Marketing can feel like throwing money and time into the void. You post, you advertise, you update your website — but is any of it actually working?
The answer lies in tracking the right numbers. Not every number, just the ones that tell you whether your marketing is bringing in customers. These are your key performance indicators (KPIs).
Vanity metrics vs meaningful metrics
Vanity metrics look nice but do not necessarily mean business: follower counts, likes, impressions and page views. They are not useless — they can indicate awareness — but they are not the goal.
Meaningful metrics connect directly to revenue: enquiries, bookings, sales, cost per customer and customer lifetime value.
Focus your attention on the second group.
The essential KPIs
1. Number of enquiries (leads)
How many people contacted you this month? Count form submissions, calls, emails, WhatsApp messages and social media enquiries. This is the single most important number for most service businesses.
2. Lead source
Where did each enquiry come from? Google search, Google Maps, Facebook, Instagram, referral, a directory, your newsletter? The simplest way to find out is to ask every new enquiry: “How did you hear about us?” Record the answer.
3. Conversion rate
What percentage of enquiries become paying customers? If you get 40 enquiries and win 10, your conversion rate is 25%. A low rate might point to the wrong type of leads, slow follow-up or pricing issues.
4. Cost per lead and cost per customer
Divide what you spent on a channel by the leads or customers it produced. If €300 of Facebook ads produced 15 enquiries and 4 customers, your cost per lead is €20 and your cost per customer is €75.
5. Customer lifetime value
How much is a typical customer worth over the whole relationship? A restaurant customer who visits monthly for three years, or a website client who also buys maintenance and social media management, is worth far more than a single transaction. Knowing this tells you how much you can afford to spend acquiring customers.
6. Return on investment (ROI)
The ultimate question: did the marketing make more money than it cost? A simple version is: (revenue from marketing − cost of marketing) ÷ cost of marketing.
Channel-specific metrics worth watching
Website
- Visitors and where they come from.
- Conversion rate: the percentage of visitors who enquire.
- Top pages and pages people leave from.
Google Business Profile
- Calls, direction requests and website clicks. See our Google Business Profile guide.
Social media
- Reach and engagement rate, as indicators of content quality.
- Profile visits, link clicks and messages, as indicators of intent.
- Click rate and conversions. Open rates have become less reliable due to privacy features.
Paid ads
- Cost per result, conversions and return on ad spend. See Meta ads on a small budget.
Set up tracking properly
- Install Google Analytics 4 and connect Google Search Console.
- Track key actions as conversions: form submissions, phone clicks, WhatsApp clicks and bookings.
- Use UTM tags on links in emails, social posts and ads so you can see which campaigns drive visits.
- Use a CRM or simple spreadsheet to track every lead from enquiry to sale. See do you need a CRM?
Create a simple monthly report
You do not need a complicated dashboard. A one-page monthly summary covering enquiries by source, conversion rate, revenue from new customers and spend by channel will tell you most of what you need to know.
Make decisions with the data
Each month, ask:
- What brought in the most customers?
- What cost the most per customer?
- What should we do more of?
- What should we stop?
- What will we test next month?
Over time, this simple discipline will make your marketing budget work much harder. Our guide to setting a marketing budget shows how to put these numbers to use.
We provide clear, honest reporting for every client — focused on enquiries and revenue, not vanity metrics. Get in touch if you would like marketing you can measure.
