Types of KPIs

Types of KPIs

Here are some broad principles of KPI classification that you could use to develop your project.

KPI Based on the Campaign Objective

Awareness/Positioning Campaigns

The purpose of an awareness campaign is to get in touch with a wide audience and make them remember the brand’s message or name. The objective of these campaigns is to generate awareness about the brand and what sets it apart from other brands, so that your target audience is inclined to favor it and keep it on top of mind.

To design a successful advertising strategy, you must have clear goals. Here are some objective indicators that could be met through an awareness campaign. 

  • Unique user reach: This refers to the total number of people who have seen your ad or content. It does not matter how many times they see it. They are individual, non-repeated people who have seen the ad.
  • Total reach: This is the percentage of people who saw the ad out of the total possible universe (total possible according to segmentation). For example, if the universe is 100 and 68 people saw the ad, the reach is 68%. 
  • Impressions: The number of times your ad or content has been shown on a screen.
  • Frequency: The number of times each person sees your ad. 
  • TRP (Target Rating Point): This is the sum of all the rating points reached by the ads of an advertising campaign. It follows the formula: reach x frequency. 
  • CPM (Cost Per Thousand): This refers to the cost paid by an advertiser per thousand impressions of an ad.
  • VTR or View Rate: The percentage of views of a video over impressions. Each platform has its definition of “view,” but a common standard is 30 seconds of playback, the length of the commercial, or an interaction with the video — whichever is met first.
  • CPV (Cost Per View): The average cost of a video view.

Conversion Campaigns

Conversion campaigns target specific user actions. For example: sales, traffic, adding items to the shopping cart, becoming leads, etc…

Some indicators to keep in mind when defining your conversion campaign objectives are:

  • CTR (Click Through Rate): The ratio of users who click on a specific link versus the total number of users who view a page, email, or ad.
  • CPA (Cost Per Action): Includes all types of conversions that materialize on a site or external application. For example: sales, registrations, downloads, etc.
  • CPL (Cost Per Lead): The average cost of obtaining a potential customer — typically refers to the moment an individual provides their contact information.
  • CPE (Cost Per Engagement): The average cost of interactions with the ad, including clicks, reactions, comments, shares, etc.
  • CPC (Cost Per Click): The average cost of a click leading to an external site or application.

Cost Model: While most platforms do not allow you to pay for the campaign per action, their algorithms are optimized to achieve the desired action. Typically, advertising will be charged by the number of impressions, clicks, engagements, or views.