# Campaign analysis: KPIs, baselines, ROI and tracking

*Marketing Cloud Engagement Specialist Study Guide · Insights and Analytics · Last updated October 29, 2026 · https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/marketing-cloud-engagement-specialist/insights-and-analytics/campaign-analysis-kpis-baselines-roi-and-tracking*

The analysis loop for an email campaign: define KPIs before the send, track with job-level tracking, reports, extracts and journey analytics, judge results against a baseline and benchmarks, calculate ROI, then act on what the numbers show with dashboard breakdowns and new journey versions.

- Certification: Salesforce Marketing Cloud Engagement Specialist
- Exam section: Insights and Analytics
- Study guide: https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/marketing-cloud-engagement-specialist

**Official exam objective:**

> Given an email campaign, describe the steps involved to analyze the performance results.

## What the exam expects

- Define campaign KPIs before the send, tailored to the campaign, organization or industry.
- Pick the tracking tool for the question: job-level tracking, the reports catalog, tracking extracts, the Journeys dashboard, Journey Health or Journey History.
- Judge results against a baseline and industry benchmarks, and calculate ROI.
- Use Intelligence Reports breakdowns to find patterns by email domain or weekday, and act on rising unsubscribes or hard bounces.
- Respond to a weak journey step with a new journey version, and read a data-view query that finds non-openers.
- Key terms: **KPI** (a goal or metric tailored to the campaign); **baseline** (a point of reference for judging success); **benchmark** (an external industry standard); **ROI** (how much a campaign earns compared with what it costs); **Journey History** (one contact's journey activity, by contact key).

## Key facts

| Fact | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| KPIs | Tailored to the campaign, organization or industry | [Evaluate Your Marketing Strategy](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/digital-marketing-roadmap-development/analyze-your-marketing-program) |
| Right after a send | Job ID tracking in Email Studio, real time | [Evaluate Your Marketing Strategy](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/digital-marketing-roadmap-development/analyze-your-marketing-program) |
| ROI formula | (Sales value minus cost) ÷ cost x 100 | [Evaluate Your Marketing Strategy](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/digital-marketing-roadmap-development/analyze-your-marketing-program) |
| Baseline | Consistent tracking over time gives the reference point | [Evaluate Your Marketing Strategy](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/digital-marketing-roadmap-development/analyze-your-marketing-program) |
| Journey History default | Last 30 days; drafts and deleted journeys excluded | [Optimize Campaign Analytics](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/journey-campaign-analytics-and-optimization/measure-journey-campaign-performance) |
| Goal evaluation | Each time a wait expires; daily at midnight CST if exit criteria set | [Optimize Campaign Analytics](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/journey-campaign-analytics-and-optimization/measure-journey-campaign-performance) |
| Journey Builder reports | Email Send Summary, Email Sends by Day; email or FTP delivery | [Optimize Campaign Analytics](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/journey-campaign-analytics-and-optimization/measure-journey-campaign-performance) |
| Engagement breakdowns | By Email Domain, By Day of the Week, By Audience | [Email Engagement Dashboard](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.mc_dat_email_engagement.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| No-opens sample query | Jobs under 500,000 subscribers; larger jobs use intermediate tables | [Query: No Opens or Clicks](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mc_as_query_find_subscribers_with_no_opens_or_clicks_ref.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |

## Check yourself

- When is goal attainment re-evaluated for a journey whose goal has exit criteria?
- Why can the Salesforce no-opens sample query not be used unchanged on a 600,000-subscriber job?
- Which journeys does Journey History leave out?
- What does the Journeys dashboard show for each journey?

## Sources

- [Evaluate Your Marketing Strategy Effectively (Trailhead)](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/digital-marketing-roadmap-development/analyze-your-marketing-program)
- [Optimize Campaign Analytics with Journey Builder (Trailhead)](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/journey-campaign-analytics-and-optimization/measure-journey-campaign-performance)
- [Email Engagement Dashboard](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.mc_dat_email_engagement.htm&language=en_US&type=5)
- [Email Overview Dashboard](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.mc_dat_email_overview.htm&language=en_US&type=5)
- [Query: Subscribers with No Opens or Clicks](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mc_as_query_find_subscribers_with_no_opens_or_clicks_ref.htm&language=en_US&type=5)

## About the full unit

The "Core concepts", "Exam traps" and "Worked scenario" sections of this unit, its 9 linked practice questions, and unlimited timed mock exams are included with the Marketing Cloud Engagement Specialist pack (USD $19): https://www.certifyforce.com/practice-exams