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If you've ever stared at a spreadsheet wondering whether your campaign actually worked, you're not alone. In this step-by-step guide, I'll show you exactly how to build a marketing KPI report in SimpleKPI — one that tracks performance, proves ROI to stakeholders, and helps you make smarter decisions next time.
Why Use a KPI Report Instead of Just a Dashboard?
Dashboards are brilliant for a real-time pulse check — I use them every morning. But they're not built for storytelling. A marketing campaign plays out over weeks or months, and a dashboard alone won't tell you why your CTR dropped in week three or what changed after you doubled the ad spend.
That's where KPI reports earn their keep. A structured report lets you analyse performance over a fixed period, compare campaigns side by side, and give stakeholders the historical context they need to make real decisions — not just react to today's numbers. Research consistently shows that teams using structured performance reports are far more likely to hit their targets than those tracking metrics in isolation.
💡 SimpleKPI Tip: Based on our own data, teams that build their first centralised report are nearly 3× more likely to establish long-term performance tracking habits than teams managing scattered, individual metrics.
Our Scenario: Sunshine Getaways' Summer Campaign
To keep things concrete, we'll follow Sunshine Getaways — a travel agency launching their "Summer Escape 2026" campaign. They're promoting holiday packages across paid social, Google Ads, and email, and they need a clear picture of what's actually driving bookings.
The great thing about building this in SimpleKPI? Once you've set up the KPIs once, you can reuse them for every future campaign. That means instant, apples-to-apples comparisons — no rebuilding from scratch each quarter.
The 9 Marketing KPIs We're Tracking
These nine metrics cover the full funnel, from first impression right through to profitability. They're a solid starting point for any campaign — adjust them to fit your channels and goals.
| # | KPI Name | What It Measures | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Impressions | Total ad/content views across all channels | Number |
| 2 | Click-Through Rate (CTR) | Percentage of people who clicked after seeing the ad | Percentage |
| 3 | Website Sessions | Total visits to the campaign landing page | Number |
| 4 | Cost Per Click (CPC) | Average cost for each paid click | Currency |
| 5 | Leads Generated | Enquiries or email sign-ups from the campaign | Number |
| 6 | Booking Conversion Rate | Percentage of leads that became confirmed bookings | Percentage |
| 7 | Total Bookings | Number of confirmed holiday bookings | Number |
| 8 | Campaign Spend | Total marketing budget spent on the campaign | Currency |
| 9 | Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) | Revenue generated for every £/$ spent on ads | Number |
📌 ROAS benchmark: According to 2026 industry data covering 35,000+ advertisers, a median Google Ads ROAS of ~3.3× is typical across most sectors — a useful baseline when setting your targets.
Step 1: Set Up Your KPIs
Let's get your metrics into the system. This takes about five minutes if you use the spreadsheet import.
- Navigate to the KPIs tab in the main navigation bar.
- Click Add a KPI to enter them one by one, or use Import a Spreadsheet to upload all nine at once using our template.
- Organise your KPIs under a Marketing category to keep things easy to find later.
💡 SimpleKPI Tip: Use the advanced options to set the direction for each KPI. For CPC, lower is better; for ROAS, higher is better. Get this right and SimpleKPI will automatically colour-code your performance — green when you're winning, red when you need to act.
Step 2: Create a Data User for Each Campaign
Here's a feature that trips people up at first but quickly becomes one of their favourites. In SimpleKPI, Data Users aren't just for people on your team — you can use them to represent campaigns, products, regions, or any other entity you want to track independently.
So instead of creating a brand-new "Impressions" KPI for every campaign, you create it once and assign it to multiple data users. Same KPI, completely separate data. Clean comparisons, zero duplication.
- Head to the Users tab.
- Click the dropdown arrow next to Add a User and select Add a Data User.
- Name it "Summer Escape 2026" and click Save.
- In the new data user's row, click KPIs in the Assign column.
- Select all 9 marketing KPIs and click Save.
Step 3: Add Your Campaign Data
With your KPIs and campaign user set up, it's time to feed in the numbers. You've got a few ways to do this — pick whatever fits your workflow:
- Manual entry — ideal for weekly check-ins or smaller campaigns
- Spreadsheet upload — great for bulk historical data
- Automated connections — link Google Sheets, use our API, or connect tools via Zapier for hands-off data flow
💡 SimpleKPI Tip: Whatever method you use, make a habit of adding KPI Notes when something significant happens — a budget increase, a creative refresh, a bank holiday. Those notes turn raw numbers into a narrative your stakeholders can actually understand.
Step 4: Build and Share Your KPI Report
This is the part where it all comes together. Follow these steps and you'll have a shareable, presentation-ready report in under ten minutes.
- Go to the Reports tab and select the "Data Entries by KPI" template.
- Click Customize and name your report — e.g., "Summer Escape 2026".
- Add all 9 KPIs from your Marketing category.
- Filter results to the "Summer Escape 2026" data user and set your campaign date range.
- Toggle on Trend and % of Target for visual clarity, then click Save.
Once it's saved, you can export to PDF or Excel for offline presentations, or share it directly inside SimpleKPI using the Restrict Data options — so each team only sees the numbers relevant to them.
A marketing KPI report is a structured document or digital view that tracks and analyses campaign performance over a specific time period. Unlike real-time dashboards, reports give you historical context, deep-dive analysis, and the narrative needed to explain why metrics changed — and how they align with your broader business goals.
In SimpleKPI, you track campaigns by creating a 'Data User' for each initiative — for example, 'Summer Escape 2026' — and assigning your marketing KPIs to that user. This lets you reuse the same core metrics across campaigns while keeping all the data completely separate for clean, accurate comparisons.
Dashboards are built for real-time monitoring — they're your daily health check. KPI reports are built for analysis over a set period, giving you the detailed breakdowns, context, and strategic narrative you need for stakeholder presentations and longer-term planning. Both have a role; they just answer different questions.
As AI tools generate more creative variations and autonomously adjust budgets in real time, structured KPI reports have become essential for checking whether those automated decisions are actually delivering ROI. Marketers are now using reports to set performance baselines for predictive analytics and to compare AI-driven campaign results against human-led efforts — keeping the machine accountable.
by Stuart Kinsey
Stuart Kinsey writes on Key Performance Indicators, Dashboards, Marketing, and Business Strategy. He is a co-founder of SimpleKPI and has worked in creative and analytical services for over 25 years. He believes embracing KPIs and visualizing performance is essential for any organization to thrive and grow.