Most Important Metrics to Track

• WordStream identified the most important metrics to track for the “greatest insights” into the best ways to use ad spend and what gets the most-effective results. These are: CTR (click-through rate), CPC (cost-per-click), CVR (conversion rate), and CPA (cost-per-action).

Benchmark: (CPL) Cost-Per-Lead

• Just like different industries have different averages for per-lead costs, different channels have different costs-per-lead, as well. Leads generated through display and CRM advertising cost the most, followed by SEA (search engine advertising), referrals, webinars, social media advertising, email marketing, retargeting advertising, social media, and SEO/content marketing, respectively.
• As of December 2019, the average cost-per-lead for various types of marketing (across all industries) are as follows: Traditional/offline marketing ($619), social media advertising ($58), LinkedIn advertising ($75), SEO channel ($31), events/tradeshows ($811), SEM channel ($110), email marketing ($53), referrals ($73), programmatic marketing ($38), display advertising ($63), content marketing ($92), webinars ($72), PR and earned media ($294), video marketing ($174), paid social media campaigns ($47), and retargeting campaigns ($31).
• In late 2019, LinchPinSEO released expected 2020 averages for various industries, including the healthcare industry. For the healthcare and medical industries, the cost-per-lead ranged from a low of $36 to a high-end of $286, with $160 being the industry average.
• In 2017, the average cost-per-lead for all health-related industries in the US was $37.

Benchmark: (CTR) Click-Through-Rate

• In 2018, healthcare industries outperformed “the average across all industries: 3.17% for search and 0.46% for display network for all sixteen fields.”

Benchmark: (CPC) Cost-Per-Click

• In 2018, healthcare industries performed above average in CPC rates “with $2.62 for search and $0.63 for the display network coming in under the average of $2.69 for search and matching the display network average.”

Benchmark: (CVR) Conversion Rate

• In 2018, healthcare industries earned a “search CVR of 3.36%,” which is below the average of all industries (3.75%). Experts note there is room for improvement on conversion rates in these fields.

• In 2018, healthcare industries earned an average display network CVR of 0.82%, higher than the average of all industries (0.77%).