How to Measure Marketing Performance with KPIs and Metrics: A Practical Breakdown for UA, SEO & ASO

Marketing success depends on data. Specifically, knowing how to measure what’s working. Whether your priority is expanding your user base, climbing search rankings, or increasing app installs, having a clear understanding of KPIs and metrics is non-negotiable.

This yellowHEAD special guide offers a practical, no-fluff approach to measuring performance across three essential areas: User Acquisition (UA), Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and App Store Optimization (ASO). You’ll get examples, tips, and best practices to help keep your strategy sharp, data-informed, and results-driven—with a focus on key performance indicators and key metrics and how they tie into real business impact.

Table of Contents

• What are KPIs and metrics in marketing?
• User Acquisition (UA): The KPIs that really count
• SEO: KPIs and metrics for organic growth
• ASO: KPIs and metrics for app visibility and installs
• How to choose and implement the right KPIs
• Building dashboards that actually drive action
• Custom reporting with yellowHEAD
• Real-World Results: Driving RPG growth with Spark Ads on TikTok
• Final thoughts

What are key performance indicators and metrics in marketing?

Understanding the difference between KPIs and metrics is key to building a data-driven marketing strategy. While the two terms are often used interchangeably, they serve different roles in measuring performance.

Key performance indicators vs key metrics

To build a marketing strategy rooted in performance, it’s crucial to distinguish between key performance indicators and key metrics. 

KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are the high-level, strategic measures that track progress toward your business goals. Metrics are the supporting data that offer context and explain the “why” behind a KPI’s movement.

Wrike frames KPIs as indicators of success tied to goals, while RIB Software highlights how metrics reveal what’s happening under the hood. This fundamental difference between a KPI and a metric in marketing is essential to building effective campaigns and dashboards.

What makes a good KPI?

Effective KPIs aren’t just about numbers—they’re about focus. The best ones:

• Reflect broader marketing or business objectives
• Measure outcomes, not just activity
• Are clear, limited in number, and actionable
• Guide ongoing decision-making

How metrics support KPIs

Metrics help you:

• Understand user behavior and specific processes
• Pinpoint friction points and areas for growth
• Explain why a KPI is moving (or not)

Examples: How KPIs & metrics work together

These key metrics examples illustrate how each KPI is supported by multiple metrics that provide deeper insight into user behavior, campaign performance, and areas for optimization.

The following are key metrics examples that support high-level KPIs and provide context into what’s driving success, or where optimization is needed.

User Acquisition (UA): The KPIs that really count

User acquisition sits at the core of any marketing strategy. Whether you’re running paid media, partnering with influencers, or optimizing landing pages, the mission stays the same: bring in new users and convert them efficiently.

Tracking the right KPIs helps you understand which channels deliver quality users, how much they cost, and how efficiently they move through your funnel.

KPI	Metrics	Why It Matters
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)	Cost per Click (CPC), Cost per Mille (CPM), Click-Through Rate (CTR), Conversion Rate	Helps determine the efficiency of spend to acquire each new customer.
Lifetime Value (LTV)	Average Order Value (AOV), Purchase Frequency, Retention Rate, Churn Rate	Ensures acquired users are valuable in the long term and justify acquisition costs.
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)	Revenue per User, Attribution Window Performance, Campaign-Level Revenue	Measures profitability of paid campaigns across platforms.
Conversion Rate	Bounce Rate, Time on Site, Form Completion Rate, Add-to-Cart Rate	Indicates how effectively campaigns turn users into customers or leads.
Retention Rate (D1, D7, D30)	Session Frequency, Uninstall Rate, Push Notification Engagement	Key for measuring post-acquisition value and predicting long-term revenue.

By aligning your UA efforts with smart KPIs, you’re not just driving more users – you’re driving the right users. Whether you’re optimizing for Retention Rate or maximizing your ROAS, clear measurement makes all the difference.

Meta (Facebook & Instagram) Advertising

Meta’s ad platforms, especially Facebook and Instagram, offer a ton of precision when it comes to targeting and creative flexibility. But performance doesn’t just happen by luck. To stay ahead of fatigue, audience overlap, and rising ad costs, constant testing and optimization are key.

Tracking the right KPIs will help you fine-tune your facebook ad campaigns, allocate budget wisely, and avoid wasting spend on underperforming assets.

Programmatic Advertising: Data-Driven at scale

Programmatic advertising offers the holy grail of scale, efficiency, and hyper-targeted delivery. But with that power comes complexity. To get a strong return, marketers need to keep a close eye on the right KPIs, especially those tied to placement quality, frequency control, and audience segmentation.

UA web campaigns (Paid Search & Landing Pages)

Paid search campaigns are powerful when it comes to capturing high-intent traffic. But intent alone doesn’t guarantee conversions. To drive results, you need tightly aligned keyword targeting, relevant Google ad types, and landing pages that deliver a smooth, convincing user experience.

Display advertising: Awareness meets acquisition

Display advertising is a bit of a hybrid. On one hand, it builds awareness through eye-catching visuals. On the other, it supports performance by retargeting interested users and guiding them back into the funnel.

To make display ads work, you need to go beyond impressions. The real value lies in understanding how well those impressions translate into engagement, clicks, and conversions.

Display is most effective when paired with retargeting strategies and creative that feels personalized. Controlling frequency ensures your ads don’t annoy users, while format testing can reveal which visuals are actually breaking through the noise.

