How to Calculate Content Marketing Performance: Formula and Tips

To measure content marketing performance in 2024, you need a calculation that connects content activity to business outcomes, not just traffic spikes or a handful of form fills. A practical approach combines reach, engagement, and revenue impact into a single score you can trend over time, then pairs it with ROI so finance and leadership trust the numbers. If you need a broader measurement structure, use a measurement framework.

Most teams struggle with this because content journeys are multi-touch, many visitors stay anonymous, and CRM attribution is often incomplete. The goal is not a perfect number; it is a decision-ready view that tells you what to scale, what to fix, and what to stop.

To measure content marketing performance in 2024, score each asset on three normalized layers—reach, engagement, and revenue impact—then trend it over time. Use a simple formula: CPS = (Reach × w) + (Engagement × w) + (Revenue Impact × w). Pair CPS with ROI to align with leadership.

Content marketing performance is how effectively your content drives meaningful business results across the funnel. “Meaningful” depends on your model (self-serve vs sales-led, PLG vs enterprise), but it usually includes three layers:

• Reach: Are the right people seeing your content?
• Engagement: Are they consuming it in ways that signal intent and fit?
• Revenue impact: Does it create pipeline, accelerate deals, expand accounts, or reduce churn?

In 2024, content performance measurement increasingly needs account-level visibility. A blog post might look weak if you only count last-click leads, but it can be a major pipeline driver if it attracts high-fit companies that later convert through sales outreach, retargeting, or offline conversations. For more on attribution tradeoffs, see Sona’s blog post titled Single vs Multi Touch Attribution Models.

A concrete example: you publish a comparison page. It gets only a few direct demo form fills, but it is repeatedly visited by accounts that later become sales opportunities. That page is high-performing even if its “lead count” is low.

Formula

A single “master” calculation helps you compare content pieces, topics, and channels consistently. The key is to keep it simple enough to operationalize, but structured enough to reflect the full journey.

Where:

• Reach Index: A normalized score (0–100) based on qualified sessions, impressions, or target-account visits.
• Engagement Index: A normalized score (0–100) based on depth signals (scroll, time, repeat visits, key-page paths).
• Revenue Impact Index: A normalized score (0–100) based on pipeline created, pipeline influenced, closed-won influenced, or expansion impact.
• w1, w2, w3: Weights that reflect your priorities. Many B2B teams start with 30% reach, 30% engagement, 40% revenue impact, then adjust.

This is not an industry-standard metric; it is a practical framework. The advantage is that it forces consistency: you can finally answer “what content is working?” in a way that holds up across formats.

The simplest version (when you lack revenue attribution)

If you cannot reliably tie content to pipeline yet, you can still calculate a performance score using reach and engagement while you fix attribution. For practical metric ideas, review content metrics.

Use this for early-stage programs, new sites, or teams rebuilding tracking.

How to calculate each layer (step-by-step)

Step 1: Build a Reach Index (0–100)

Pick one primary reach input, then normalize it.

Common reach inputs:

• Organic sessions to content
• Total unique visitors
• Views from target accounts (best for ABM and enterprise)
• Impressions (for social and video)

Why median: averages get skewed by outliers. Comparable content means same format and similar age (for example, blog posts published in the last 90 days).

Step 2: Build an Engagement Index (0–100)

Combine 2–4 engagement signals that actually predict downstream action.

Common engagement inputs:

• Scroll depth (for articles)
• Time on page (with bot filtering)
• Repeat visits within 30 days
• Clicks to high-intent pages (pricing, demo, integration, security)
• Webinar attendance rate (for events)

Example point model (keep it consistent):

• 50%+ scroll: 2 points
• 75%+ scroll: 3 points
• 2+ minutes engaged time: 2 points
• Click to pricing/demo page: 5 points
• Return visit within 14 days: 4 points

Step 3: Build a Revenue Impact Index (0–100)

Use the best revenue signal you can trust, then normalize it. For sales-led B2B, pipeline influenced is often more stable than closed-won in short windows.

Possible inputs:

• Pipeline created from content-sourced conversions
• Pipeline influenced where content was an assisted touch
• Closed-won influenced (longer lag)
• Expansion revenue influenced (for customer content)

If you can identify anonymous high-fit visitors and connect later conversions back to content, this index changes dramatically. That is often the difference between “this post is a top performer” and “this post is a waste.” This is also where Sona can help teams identify new leads from previously anonymous activity.

Worked example: single blog post

Assume a blog post published last month drove:

• 2,400 sessions (median for last-month posts: 1,600)
• Engagement points earned: 9,600 out of 16,000 possible (based on your scoring model)
• Pipeline influenced: $180,000 (median for last-month posts: $60,000)

Calculate:

Now compute CPS with weights 30/30/40:

Why this matters: if you only looked at form fills, this post might look average. If account-level visibility reveals that several high-fit companies read it before entering pipeline, it becomes an 80+ score you can confidently scale via distribution and internal linking.

Worked example: portfolio performance for a quarter

For a Q1 content portfolio, compute CPS per asset, then roll it up in two ways:

1. Unweighted average: shows overall quality and consistency.
2. Weighted by business priority: for example, weight by target segment (enterprise content counts more than SMB content).

This is where better attribution changes decisions. Once pipeline influence is included, teams often find that:

• A smaller set of assets drives most revenue impact
• Some “traffic winners” contribute little to pipeline
• Certain topics accelerate deals (even if they do not create net-new leads)

When to use simple vs advanced calculations

Use a simpler calculation when:

• You are early-stage or rebuilding analytics
• You sell low-ACV products with short cycles
• You cannot connect content touches to CRM outcomes reliably yet

Use an advanced calculation when:

• You have multi-touch journeys and longer cycles
• Offline conversion moments matter (calls, events, demos booked by SDRs)
• You have multiple CRMs or multiple web properties
• You need an account-based view (content consumed by buying committees)

This is the practical heart of how to measure content marketing performance: start with a score you can compute weekly, then increase rigor as your attribution improves.

Benchmarks

Benchmarks for content marketing performance vary because “performance” is a composite. The most useful benchmark is your own baseline by format and funnel stage, but you can still use ranges to sanity-check.

Two important caveats:

• Benchmarks shift by intent: pricing and demo content should convert more but often has lower volume.
• Enterprise and high-ACV motions usually have lower direct conversion rates, but higher downstream revenue per engaged account.

Why It Matters

A unified content performance calculation prevents two expensive mistakes: scaling content that looks popular but does not move revenue, and cutting content that quietly drives pipeline through assisted influence.

High scores typically signal:

• Strong topic-market fit and distribution
• Content that attracts the right accounts, not just curious visitors
• Clear next steps that move buyers toward evaluation (pricing, demo, integrations, security)

Low scores mean you can diagnose the layer that is failing:

• Low reach, high engagement: great content, weak distribution or SEO visibility
• High reach, low engagement: mismatched intent, weak positioning, or poor UX
• High reach and engagement, low revenue impact: missing CTAs, broken nurture paths, or attribution gaps

Two metrics worth pairing with CPS:

• Pipeline influenced: to validate revenue impact assumptions
• Conversion rate by intent stage: to find where the journey leaks

Common Mistakes

• Treating vanity metrics as outcomes: Pageviews and likes are useful inputs, but they are not performance. Without engagement depth and revenue linkage, you will optimize for the wrong work.
• Ignoring anonymous high-intent behavior: If you only count known leads, you under-report content value, especially for enterprise buyers who research quietly and convert later through sales.
• Using inconsistent comparisons: Comparing a week-old post to a three-year evergreen post distorts decisions. Always benchmark against similar age, format, and distribution level.
• Letting last-touch win by default: Content often assists conversions rather than “creating” them. If you only credit the last touch (often branded search or retargeting), content will look weaker than it is. For a deeper breakdown, read Sona’s blog post titled First Touch vs Last Touch Attribution Models.
• Mismatched time windows: Content can influence pipeline this quarter and revenue next quarter. If you only measure within the same month, you will systematically undervalue early and mid-funnel assets.

How to Track

You can track the inputs across GA4, Search Console, your email platform, social analytics, and your CRM, but the hard part is stitching identity and attribution across systems. At minimum, set up consistent UTMs, define engagement events (scroll, engaged time, key-page clicks), and ensure CRM fields capture original source plus assisted touches. If you want additional practitioner examples, see this HubSpot thread.

Recommended cadence:

• Weekly: Reach and engagement indices; top and bottom performers by format
• Monthly: CPS trends by topic, segment, and distribution channel
• Quarterly: Revenue impact index updates using pipeline influenced and closed-won influence

Sona is useful here as a single view of content performance because it helps unify web behavior, account-level intent, and downstream revenue outcomes. That is especially important when you are trying to measure content marketing performance beyond form fills, including repeat visits to pricing pages, demo interest without submission, and multi-touch influence across ads, email, and outbound. To see this in action, book a demo.

