how to scale (SEO vs. paid vs. referral)

💡 EMILY combines GA4, CRM, Clarity, and ad platform data into real-time dashboards that simplify insights across departments.

✅ Summary: EMILY’s Core Performance Metrics Checklist

Category	Metrics to Prioritize
Lead/Conversion	CVR, CPL, MQLs, SQLs, CAC
Revenue	ROAS, LTV, marketing-attributed revenue
Traffic/Engagement	Bounce rate, time on site, session volume
Ads & Campaigns	CTR, frequency, quality score, view-throughs
Email/CRM	Open rate, CTOR, lead score, re-engagement
Strategic	Attribution, funnel analysis, channel ROI