Benchmark

A benchmark is a reference value you measure your own metrics against. Without a point of comparison, a number like a 1.2% click-through rate or a $45 cost per lead is neither good nor bad. Only the comparison with a benchmark tells you whether a campaign is performing above or below average.

Types of benchmarks

• External benchmarks: Industry averages, e.g. typical click-through rates or conversion rates for an industry on a platform.
• Internal benchmarks: Your own numbers from past periods or campaigns.
• Best-performer benchmarks: The best campaign or ad in the account as the yardstick for all others.
• Target benchmarks: Values derived from your unit economics, e.g. the maximum cost per deal you can afford.

Example

An agency manages five clients in the solar industry. Across all clients, the average cost per lead is $60 and the close rate is 8%, so $750 per deal. A new client gets $45 per lead but only a 4% close rate: $1,125 per deal. Against the lead benchmark the client looks strong, against the deal benchmark weak. So the problem is more likely lead quality or sales than the ads.

Benchmarks in lead generation

External benchmarks are useful for rough orientation at best. They mix countries, offers and campaign objectives, and almost always only measure what the ad platform sees: clicks and leads. For lead generation, your own benchmarks all the way to the closed deal are more meaningful, because they reflect your audience, your offer and your sales team. The guide to social media KPIs shows which metrics work well for this.

With LeadMetrics you see cost per lead, cost per deal and ROAS per channel, campaign and ad. In Ad Analysis you can compare up to 4 ads, even across projects, for example one client's best ad against another's. Learn more about the dashboards.

Common mistakes

• Blindly adopting someone else's benchmarks: An industry average from another country or year says little about your campaign.
• Only comparing platform metrics: An above-average click-through rate doesn't pay the bills.
• Comparing apples to oranges: Retargeting and cold prospecting have completely different normal ranges.