How do I set realistic goals and KPIs for a campaign and monitor them during/after launch?
TLDR: Pick one objective and one North-Star KPI. Set green/yellow/red thresholds for fast decisions. Track everything in one Sheet. Review at 24h, during launch week, weekly, and in a post-mortem. Scale only what moves saves, followers, or revenue.
Start with one objective and one North-Star KPI
Pick one thing to win and tie it to one number you can track.
Examples
• Grow algorithmic reach → Save-to-stream percent. Target: at least 10% in the first 48 hours.
• Build a fan database → Cost per email or SMS. Target: up to $1.00.
• Monetise directly → Return on ad spend. Target: at least 1.20.
• Prove track market fit → Cost per save or cost per follower. Target: up to $0.15 per save or up to $0.20 per follower.
Tip: benchmarks change by genre and country. Start from your last release and try to beat it by 20 to 30 percent.
Set traffic-light thresholds
Use green, yellow, red to decide what to scale, tweak, or pause. Check in a 48-hour window at launch, then weekly.
Save-to-stream percent
• Green: 10% or more → add 50% budget.
• Yellow: 6% to 9% → try new creative or targeting.
• Red: under 6% → pull the track from low-engagement lists.
Skip rate at 30 seconds
• Green: 25% or less.
• Yellow: 26% to 40%.
• Red: over 40% → remove bad placements. High skips hurt ranking.
Cost per save
• Green: up to $0.15 → duplicate or scale the ad set.
• Yellow: $0.16 to $0.25 → refine the audience.
• Red: over $0.25 → pause spend.
Algorithmic share in week 3
• Green: 25% of streams or more.
• Yellow: 15% to 24%.
• Red: under 15% → boost organic and social to revive velocity.
Build one dashboard as your source of truth
Tool stack: Google Sheets or Airtable, Zapier, and UTM feeds from Linkfire or ToneDen.
Essential columns
Date, channel or campaign, spend, streams, saves, save percent, cost per save, followers, emails, revenue, ROAS, notes.
Automate feeds
• Ads and DSP CSVs: daily in week 1, weekly after.
• Playlist pitching (SubmitHub, Groover, PlaylistPush): log after each run.
• UTM URLs: capture in Linkfire or ToneDen and pipe to the sheet.
Live cadence
After 24 hours: check save percent, skip percent, and “streams from Other”. If a playlist gives under 3% saves, pull it.
Launch week: watch cost per save by ad set and playlist. Pause anything over $0.25 per save.
Weekly for 30 days: review algorithmic share, country save rates, and ROAS. Re-allocate budget and plan retargeting.
Post-mortem: compare KPI to target and write lessons learned. Update benchmarks and your playbook.
SMART goal templates
• Reach 1,000 email sign-ups at up to $0.90 each by day 30 using TikTok Spark Ads and a gated Linkfire form.
• Keep save-to-stream at least 12% and skip rate at most 22% in the first 48 hours to trigger Discover Weekly by week 3.
• Hold blended cost per save at up to $0.12 across SubmitHub, Groover, and PlaylistPush. Pause any source above $0.20.
• Generate $2,000 in merch revenue at ROAS at least 1.3 using Shopify and the Spotify Merch Bar within 45 days.
Common pitfalls and fixes
• Too many KPIs → limit to one North-Star plus two or three supporting stats.
• No UTM tags → add utm_source, utm_campaign, utm_medium to every link before launch.
• Ignoring regional differences → pivot by country and suppress spend where save rate or merch CPM is weak.
• Chasing streams instead of saves → algorithms reward saves and follows.
• Data in five dashboards → merge weekly into one sheet with Zapier or IMPORTRANGE.
Post-campaign debrief
• Did you meet the North-Star KPI? why or why not.
• Best and worst channels by cost per save and ROAS.
• Geo insights: top saving countries and cheapest followers.
• Creative winner: highest thumb-stop and watch time.
• Action items and updated benchmarks for the next release.
Key takeaways
• One clear objective with one North-Star KPI keeps everyone aligned.
• Use your own history for benchmarks and try to beat them by 20 to 30 percent.
• Traffic-light thresholds tell you when to scale, tweak, or pause in real time.
• One dashboard that merges streams, saves, spend, and revenue removes blind spots.
• Weekly reviews and a final debrief turn each campaign into smarter, cheaper growth next time.