Consultants' Corner

Are there new or emerging KPIs, especially with advances in digital advertising?

Regardless of which technology you use, marketers should track key marketing indicators, including number of leads generated, number of leads converted into sales, client retention, repeat purchases and revenues per client. You can break these down further to cost per lead, lead source, lead quality and conversions into different stages (meetings, proposals, etc.). The challenge we face is these are all “lagging” indicators that can’t be measured until after the associated activity has happened. “Leading” indicators will vary by firm and campaign but often include a combination of audience (size and quality) and engagement, but only when the two are used together.

Apoorv Dwivedi Fixyr apoorv@fixyr.com

CPAs love numbers. Here are three critical KPIs that will impress managing partners:

1. Lead sources (e.g., e-newsletters, blogs, etc.) show where decision-makers spend their time and help identify where to focus your marketing spend to close more deals.

2. Average cost per lead measures marketing and sales campaign efficiency in generating qualified leads. This will help determine if your client acquisition practices are cost-efficient and help with budgeting.

3. Cost per acquisition shows the effectiveness of your digital campaign and goes hand-in-hand with ACPL. Remember to calculate the average lifetime value of new clients who often are multi-year and multi-project sources of revenue.

Jonathan Ebenstein Strategic 7 Marketing jebenstein@strategicseven.com

Clients rarely choose an accountant after one ad click, so how do you know which digital marketing investment is working? While first- and last-touch attribution models used to be the norm, digital marketing platforms have recognized the need for multitouch attribution and have built it into reporting capabilities. Google Analytics 4 will include data-driven attribution models that distribute credit for conversion based on data for each conversion event. Facebook and YouTube have windows where purchase decisions can be attributed to an ad view in the past 30 days. Hubspot has an “influenced contacts and revenue” report. These newer attribution models are evolving, but the good news is they are more robust in giving digital advertising its rightful credit.

Anna Khayet Khayet Marketing Group anna@khayetmarketingroup.com

Interviews by Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk