Ever had to look at a ton of marketing graphs, charts, and data only to feel your brain turn to mush? Yeah, been there!
A lot of us in the business world want to make sense of our marketing results, but we’re not all super tech-savvy. Some of us might even feel a little tech-silly, and that’s okay!
In this blog, I’ll tackle the big question: what are metrics in marketing and how can they actually help you grow?
We’ll highlight which metrics you should actually give a damn about, why you should track them, and how to avoid turning into a data-obsessed zombie.
Sound like a plan? Let’s do it.
Why you should care about marketing metrics
Let’s get one thing out of the way: if you’re serious about your success, you need to track at least some basic numbers around your marketing efforts.
Why? Because ignoring data is kind of like trying to drive with your eyes shut – you might move forward, but who knows where you’ll end up.
Here are just a few benefits of keeping track of metrics:
- Reduce budget waste: By paying attention to marketing metrics, you’ll spot what’s working (and what’s not) before you blow your marketing budgets on stuff that won’t bring results.
- Make smarter decisions: Keeping an eye on analytics is the best way to shape your marketing initiatives, measure your marketing funnel, and figure out if your strategy is hitting the mark.
- Empower your team: Tracking metrics also shows you how your marketing team is performing, where your target audience is actually coming from, and which marketing channels yield the biggest returns.
- Understand customers: Tracking the right metrics is how you figure out your customer lifetime value, your customer acquisition costs, and how well you’re turning new customers into existing customers who keep coming back.
Meet the metrics that’ll become your future pals
Now for the juicy stuff. Here are the 4 most important metrics you should have on your radar – and how to track ’em.
#1 Website traffic
Your site is often the very first impression people have of your business, so it’s no shocker that web traffic is one of the key marketing metrics to watch. Website traffic shows you how many people arrive, where they came from (Facebook, Google Ads, etc.), and what they do once they land there.
- Total Sessions: Think of sessions like “visits”. It’s how many times people come to your site in a given period. A rising session count usually means your marketing efforts are on the right track – more interest, more eyeballs, more potential leads.
- Unique Visitors: This counts how many individual people have popped by, no matter how many times they visited. It’s a great way to gauge if you’re actually attracting fresh faces or the same 5 people.
- Pages per Session: This reveals how “sticky” your site is. If visitors click through multiple pages, that’s usually a sign your content is engaging, easy to navigate, and delivers on your marketing’s promises.
- Bounce Rate: The percentage of visitors who leave after viewing just one page. A sky-high bounce rate might mean slow load times, irrelevant content, or confusing navigation.
- Referral Pages: This metric tells you where your website visitors came from, which can help you figure out whether those who got in touch where marketing qualified leads or sales qualified leads.
How to track website traffic: Platforms like Google Analytics (GA4 now, in case you’ve missed it) give you a huge amount of data about user behavior. Just install the tracking code on your site, and let the insights roll in.
#2 Click-through rate (CTR)
If you’re running emails, display ads, or social posts, your CTR is basically how many people click your link out of the total who see it. It’s a great way to find out how compelling your message is.
A healthy CTR means your audience is actually interested in your offer, subject line, or call-to-action. If your CTR is tanking, maybe your ad copy needs a facelift, or your email subject line is about as exciting as last week’s leftovers.
How to track CTR: Most ad platforms (like Facebook Ads or Google Ads) show your CTR automatically. For email, platforms like Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign do the trick. Keep tabs on changes over time, and test different versions to see which one gets more clicks.
While you’re at it, you may as well expand your knowledge a little more. Check out “Why Is SEO Important? The Truth Behind the Hype.”
#3 Conversion rate
Conversion rate is the ratio of visitors who do what you want them to do – like sign up for your newsletter or book a call – compared to the total visitors. If 100 people visit a landing page and 5 sign up, you’ve got a 5% conversion rate.
Even if your traffic is soaring, it doesn’t mean much if nobody takes action. Conversion rate puts the spotlight on the actual value of your traffic. Are these visitors turning into new customers, or just window-shoppers?
How to track conversion rates: Set up goals in Google Analytics or use built-in stats in your eCommerce platform. Identify your main goal (like form submissions or purchase completions) and see what percentage of visitors cross the finish line.
#4 Cost-per-click (CPC) & Return on ad spend (ROAS)
If you’re running paid ads (part of many digital marketing strategies), you’ve probably seen these acronyms. CPC is how much you pay each time someone clicks your ad. ROAS tells you how much revenue you make for every dollar spent on ads.
These metrics shine a light on your customer acquisition cost – basically, how much it costs to snag each new lead or sale. If your CPC is high but your conversions are low, you might need to refine your targeting or ad copy. If your ROAS is strong, keep pumping resources into that campaign.
How to track CPC: Google Ads, Facebook Ads, or whichever platform you’re using will track this automatically. Just set your cost and revenue parameters, and you’ll see at a glance how your ads are performing.
Need a little help making sense of all that data?
So there you have it – the core metrics you need to track and why.
By zeroing in on the right marketing metrics, you’ll figure out if your marketing campaigns are doing their job, or whether your marketing team needs to pivot strategies. In short, you’ll have a data-driven roadmap for bigger wins.
If you’ve got questions – like how to measure customer acquisition cost or why your site traffic is high but conversions are low – go ahead and reach out.
I’m all ears, and I’d love to help you make sense of all those numbers.
