Strategy and goals
North star metric
The one measure a team agrees most closely reflects the value it creates, used to settle trade-offs between other numbers.
What it is
For advertising it is usually close to revenue: qualified pipeline for a company that sells through sales, or new customers at a target margin for a store.
Why it matters
For lead generation and e-commerceAd accounts produce dozens of metrics that pull in different directions. A north star keeps clicks, impressions and platform scores in their place.
In practice
Pick the measure, agree how it is counted, and report every campaign against it before anything else.
A common mistake
Picking a measure the ads can move easily but the business does not feel, such as form fills or traffic.
All terms