Influencer Campaign KPIs by Objective: Awareness, Consideration and Sales

KPIs by objective — quick reference

Use the table to match the objective a campaign was actually briefed for to the KPIs that genuinely measure it.

Why the wrong KPI turns a good campaign into a "failure" on paper

The most common reporting mistake in influencer marketing isn't bad tracking — it's judging an awareness campaign on ROAS, or a sales campaign on reach. Both produce the wrong verdict.

An influencer who generates 800,000 impressions for a product launch has done the job, even if the campaign produced only 12 direct sales — because sales was never the objective. Equally, a campaign with strong engagement but no tracked revenue isn't automatically a failure if the objective was consideration, not immediate sales. It only becomes a failure if the wrong thing was measured.

Decide the objective before the campaign starts, and decide the KPIs alongside it. Adding "and hopefully some sales too" to an awareness brief without changing the budget, format or CTA is the most common way a campaign ends up judged on a number it was never designed to deliver.

Awareness: what to measure when the goal is to be seen

Awareness campaigns exist to make a brand or product known to a new audience — typically for a product launch, entering a new market, or extending reach beyond the existing customer base.

• Reach. The number of unique people who saw the content. The closest thing to "how many people were exposed to the message."
• Impressions. Total views, including repeat views by the same person. Used alongside reach, not instead of it.
• Cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM). Total cost divided by impressions, multiplied by 1,000. Shows how efficiently the budget converted into visibility.
• Video completion rate. The share who watched to the end. Relevant when the message needs more than the first two seconds to land.

Clicks and sales aren't missing by accident here — they're rarely the point. Don't expect an awareness brief to deliver the same conversion rate as a direct sales campaign; that isn't what it was asked to do.

Consideration: what to measure when the goal is building trust before the purchase

Consideration sits between knowing a brand exists and seriously wanting to buy it. The objective is moving someone from "aware of it" to "actively weighing it up" — relevant for products with a longer decision process, a higher price point, or a need for social proof before someone acts.

• Engagement rate. The share of followers or reach who actively react to content. See the full formula and its methodological pitfalls in influencer engagement rate: how to calculate it.
• Click-through rate to site. Requires a tracked link or a UTM-tagged URL — see the setup in UTM parameters for influencer campaigns.
• Landing page visits and time on page. Shows whether traffic is actually examining the product, or clicking through and leaving immediately.
• Saves and shares. A stronger intent signal than a like — someone only saves or shares something they genuinely intend to revisit.

Click-through rate and engagement rate are useful in isolation, but they only become meaningful compared across several campaigns with the same objective — see how to avoid being misled by the number in influencer engagement rate.

Sales / conversion: what to measure when the goal is direct sales

Here the objective is unambiguous: an attributed action — typically a purchase — within a defined timeframe.

• Attributed revenue. Sales that can be traced back to a specific creator via a link, code or UTM.
• Conversion rate. The share of clicks that turned into a purchase. Low conversion on high clicks usually points at the offer or landing page, not the creator.
• Cost per acquisition (CPA). Total creator cost divided by attributed sales. See the full setup in how to track influencer marketing performance, and how CPA compares to cost per impression and cost per engagement in CPM, CPE and CPA in influencer marketing.
• ROAS. Attributed revenue divided by campaign cost. See the full formula and more worked examples in how to calculate influencer marketing ROI.

This category needs the most robust tracking of the three — see discount codes vs tracking links for the choice between the two primary methods, and attribution windows in influencer marketing for how long a creator should get credit for a sale.

How to choose the right KPIs before the campaign starts

Ask this before briefing a single creator: What does this campaign actually need to achieve, and within what timeframe?

A single campaign can absolutely carry multiple objectives across multiple creators — but each creator or piece of content should only be judged on the objective it was actually briefed to deliver. Blending objectives into one combined report hides which parts genuinely worked.

Worked example: same budget, three objectives, three different "good" results

The numbers below are hypothetical and illustrate only how each KPI is calculated and used. This is not a real Make Influence customer case.

A 90,000 kr. campaign is split into three equal 30,000 kr. briefs, each with a different objective:

• Creator A (awareness): 500,000 impressions for 30,000 kr. → CPM = 30,000 ÷ 500,000 × 1,000 = 60 kr.
• Creator B (consideration): 4,500 clicks to the site for 30,000 kr. → cost per click = 30,000 ÷ 4,500 = 6.67 kr.
• Creator C (sales): 150 attributed sales at an average order value of 400 kr. for 30,000 kr. → revenue = 150 × 400 = 60,000 kr. → CPA = 30,000 ÷ 150 = 200 kr., ROAS = 60,000 ÷ 30,000 = 2.0×

Judge Creator A on CPA, and the result looks like zero or a failure — because that brief never had a direct sales target attached. Judge Creator C on reach, and the 500,000 impressions Creator A delivered look far stronger, even though C delivered exactly what C was asked for. Each creator performed well — measured against the right number.

The most common mistakes

• Judging the whole campaign on one combined KPI, even when different creators were briefed for different objectives.
• Expecting sales numbers from an awareness brief, because sales "would also be nice."
• Using reach as the sole success criterion for a sales campaign, because the number looks impressive in a report.
• Switching the KPI mid-campaign because the original number isn't looking good enough — it breaks comparability with past campaigns.

Make Influence's operational perspective

In Make Influence's experience, the most valuable habit is writing the KPI into the brief itself — not just the objective in words. "Awareness" without an attached reach or CPM target leaves room for someone later to judge the campaign on an entirely different number. We recommend agreeing the primary KPI, a realistic expectation for it, and who is responsible for reporting it, before the campaign goes live — not as part of the closing report.

FAQ

Can one campaign have more than one objective at the same time?

Yes — but split the objectives across creators or content types, and judge each part separately. A campaign trying to do all three with the same creator and the same post usually ends up doing none of them well.

Which KPI should I use for a product launch?

Start with reach and CPM if the product is unknown to the audience. Add click-through rate and landing page visits if part of the budget is also meant to build consideration. Only add a sales target if budget and content are actually set up to drive direct sales.

Is ROAS a fair KPI for an awareness campaign?

No. ROAS assumes tracked, attributed revenue, which an awareness campaign is rarely designed to generate directly. Use ROAS for sales-focused briefs, not ones built to build recognition.

How many KPIs should I track per campaign?

One primary KPI per objective, plus a couple of supporting numbers to understand why the primary KPI moved the way it did. More than that makes the reporting harder to act on.

What if I can't track sales fully?

Use proxy signals and periodic incrementality tests instead of abandoning measurement altogether — see how to measure influencer marketing when you can't track everything.