Focusing on Actionable Marketing Metrics for Business Growth

We get it, it’s really easy to get caught up in the thrill of watching your follower count tick upward or celebrating a spike in website traffic as you look at the marketing metrics of your business. But here’s a sobering thought: what if these numbers, which seem so important, are actually leading you AWAY from real business growth?

Welcome to the world beyond vanity metrics, where we put our egos aside and focus on the numbers that truly drive marketing success.

The Allure of Vanity Metrics

Let’s be real: vanity metrics are called “vanity” for a reason. They make us feel good, they stroke our egos, but often contribute very little to our bottom line. Some common vanity metrics include:

• The size of your social media following
• The number of page views you get
• The total size of your email list
• The number of people who download your app

Don’t get us wrong – these marketing metrics aren’t entirely useless. They can indicate a level of brand awareness and reach. But here’s the kick in the ass: they often don’t translate directly into business growth, and ultimately profitability.

The Follower Fallacy

Consider this scenario: You’ve worked hard and grown your social media following to an impressive 10,000 followers. Sounds great, right? But let’s break it down:

• On average, only about 8% of your followers will see your organic posts.
• That means each post reaches about 800 people.
• If you’re lucky, maybe 20% of those will engage with your post.
• Now we’re down to 160 people.
• Of those, how many are actually in a position to buy from you right now?
• For argument sake, let’s say 20%? That’s 32 people.

Suddenly, that 10,000 follower count doesn’t seem so impressive, does it? 10,000 people turn into 32 people in the blink of an eye.

Shift to Actionable Marketing Metrics

So, if vanity metrics aren’t the answer, what should you be focusing on? Enter actionable marketing metrics – the numbers that directly tie to business outcomes and inform your decisions. Here are some examples:

1. Conversion Rates: What percentage of your website visitors or email subscribers are taking desired actions? Whether it’s getting email sign ups, lead magnet downloads or making purchases, how many people are doing the things you are asking them to do?
2. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): How much does it cost you to acquire a new customer? This can be a tricky one to calculate, but knowing what you’re spending to get new customers is going to be key.
3. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV or LTV): How much revenue does an average customer generate over their entire relationship with your business? These numbers will come over time, but they will help you determine how much you should expect from a customer. As an example, your customer buys a $30 dollar product once a month for 3 years. That would be $360/yr x 3 years, giving you a CLV (or LTV) of $1,080.
4. Churn Rate: What percentage of customers are you losing over a given period? You can look at this over 90, 180 or 365 days, each of which will inform both shorter and longer term goals.
5. Net Promoter Score (NPS): How likely are your customers to recommend your product or service to others?

These metrics give you a much clearer picture of whether or not your marketing is working and how much growth potential you’ve got.

Now we know that the alphabet soup of digital marketing acronyms can be wildly confusing, but if you want to know more about what these acronyms are and what they mean, this is the book for you. It’s called “Digital Marketing Analytics: Making Sense of Consumer Data in a Digital World” and it will walk you through what the metrics are, where those numbers come from and how to successfully analyze the data you’ve got coming in.

You can find it here.

The Power of Segmentation

One of the most powerful ways to make your metrics actionable is through segmentation. Instead of looking at your audience as one big group, break it down into meaningful segments. For example:

• Customers vs. non-customers
• High-value customers vs. low-value customers
• Engaged email subscribers vs. inactive subscribers

By segmenting your audience by actionable marketing metrics, you can uncover insights that drive real business decisions. For instance, you might find that while your overall email open rate is low, a certain segment of your list is highly engaged. This could inform a strategy to replicate the success with that segment across your broader audience.

From Vanity to Action: A Case Study

Let’s look at a hypothetical example to illustrate the shift from vanity metrics to actionable ones:

Skincare Company X has been focusing on growing its Instagram following. They’ve reached 100,000 followers and are celebrating this milestone. However, sales haven’t increased proportionately. Here’s how they could shift their focus:

Instead of: Total follower count

Focus on: Engagement rate of followers who’ve also signed up for emails

Instead of: Total email list size

Focus on: Open rates and click-through rates, segmented by customer status

Instead of: Website traffic

Focus on: Conversion rate of traffic to email sign-ups or purchases

By shifting focus, the company might find that while their total following is large, a small segment of highly engaged followers who are also email subscribers drive the majority of their sales. This insight could inform a strategy to cultivate more of these high-value, cross-channel customers.

The Long-Term View

One of the challenges in focusing on actionable marketing metrics is that they often require a longer-term view. While vanity metrics can provide instant gratification, actionable marketing metrics might not show dramatic changes overnight.

Let’s run an example. A business gets an email subscriber who signs up in say January, maybe makes a small purchase, or opts in for a sample of some kind. For the next six months, this customer continues to open emails, clicks through to the site, but does not make another significant purchase. If the business looks solely at the immediate vanity metrics, it would be really easy to consider that customer “cold” and stop nurturing them.

Now, If this business takes the long term view of this customer where they are not “cold”, but simply not ready to purchase, they can tailor the nurturing they give that customer the information they may want or need, increasing the chances of that customer becoming a loyal, repeat buyer.

This is the difference between short term vanity and long term actionable marketing metrics.

Implementing your Actionable Marketing Metric Strategy

So, how do you shift your focus to actionable marketing metrics? Here are some steps to get started:

1. Identify Your Business Goals: What are you ultimately trying to achieve? More sales? Higher customer retention? Greater profitability?
2. Determine Your Relevant Metrics: Which numbers will give you insight into your progress toward these goals?
3. Set Up Your Tracking: Ensure you have the right tools and processes in place to accurately track these metrics.
4. Analyze Regularly: Don’t just collect data – analyze it regularly to uncover insights.
5. Take Action: Use these insights to inform your business decisions and strategies.
6. Iterate: As your business evolves, so too should your metrics. Regularly reassess which numbers are truly actionable for your current goals.

Shift Your Mindset, Shift Your Business

Perhaps the most challenging aspect of moving beyond vanity metrics is the mindset shift it’s going to ask of you. It means being willing to look beyond the numbers that make you feel good and instead focus on the ones that help you do good – for your business and your customers.

It means being patient, taking a long-term view, and being willing to dig deeper than surface-level numbers. But the rewards of this shift are immense. By focusing on actionable marketing metrics, you’re not just tracking your business – you’re actively steering it toward sustainable growth.

Wrapping Up

In the world of marketing your business online, it’s easy to get distracted by the allure of big numbers and quick wins. But true business growth comes from understanding and acting on the metrics that matter. By shifting your focus from vanity metrics to actionable numbers, you’re not just changing what you measure – you’re changing how you think about and drive your business growth.

So, take a hard look at your current marketing metrics. Are they making you feel good, or are they helping you do good? Are they vanity numbers, or are they actionable insights? Make the shift, embrace the power of actionable metrics, and watch as your business transforms from merely looking successful to being truly successful.

Remember, in the journey of entrepreneurship, it’s not about having the most impressive numbers – it’s about having the right numbers. Focus on what’s truly actionable, and let your metrics light the way to sustainable business growth.