Related Metrics

• Content marketing ROI: Converts content impact into a financial return so you can justify budget and compare content to paid channels.
• Pipeline influenced: Measures how often content appears in journeys that create or accelerate opportunities, even when it is not the final touch.
• Engagement rate (by format): A simpler leading indicator that helps you spot creative and messaging wins before revenue data catches up.

Conclusion

Mastering how to measure content marketing performance is essential for marketing analysts, growth marketers, CMOs, and data teams striving to make data-driven decisions that elevate their campaigns. By accurately tracking this KPI, you gain the power to optimize content strategies, allocate budgets more effectively, and measure success with confidence—turning raw data into actionable insights that fuel growth.

Imagine having real-time visibility into exactly which content pieces and channels drive the highest engagement and ROI, enabling you to shift resources instantly for maximum impact. With Sona.com’s intelligent attribution, automated reporting, and cross-channel analytics, you get a comprehensive view that transforms performance measurement into strategic advantage.

Start your free trial with Sona.com today and unlock the full potential of your content marketing efforts through smarter, data-driven optimization.

FAQ

What are the key metrics to measure content marketing performance?

Key metrics include reach (qualified sessions or target account visits), engagement (scroll depth, time on page, repeat visits), and revenue impact (pipeline created or influenced, closed-won deals). Combining these into a Content Performance Score gives a clear view of content effectiveness.

How can I calculate a Content Performance Score (CPS)?

CPS is calculated by weighting three indices: Reach Index, Engagement Index, and Revenue Impact Index. For example, CPS = (Reach × 0.3) + (Engagement × 0.3) + (Revenue Impact × 0.4), each normalized from 0 to 100 based on your content data.

How do I measure content marketing performance if I lack revenue attribution?

You can use a simplified CPS formula focusing on reach and engagement only, with equal weights: CPS = (Reach Index × 0.5) + (Engagement Index × 0.5). This is useful for early-stage programs or when CRM attribution is incomplete.

What benchmarks should I use to evaluate content marketing success?

Benchmarks vary by format but typical ranges include blog engaged time of 45–90 seconds, 75% scroll rate of 15%–35%, and content-sourced conversion rates of 0.2%–1.0%. Use your own baseline as the most reliable benchmark.

How can I track engagement and conversion from content marketing?

Track engagement through metrics like scroll depth, time on page, repeat visits, and clicks to high-intent pages. Conversions can be tracked by pipeline created or influenced in your CRM, combined with consistent UTMs and defined engagement events.

What tools or platforms can help measure content marketing performance?

Google Analytics 4, Search Console, email platforms, social analytics, and CRM systems are key tools. Platforms like Sona help unify anonymous web behavior, account-level intent, and revenue outcomes into a single content performance view.

How do I link content marketing efforts to revenue impact?

Link content to revenue by tracking pipeline influenced, closed-won deals influenced, and expansion revenue. Use normalized Revenue Impact Index scores and account-level visibility to assess how content assists sales beyond last-touch attribution.

When should I use a simple vs advanced content marketing performance calculation?

Use simple calculations when you lack reliable revenue attribution or have short sales cycles. Use advanced calculations with multi-touch attribution and account-based views when you have longer cycles, multiple CRMs, or offline conversion events.

Why is it important to measure content marketing performance beyond vanity metrics?

Vanity metrics like pageviews do not reflect business impact. Measuring performance with reach, engagement, and revenue impact helps avoid scaling ineffective content and ensures you invest in assets that drive pipeline and revenue.

How often should I measure content marketing performance?

Measure reach and engagement weekly, Content Performance Score trends monthly, and update revenue impact indices quarterly. This cadence helps you monitor content effectiveness and adjust strategies promptly.

Key Takeaways

• Unified Content Performance Score Use a combined score of reach, engagement, and revenue impact to measure content marketing performance consistently and make data-driven decisions.
• Account-Level Attribution Matters Include multi-touch and account-based attribution to capture the true impact of content beyond last-click leads, especially for high-fit enterprise accounts.
• Start Simple, Then Evolve Begin with reach and engagement metrics if revenue attribution is lacking, then incorporate pipeline influence as tracking matures to improve accuracy.
• Avoid Common Pitfalls Do not rely on vanity metrics alone, consider anonymous but high-intent behavior, and compare content by similar age and format to ensure meaningful analysis.
• Regular Tracking and Benchmarking Monitor reach and engagement weekly, CPS monthly, and revenue impact quarterly, using benchmarks and weighted averages to optimize portfolio performance.