8 advertising KPIs you must know | Blog

As a digital content creator, understanding the right advertising KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) is essential for optimizing your marketing campaigns and finding new users profitably. Whether you're selling video courses, downloadable resources, paid blogs, or other digital content, these KPIs offer insights that help you make informed decisions, adjust strategies, and maximize the return on your investment.

Key advertising terms & KPIs for content creators

KPI	Definition	How to Calculate
Impressions	The number of times your ad or content is displayed.	N/A
Click-Through Rate (CTR)	The percentage of users who clicked on your ad or link after seeing it.	Clicks ÷ Impressions x 100 = CTR %
Cost Per Click (CPC)	What you paid for each time a user clicked on your ad.	Total ad spend ÷ number of clicks = CPC
Conversion Rate	The percentage of visitors who take a desired action, such as purchasing or subscribing.	Conversions ÷ Total Visitors x 100 = Conversion Rate %
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)	The cost of acquiring a new customer through your advertising efforts.	Total marketing cost ÷ number of new customers = CAC
Return on Investment (ROI)	The profitability of your ad campaigns relative to the cost invested.	(Revenue - Total ad spend) ÷ Total ad spend x 100 = ROI %
Search Engine Rankings	How high your content ranks on search engine results, influencing visibility and traffic.	N/A
Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)	The cost incurred for each conversion or customer acquisition.	Total ad spend ÷ number of conversions = CPA

Awareness stage KPIs

In the awareness stage of your marketing campaigns, your goal is to reach as many potential customers as possible. The KPIs to focus on here, like impressions and CTR, help measure how visible your content is and how effectively it engages your audience.

Impressions: Track how many times your ad or content is displayed to users. This is key to understanding your brand’s visibility and reach.
Click-Through Rate (CTR): Measures the percentage of users who click on your ad after seeing it. A higher CTR signals that your ad is compelling and relevant to your audience.

Pro tip

While impressions are important, they don’t guarantee engagement. Pay attention to CTR to see if your ad copy or creative needs improvement. Experiment with different headlines, visuals, or CTAs to see what resonates best with your audience.

Consideration stage KPIs

Once potential customers are aware of your brand, they enter the consideration stage, where they begin evaluating your offerings. In this stage, KPIs like Cost Per Click (CPC) and Conversion Rate help gauge how well you're converting interest into actions.

Cost Per Click (CPC): Understand how much you're paying for each click on your ads. It’s important to keep an eye on CPC to ensure your ad spend is efficient.
Conversion Rate: This KPI tells you how effective your website or landing page is at converting visitors into customers. A higher conversion rate means that more people who visit your site are taking the desired action, like purchasing a course or subscribing to your blog.

Pro tip

To boost your conversion rate, ensure your landing pages are optimized for clarity and ease of use. Test different landing page themes (Psst, on Sherpo you can change theme seamlessly!), messaging, and offers. Integrating video content or testimonials can also help persuade visitors to take action.

Use case

Imagine you're running ads for a new video course. You notice a high CTR but a low conversion rate. This might suggest that while your ad is engaging, there’s a disconnect between the ad and the landing page. Try aligning your ad’s message with the content on the landing page, ensuring that users find exactly what they expect after clicking through.

Procurement stage KPIs

At the procurement stage, the focus shifts to acquiring customers and driving revenue. KPIs like Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and Return on Investment (ROI) are critical for determining the financial success of your advertising efforts.

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Tracks the cost of acquiring each new customer. A CAC lower than your lifetime value means you're acquiring customers profitably, which is crucial for scaling your content business.
Return on investment (ROI): This KPI measures profitability, helping you assess whether your ad spend is generating an efficient return, which is the ultimate goal of any marketing campaign. For example, an ROI of 100% means you’re earning twice what you spend, making your business highly profitable. A related metric, Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), is calculated by dividing total revenue by total ad spend. A ROAS above 100% is positive, while anything below 100% indicates an immediate loss.

Pro tip

To reduce your CAC, focus on retargeting ads to users who’ve already engaged with your content. These users are more likely to convert, as they are already familiar with your brand. In some cases, for example when selling memberships, remember that a short-term negative ROI can be offset by future purchases.

Use case

If you notice your CAC is too high, consider segmenting your audience by behavior. Let’s say users who visit your site but don’t purchase anything receive a follow-up email with a special offer or bonus. By targeting warm leads, you can reduce CAC and increase your ROI over time.

Enhancing Your Marketing with Sherpo's AI Tools

Sherpo’s AI-powered tools help you manage your business better to make smarter, data-driven decisions to optimize your marketing efforts. Here’s how:

Sales predictions: Sherpo’s AI can predict which products or content will drive the most sales, allowing you to focus your ad spend on high-converting items.
Content summaries: Automate summaries for your blogs, video courses, or other digital products, making it easier for potential customers to quickly grasp the value of your offerings.
Customer insights: Sherpo’s AI analyzes customer reviews and past purchase data to provide actionable insights, helping you better understand what drives conversions.

By monitoring these KPIs and using Sherpo’s tools to refine your strategy, you can drive more traffic, boost conversions, and improve the overall profitability of your content business.

To learn more about how Sherpo can support your content-driven business, check out our product features to see how you can build your courses, blogs, and other digital storefronts, or explore our distribution tools for seamless content sharing.