{"id":26353,"date":"2022-12-28T19:58:30","date_gmt":"2022-12-28T19:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/28\/check-your-ego-and-understand-the-metrics-that-matter\/"},"modified":"2022-12-28T19:58:30","modified_gmt":"2022-12-28T19:58:30","slug":"check-your-ego-and-understand-the-metrics-that-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/28\/check-your-ego-and-understand-the-metrics-that-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"Check Your Ego and Understand the Metrics that Matter"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n

Marketing agencies are quick to talk about the metrics that are leading indicators of incoming revenue.<\/p>\n

Traffic!<\/p>\n

Keyword ranking!<\/p>\n

Impressions!<\/p>\n

After all, this is the promise of inbound marketing<\/a>: traffic turns into leads, leads turn into sales.<\/p>\n

And yeah, this happens sometimes. But often, these so-called leading indicators are vanity metrics that don\u2019t show you anything beyond clicks. Somehow, the revenue never seems to come out the other end like you\u2019d hoped.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0Blogging works better when you write about topics your buyers care about.<\/a><\/p>\n

The false appeal of \u2018vanity metrics\u2019<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s easy to get inflated when you see certain number go up \u2014 especially if a number really starts to explode.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The exact definition of a vanity metric<\/span><\/a> varies depending on who you\u2019re asking, the idea is always the same: if data doesn\u2019t actually connect to your revenue, it can be a number that doesn\u2019t do anything except boost your ego.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But that definition never felt complete to me. So I\u2019m going to change it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s my new definition:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Any number without context can be a vanity metric.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Context is what ties a number back to reality.<\/span> Without context, numbers lack meaning. Even big ones like revenue and profitability can seem more impressive than they are if they\u2019re not considered in context of other things.\u00a0<\/p>\n

(For example, when I work with a business that boasts big revenue numbers, I\u2019m looking at everything else that contextualizes that figure<\/span><\/a>: debt, turnover, R&D costs, overhead, and a dozen other things.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Numbers without context have little meaning.<\/p>\n

Putting numbers in context<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s not that any of the so-called vanity metrics are meaningless. It\u2019s just that you can\u2019t draw assumptions based on just one thing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Will some of your traffic turn into leads?<\/em> Sure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But at the same time, fluffy content could draw in thousands of visitors who will never, ever buy from you.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

You’d have loads of traffic but no revenue.<\/p>\n

And vanity metrics aren’t just about marketing. Even as you get close to a sale, you need to be careful about your assumptions. A ripple in the economy could dilute your close rate and draw out your sales cycle, causing a great looking pipeline to suddenly dry up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When I work with companies looking to better track and predict the results of their marketing<\/span><\/a>, I help them to determine the metrics that matter \u2014 and then find the adjacent data that can provide context.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Determine the metrics that matter for your business<\/h2>\n

Finding the metrics that matter for your business will depend heavily on who you are and what you\u2019re trying to do.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a startup that just launched your website, you\u2019re going to care about different things than a company that\u2019s been around for twenty years. If you\u2019re a B2B SaaS company, your focus will be different than a specialized ecommerce business.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Still, there are things that should apply to every business that has a sales process.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Below, I\u2019ll outline some of the numbers I tell my clients to track \u2014 as well as the vanity checks that can help you make sure you understand what the numbers really mean.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Remember, always look for context to help any number have more meaning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That said, let\u2019s start off with the big one for anyone with a website.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Organic traffic:<\/h3>\n

This is seen as the broadest and most bragged-about metric in inbound marketing<\/span><\/a>. While it\u2019s important, it\u2019s also very limited in what it tells you.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What it shows you<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Organic traffic shows you that users are finding your content in search engine results. This means you\u2019ve done well with SEO and that your content is discoverable.<\/p>\n

Because people are finding you with search, it means they didn\u2019t necessarily know you even existed before they found you in a search result. This is a big deal.<\/p>\n

Why you need to put this number in context<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Organic traffic doesn\u2019t show you whether those searchers are qualified (or, frankly, human). It also doesn\u2019t tell you what these site visitors were searching for when they found you. (You\u2019ll need to use another tool like Semrush<\/span><\/a> for that.) You also don\u2019t know if they\u2019re staying on your site.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Other data points like session length<\/strong> (how long they stayed), page views per session<\/strong>, and bounce rate<\/strong> (what percentage left after reading just that page) can give you a more complete picture of your traffic health.<\/p>\n

But traffic only tells part of the story \u2014 even when put in context with other numbers. You can have high traffic with zero buying intent and you won\u2019t bring in any revenue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Session to contact rate<\/h3>\n

Session to contact rate is “the number of form submissions divided by the number of unique visitors,” according to the official HubSpot definition.<\/p>\n

In other words, this number shows what percentage of visitors convert and enter your database. This could mean they fill out a form, sign up for your newsletter, or download a guidebook, among other things.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What it shows you<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Session to contact rate shows how many visitors have gone from reading or viewing a piece of content to taking an action. They’ve given you their contact information in exchange for an offer or learning more.<\/p>\n

Why you need to put this number in context<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Session to contact rate is a better indicator of how qualified visitors are, but it still won\u2019t correlate directly to sales. For example, if you\u2019re a B2B business, you don\u2019t know if the person who fills out the form is actually a decision-maker.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What’s more, buyers might not want to convert on an offer before they make a purchase \u2014 and most visitors who do convert will not become customers.<\/p>\n

Or, you might have a dynamite CTA that gets people to click and submit, but the offer isn\u2019t close enough to what you sell to produce good-fit leads.\u00a0<\/p>\n

New contacts<\/h3>\n

New contacts are those visitors that enter your database in any given period of time. They\u2019ve taken an action to engage with your business. That\u2019s great.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What it shows you<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Having a robust database means you\u2019ll have a good list to prospect, send newsletters to, invite to events, etc. And a growing database is a sign that your conversion offers are good ones.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why you need to put this number in context<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Just today, IMPACT has added 45 new contacts. In a given week, we\u2019re adding hundreds. This feels good and shows us that people are converting on our website, but there\u2019s no guarantee that any of them will buy from us. In fact, it\u2019s likely that zero of the 45 will become customers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

(And honestly, if you look closely at your contacts, you\u2019ll always find a few mickeymouse@yourmom.com<\/span>. In other words, they\u2019re not all valid. Some are just filling out the form to get what they want \u2014 and they\u2019ll never turn into customers.)<\/p>\n

Sure, these 45 new contacts receive our newsletter and help us feel good about reaching a bigger audience, but if that audience isn\u2019t buying, it\u2019s not doing us much good.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sales appointments booked<\/h3>\n

Now we\u2019re getting into the good stuff. A sales appointment booked is just what it sounds like: There is a meeting set between someone on your sales team and a prospective customer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What it shows you<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Sales appointments booked are a good indicator of potential revenue. Once you know your close rate, you can extrapolate and get a good idea of how many will turn into sales.<\/p>\n

Why you need to put this number in context<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In a perfect world, your sales team only meets with qualified, high-intent, good-fit prospects. But that\u2019s not always the case.<\/p>\n

Businesses try to qualify their prospects \u2014 or do research with tools like ZoomInfo to be sure they\u2019re not wasting their time talking to someone who won\u2019t become a customer. But the reality is that a good number of your sales appointments will not turn into revenue.<\/p>\n

Despite your best efforts, you\u2019ll still end up talking to people who\u00a0<\/p>\n