Stop Obsessing Over the Wrong Metrics: Why One-Size-Fits-All KPIs Are Holding You Back

You’ve probably seen it.

Another spicy post on LinkedIn declaring that “ROI doesn’t matter anymore”, or that “ROAS is dead”, or “CTR is the only metric that matters”. And honestly? It’s confusing the hell out of people.

The problem with these blanket statements is they ignore one very important thing: your business is not the same as everyone else’s. Your goals, campaign types, products, and customer journeys are different, so why are you trying to measure success with the same set of KPIs?

Let’s break it down properly and bring some clarity back to your metrics.

What Are the Right Metrics (And When Should You Use Them)?

Here’s a breakdown of the key metrics marketers typically use, with pros, cons, and when they actually matter.

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

What it tells you: How compelling your ads are to your audience.

When to use it: Awareness campaigns or when testing creatives and messaging.

Watch out for: A high CTR is great, but if they’re not converting, it’s a vanity metric.

Also CTR may start to dip due to AI Overviews and AI Mode so monitor your search terms.

Average Cost Per Click (CPC)

What it tells you: How much you’re paying for each click.

When to use it: Budget planning, understanding efficiency, and analysing trends across campaign types.

Watch out for: Low CPC doesn’t always mean profitable traffic.

Conversion Rate (CVR)

What it tells you: The percentage of users who took your desired action.

When to use it: Mid to bottom funnel campaigns.

Watch out for: Poor tracking setup can skew this completely. Always check the conversion is meaningful.

Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)

What it tells you: How much it costs you to acquire a customer or lead.

When to use it: Ideal for measuring efficiency in performance-focused campaigns.

Watch out for: Not all conversions are equal. Is it a sale? A lead? An email sign-up?

Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)

What it tells you: Revenue generated for every £1 spent on ads.

When to use it: eCommerce and monetary value-led campaigns.

Watch out for: Doesn’t consider profit margins, returns, or customer lifetime value.

Impression Share

What it tells you: The percentage of available impressions your ads are capturing.

When to use it: Brand protection, competitor monitoring, and diagnosing drops in traffic.

Watch out for: Chasing 100% share is rarely efficient. It can inflate CPCs fast.

Bid Strategies and Conversion Thresholds: Feed the Machine

Smart bidding can be brilliant when it’s fed the right data. Most people forget that to use bid strategies like Maximise Conversions, Target CPA, or Target ROAS, the system needs enough conversion signals to actually learn and optimise effectively.

If you’re not meeting the minimum recommended thresholds (e.g. 15+ conversions in the last 30 days per campaign for tCPA, or 30+ for tROAS), your performance can suffer. Not because the strategy is broken, but because the system doesn’t have what it needs to work.

This is where micro and macro conversions come in.

• Micro conversions: add to cart, video views, email sign-ups. Great for building intent and feeding early signals.

• Macro conversions: purchases, bookings, completed forms. The actions that directly impact your business.

  
  

If you’re running Demand Gen or PMax, you need a mix of both. The machine can’t work miracles without signals, so be intentional about what you’re tracking and why.

Let’s Talk Product Journeys: Sofas vs Dresses

Imagine you run a home and lifestyle brand selling both luxury sofas and dresses.

Would you expect both to perform the same? Of course not.

Buying a sofa is a long game. Customers research, compare, measure their space, look at swatches, maybe visit a showroom. It might take weeks and multiple visits to your site before they convert. Six or seven clicks wouldn’t be unusual.

Now compare that to buying a dress for a wedding. The shopper might browse a few styles, see a shopping ad, click once and check out, all within the same hour.

Different intent, different funnel, different journey. So why would you use the same KPIs?

If you’re holding your £3,000 sofas to the same CPA target as a £150 dress, you’re going to end up making poor decisions and killing campaigns that are actually doing the job, just over a longer path.

Campaign Types Need Different KPIs

Not all campaigns serve the same purpose, so stop forcing them into the same performance box. Campaigns need their own job, their own goals, and their own measurement plan.

Campaign Type	Use Case/strategy	Best Metrics to Track
Search	Generic, Brand, Competitors	CVR, CPA, ROAS, CPC
Shopping	Product sales	ROAS, Conv Volume, Impression Share, CPC
Performance Max	Cross Channel Growth (Sales, Leads, Bookings)	ROAS, CPA
Demand Gen	Awareness to conversion	Micro Conv, CTR, Video Views, Assisted Convs
YouTube/Video	Awareness & engagement	View rate, CTR, Engagement Rate, Assisted Convs
Display	Brand awareness & Retargeting	Impressions, CTR, Conv Volumes, CPA

Competitive Landscape Matters Too

Even if your ads are on point, performance can take a hit when competition heats up. If you’re being outbid, or your competitors have stronger offers or better creatives, you’ll feel it.

That’s why it’s important to check your Auction Insights, Impression Share lost (budget or rank), and ad strength regularly. These help you understand:

• Who you're losing traffic to

• Whether budget or bids are holding you back

• If your offer, creative, or targeting needs to adapt

Sometimes it's not your ad that's underperforming, it's the competitive environment around it.

ROAS Isn’t a Strategy And You’re Not the Only One Noticing

Just before hitting send on this blog, the PPC Live newsletter landed in my inbox - and it included a gem of a line in their latest post: Why ROAS-First Marketing Hurts Your Business Growth

They wrote:

"ROAS obsession has become a dangerous metric to chase if you're serious about long-term growth."

And honestly? Couldn’t have said it better myself.

I’ve been seeing the same noise online, people clinging to ROAS like it’s the only thing that matters. But when you focus too much on short-term ROAS, you end up killing the very activity that fuels your future pipeline.

• ROAS shows what’s happening now, not what’s building next

• Cutting brand spend or top-of-funnel campaigns just because they don’t convert instantly is short-sighted

• A high ROAS today means nothing if your volume dries up next quarter

So yes, ROAS matters, but only when it’s part of a wider strategy. Growth comes from balance. Invest in brand. Test your creatives. Feed the funnel. And give every campaign the right job and the right KPI to match.

What Should You Be Doing?

Here’s how to make your metrics actually work for you:

✔️ Map your metrics to your goals, not just what’s trending online

✔️ Segment by campaign type and product category

✔️ Use both micro and macro conversions, especially with smart bidding

✔️ Ensure your campaigns hit the right thresholds to feed the system

✔️ Monitor competitive insights - they directly impact your strategy

✔️ Stop forcing all your campaigns to chase the same result

🔹 Final Thoughts

There is no universal truth in metrics. Only what’s right for your account.

The minute you stop treating every campaign the same, you start giving your strategy the space to breathe and the space to actually work. Whether you're running Brand, Demand Gen, Shopping, or Search, each has its place, each has its journey, and each needs the right KPIs.

And if you’re unsure where to start? That’s exactly what I help clients do at 4M Digital - build smart, tailored paid media strategies that go beyond vanity metrics and actually deliver.

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4M Digital is a paid media consultancy specialising in Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, and Paid Social campaigns. With over 15 years of expertise, we help businesses unlock the full potential of their digital advertising strategies through tailored management, audits, and training.