SEO: KPIs and metrics for organic growth

Search Engine Optimization is a long-term play, but when it’s done right, it delivers sustainable traffic and some of the highest-margin conversions. The key is to focus not just on rankings, but on the performance indicators that reveal how your content is actually driving value.

With the right KPIs, you can measure how visible your site is in search results, how users engage with your pages, and how effectively those visits convert into business outcomes.

yellowHEAD Tip: Rather than obsessing over vanity metrics like impressions or rank position alone, smart SEO measurement focuses on user behavior and outcomes. After all, ranking #1 doesn’t mean much if no one’s clicking, or if those who do bounce immediately.

By aligning your SEO goals with meaningful KPIs, your team can better prioritize content, identify technical issues, and continuously improve how organic traffic contributes to the bottom line.

ASO: KPIs and metrics for app visibility and installs

App Store Optimization (ASO) helps your app get discovered, convert store page visitors, and drive more installs. But visibility is just one piece of the puzzle, tracking the right KPIs ensures your store listing is actually performing.

Bonus metrics to watch:

• Impressions & Traffic Sources – Help you understand where users are discovering your app (search, browse, or external referrers).
• Rating & Review Trends – Offer insight into user sentiment and impact both conversion rates and algorithmic ranking.
• Keyword Visibility – Tracks how well your app ranks across targeted search terms, helping you stay competitive in key categories.

Consistently tracking the right ASO KPIs helps ensure your store presence isn’t just visible, but also effective at converting views into long-term value.

How to choose and implement the right KPIs

Choosing the right KPIs isn’t just about tracking what’s easy, it’s about measuring what actually matters. To ensure your KPIs drive meaningful performance insights, follow these foundational steps:

1. Align KPIs with business goals

Begin by mapping your KPIs to what actually matters to your business. Are you focused on acquisition, retention, revenue growth—or all three?

• If you’re focused on customer retention, KPIs like LTV and churn rate are critical.
• If your priority is scaling acquisition, zero in on CAC, ROAS, and conversion rates.
• Different platforms call for different KPIs—what works for Instagram Ads may not apply to Google Ads or TikTok.

2. Define SMART KPIs

To stay focused and accountable, ensure your KPIs are:

• Specific – Clear and well-defined
• Measurable – Based on accessible, trackable data
• Achievable – Realistic within your team’s resources
• Relevant – Aligned with your broader objectives
• Time-bound – Tracked within a defined timeframe

SMART KPIs give teams clarity, consistency, and alignment—so no one’s guessing what success looks like.

3. Build reliable data pipelines

The best KPIs are only as good as the data behind them. Make sure your analytics tools are accurate, consistent, and able to scale with your needs.

• Google Analytics – Ideal for website and app traffic
• Mixpanel – Great for behavior funnels and retention
• Amplitude – Perfect for user-level product insights

Clean data is essential for building trust in your performance reporting.

4. Set benchmarks and a review cadence

Tracking is only useful when it’s compared to a baseline. Use historical data or industry standards to establish benchmarks and set review timelines.

• Weekly or bi-weekly – For campaign-level KPIs
• Monthly or quarterly – For strategic, high-impact KPIs

Regular reviews help spot shifts early and keep your team proactive, not reactive.

Building dashboards that actually drive action

KPI dashboards aren’t just for data display, they should help teams make faster, smarter decisions. The best ones are visual, focused, and built with specific stakeholders in mind.

Here’s what separates effective dashboards from digital noise:

• Keep it clean and visual – Use charts, scorecards, and graphs to highlight trends at a glance
• Tailor by team – Customize views for marketers, execs, product, and growth teams
• Use the right tools – Platforms like Looker Studio, Databox, or Geckoboard make it easy to build dashboards that update in real-time

Reporting Cadence: Timing Is Everything

• Campaign KPIs should be reviewed daily or weekly to spot performance shifts and respond fast
• Strategic KPIs (like retention, LTV, or ROAS) should be reviewed monthly or quarterly for longer-term planning

Custom reporting with yellowHEAD

At yellowHEAD, each department—UA, SEO, ASO, and Creative—operates with its own tailored reporting dashboard, built around your specific KPIs. These custom dashboards offer a clear, data-rich view into your key metrics, making it easy to drill down into campaign details and understand how your metrics and KPIs align with business objectives. Whether you’re tracking acquisition cost, keyword lift, or retention patterns, our real-time insights help uncover what’s working and where to optimize.

Real-World Results:Driving RPG growth with Spark Ads on TikTok

yellowHEAD partnered with a top-tier RPG mobile game to launch a high-impact user acquisition campaign using TikTok’s Spark Ads format. By leveraging organic creator content and amplifying it through paid promotion, the team was able to drive authentic engagement while scaling reach.

Through precise targeting, creative optimization, and real-time performance monitoring, the campaign delivered a significant lift in installs and in-app engagement, demonstrating TikTok’s power not just for awareness, but for actionable growth in the gaming vertical.

Final thoughts

The right KPIs are more than just performance numbers, they’re essential tools for aligning teams, driving accountability, and accelerating growth. When you clearly differentiate between KPIs and supporting metrics, tailor them to each marketing channel (whether it’s UA, SEO, or ASO), and track them consistently, your team is empowered to make smarter decisions, move faster, and deliver real, measurable results.

Ready to build a smarter reporting strategy? Get in touch with yellowHEAD to see how our customized dashboards and performance frameworks can help you turn data into impact.