# Channel efficiency (https://webmetic.de/docs/en/icp-analytics/kanal-effizienz)

The **Channel efficiency** widget in ICP Analytics spreads your ad budget across the identified companies of each paid channel. At the end you'll have:

- for each channel, the share of companies that match your ideal customer profile
- the wasted part of your budget
- what one matching company cost you
- a proposal for how you could split the budget

## Before you start [#before-you-start]

- **Time**: The analysis takes about 5 minutes if you have the period's ad costs at hand.
- **Plan**: ICP Analytics is included in the trial, the Growth plan, and Enterprise. On Starter and Free you see a preview with sample data. If a partner manages your account, the partner decides whether the tab appears.
- **Rights**: You don't need admin rights, and the analysis costs no credits.
- **Ideal customer profile**: You need an [ideal customer profile](https://webmetic.de/docs/en/visitor-intelligence/zielkundenprofil) for the website, because without one, ICP Analytics hides the widget.
- **Data**: ICP Analytics needs at least 20 identified companies in the period you select.
- **Paid visits**: Your ads need UTM parameters with a paid medium or a click ID. The section Paid channels below lists the mediums that count.
- **Ad costs**: Webmetic doesn't import costs from your ad accounts, so you enter the amounts yourself.

## Open the widget [#open-the-widget]

In a narrower window the ICP Analytics tab shows only its icon, and its name appears when you point at it. On a smartphone, choose **ICP Analytics** in the dropdown at the top.

1. Click the **ICP Analytics** tab at the top.
2. In the date range picker with the calendar icon, choose the period your ad costs cover, for example **Last 30 days**. The page starts at **All time** every time you open it.
3. Scroll to the **Channel efficiency** card, which sits next to **New ICP accounts** in the default layout.

The link [**ICP Analytics**](https://app.webmetic.de/?menu=analytics) opens the tab for the first website in your account.

If the card is missing, click **Widgets**, then **Channel efficiency** under **Hidden**, then **Done**. This selection applies to all users of your account on this website.

## Enter budgets [#enter-budgets]

Each row is a paid channel made of source and medium, for example "google CPC" or "linkedin". The channels with the most companies come first.

1. In each row, enter under **Budget** what you spent on the channel in the selected period. The widget recalculates as you type.
2. Leave the field empty for a channel you don't want to include.

The widget remembers the amounts in this browser, separately for each website and date range. Your team doesn't see the amounts, and in another browser the fields are empty. The amounts belong to the date range, not to fixed days: **Last 30 days** covers different days tomorrow. Check the amounts each time you return.

![The Channel efficiency widget with budgets for three paid channels, the wasted amount, and the budget recommendation](https://webmetic.de/docs/media/en/light/kanal-effizienz-ergebnis.webp)

## Read the figures [#read-the-figures]

The widget counts the identified companies you see in Webmetic, not clicks or conversions. Each company counts once, in the channel that brought most of its visits in the period.

The widget spreads a channel's budget evenly across its companies.

The columns and boxes mean:

- **Fit rate**: The share of the channel's companies that match your ideal customer profile. The figure is green, orange, or red depending on its level.
- **Effective**: Budget times fit rate, so the part of your budget that fell on matching companies. The widget calculates with the share to one decimal place, for example 37.5% for three of eight, and shows the fit rate rounded to whole percent.
- **€/company**: Budget divided by the number of matching companies in the channel.
- **Total**: The sums over all channels with a budget, and under **€/company** the cost per matching company across all channels.
- **Green box**: The amount that reached matching companies, its share of the budget, the number of these companies, and the cost per company.
- **Red box**: The wasted amount, so the part of your budget that fell on identified companies outside your profile.
- **Budget recommendation**: The same total budget, split across the channels by fit rate. The box appears when at least two channels have a budget and the recommendation moves money.

[Relevance, activity, and fit](https://webmetic.de/docs/en/visitor-intelligence/relevanz-aktivitaet-und-fit) explains what counts as a match.

## Compare with a target page [#compare-with-a-target-page]

To compare the channels with a target page:

1. Click the **No target page** select at the top.
2. Choose one of the most visited pages, for example `/kontakt`. The widget then adds the **Goal rate** column.

The **Goal rate** is the share of the channel's companies that visited the target page in the period you selected. Webmetic saves the target page together with the ideal customer profile for all users of your account on this website.

![Channel efficiency with the target page /kontakt and the extra Goal rate column](https://webmetic.de/docs/media/en/light/kanal-effizienz-zielseite.webp)

## Adjust your budget [#adjust-your-budget]

To use the figures for your budget:

1. Look at the companies a channel brought you. The UTM search in the company list finds companies with visits from this channel, as described in [Campaigns and channels](https://webmetic.de/docs/en/visitor-intelligence/kampagnen-und-kanaele).
2. In the ad platform, sharpen the targeting of a channel with a high wasted amount, for example its audience or search terms.
3. If the fit rate is low in every channel, check your profile. The **Edit** button opens the **Ideal customer profile** dialog, and the widget recalculates right after.

The **Reset** button clears the ideal customer profile and the target page at once, without asking. For details, see [ICP Analytics](https://webmetic.de/docs/en/icp-analytics).

## Worked example [#worked-example]

Say you're a plant manufacturer and spend €3,000 on Google Ads in the period and €1,500 each on LinkedIn and Microsoft Ads, which the widget shows as "bing CPC". The widget doesn't show the number of companies per channel. The table lists it only to explain the calculation.

| Channel | Budget | Companies | Matching | Fit rate | Effective | €/company |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| google CPC | €3,000 | 8 | 3 | 38% | €1,125 | €1,000 |
| linkedin | €1,500 | 6 | 5 | 83% | €1,250 | €300 |
| bing CPC | €1,500 | 3 | 1 | 33% | €499 | €1,500 |
| Total | €6,000 | 17 | 9 | | €2,874 | €667 |

Of €6,000, €2,874 reaches matching companies, which is 48%, and the wasted amount is €3,126.

The **Budget recommendation** proposes:

- linkedin: €3,243, so €1,743 more
- bing CPC: €1,297, so €203 less
- google CPC: €1,460, so €1,540 less

Before you follow it, check that a channel sends enough companies to your website. Six companies through LinkedIn are few, and three through Microsoft Ads aren't enough for a decision.

## Paid channels [#paid-channels]

The widget only shows channels with one of these values in `utm_medium`: `cpc`, `cpm`, `paid`, `ppc`, `display`, `paid_social`, and `paidsocial`. Write `utm_medium` in lowercase.

Webmetic recognizes ads with a click ID even without UTM parameters, for example Google Ads as "google CPC". If both `utm_medium` and a click ID are missing, the channel doesn't show up.

The visit row counts fewer mediums as paid, as [Campaigns and channels](https://webmetic.de/docs/en/visitor-intelligence/kampagnen-und-kanaele) describes. If you use `utm_medium=cpc` or `utm_medium=paid`, the visit counts as paid in both views.

The widget always calculates in euros.

## Next steps [#next-steps]

- [Widgets](https://webmetic.de/docs/en/icp-analytics/widgets): Look up every widget in ICP Analytics and its figures.
- [Ideal customer profile](https://webmetic.de/docs/en/visitor-intelligence/zielkundenprofil): Define which companies count as a match.
- [Campaigns and channels](https://webmetic.de/docs/en/visitor-intelligence/kampagnen-und-kanaele): Set UTM parameters so that Webmetic recognizes paid visits.