Influencer Marketing Reporting: Which Metrics Matter
Updated on 11 November 2026
After a campaign there are often twenty screenshots on the table, and it is still unclear whether it paid off. The numbers are rarely what is missing. What is missing is a decision on which influencer marketing KPIs count for your goal. This article explains the main metrics, shows their limits and ends with a template for your report.
Goal first, metric second
Each metric answers a different question. Decide before the campaign which question you are asking:
- Awareness: reach, impressions, video views
- Interest: interactions, saves and shares, profile visits
- Visits: clicks to a link, shop or landing page
- Sales: orders, revenue, redeemed codes
- Content: the number of videos and images you can reuse
Judging an awareness campaign by sales leads to the wrong conclusions, and so does the reverse.
Reach and impressions
Reach is the number of accounts that saw a post. Impressions count how often it was displayed. If one person watches the reel three times, that is one account reached and three impressions.
Keep two things in mind. First, follower count is not reach. A post can reach fewer people than the channel has followers, or far more. Second, each platform defines for itself what counts as a “view”. So only compare views within one platform and one format.
Engagement: reading interactions properly
Interactions include likes, comments, shares and saves. The engagement rate puts them in proportion – to reach or to follower count. Both methods are common and give different results, so always state how the rate was calculated.
Look beyond the total. A save or a share often says more than a like. And read the comments: questions about price, size or where to buy show real interest. Ten heart emojis don’t.
Story metrics
Stories have figures of their own:
- views per story frame
- how many viewers stay to the last frame
- taps on the link sticker
- replies and reactions
- exits and taps forward
Stories disappear after 24 hours, so the screenshots have to be taken in time. Agree in advance when the creator saves the analytics. Our article on contract and briefing shows how to put that in writing.
Clicks and conversions: tracking links and codes
The figures in the creator’s account stop at the click. What happens next is yours to measure:
- Tracking links: a separate link per creator and per format, with parameters your analytics tool can read. That shows you visits, time on site and orders.
- Discount codes: a separate code per creator. It also works where nobody clicks, for instance when someone goes straight to the shop later.
- A dedicated landing page: useful when the campaign promotes one particular product or offer.
Expect gaps. People watch a video on their phone and order days later on a laptop, with no link and no code. Codes turn up on voucher sites and get redeemed by people who never saw the creator. Treat tracked sales as an indication, not a complete account. A short question at checkout (“How did you hear about us?”) fills in the picture.
CPM logic: putting costs in proportion
To compare creators, formats or channels, set cost against result:
- CPM (cost per thousand impressions): cost divided by impressions, times one thousand
- Cost per interaction: cost divided by interactions
- Cost per click: cost divided by link clicks
- Cost per order: cost divided by attributed orders
For the sums to hold, every cost goes in: fee, product and shipping, agency services, ad budget. Compare like with like only – a reel is not a story, and an awareness campaign is not a sales push. And remember what CPM leaves out: usage rights and exclusivity cost money but pay into your own channels and ads. Our article What does influencer marketing cost? shows how a budget is made up.
What the numbers don’t show
A report should also record what no dashboard contains. How good is the content? What is the community saying? Which message landed and which didn’t? Which videos would work in your ads or your shop, as with UGC marketing? And who would you work with again?
Reporting template: a checklist for your campaign report
- campaign goal and the metrics agreed beforehand
- overview: creator, platform, format, publishing date, link to the post
- per post: reach, impressions, views, interactions, engagement rate with the method used
- per story: views per frame, link taps, replies
- clicks, orders and revenue from tracking links and codes
- cost per item, and from that CPM, cost per click and cost per order
- analytics screenshots with the date they were taken
- observations: comments, questions, content quality
- conclusion: what to repeat, what to change, who to keep working with
How we work at W!
W! Influencer has been running campaigns for brands in Germany, the DACH region and across Europe since 2017, and represents its own talents in management. Our quotes list each item separately. That is the basis for relating costs to reach, clicks and orders later on. You can see examples of our work in the references. You get a reply to your enquiry within 24 hours. Request a campaign
Sources
- Bitkom e.V. (German digital association): survey on influencer marketing in retail – retailers with influencer experience spend 7% of their advertising budget on average; 64% say smaller budgets can also succeed: press release, 14 Aug 2025 (German)
- BVDW e.V. (German Association for the Digital Economy): guide “Influencer*innen im E-Commerce” – e.g. define buy-outs for all channels in advance; networks of micro-influencers with a comparatively small media budget: PDF, October 2025 (German)
Frequently asked questions
It depends on the goal. For awareness, look at reach, impressions and video views; for interest, at interactions, saves and shares; for sales, at clicks, orders and redeemed codes. Decide before the campaign which metrics belong to your goal and judge the result by them.
Reach is the number of accounts that saw a post. Impressions count every display, including when the same person sees the post several times. Impressions are therefore always at least as high as reach.
With a separate tracking link and a separate discount code for each creator. The link shows visits and orders in your analytics tool; the code also captures purchases made without a click. Neither covers every sale, because many people order later or on another device. Asking at checkout how someone heard about you rounds out the measurement.
Sandra Wrzosek is the founder and managing director of W! Influencer. Since 2017 she has planned influencer campaigns for brands and represented creators and TV personalities in her own talent management.