Even if you’re not a fan of numbers, understanding a few key marketing metrics can transform your business growth. Discover the essential KPIs every entrepreneur should track and how to measure them effectively.
Introduction
As an entrepreneur or small business owner, you probably started your company or brand because you had a product, service, or vision you believed in, not because you love working with numbers or tracking KPIs.
But no matter how passionate you are, you’re essentially running your business blind if you’re not keeping an eye on your marketing metrics. It may feel like you’re moving forward, but you won’t know if you’re on the right track or not.
We understand that numbers, charts, and spreadsheets can be intimidating, but the good news is that making sense of your business numbers isn’t as hard as you think. You don’t even need to be an expert – you only need to keep an eye on a handful of key marketing metrics to know what’s working, what’s not, and where you should focus your energy next.
In this article, we’ll break down the essential marketing metrics every entrepreneur should track and show you how to apply them to your business in simple, practical ways.
Let’s dive in!
Why Marketing Metrics Matter for Small Businesses
Small businesses typically run on small teams and very slim budgets. That means every naira or dollar you spend on marketing has to work hard and bring in good ROI. Marketing metrics help you measure whether your efforts are bringing results or it’s all just noise.
Metrics also give you the confidence to make smarter decisions. You could be a victim of pouring hours into Instagram posts that don’t convert, running ads that bring clicks but no sales, or sending out emails that no one opens. But by tracking the right numbers, you can identify what’s working and double down on it, while cutting back on strategies that don’t bring results. In short, marketing metrics give small businesses the power to compete smarter with bigger brands, even with limited resources.
Ignoring your marketing metrics is like driving with your eyes closed. You might get somewhere eventually, but you’re more likely to crash or take a very long and winding route. By tracking the right metrics, you can:
- See what’s working (and what’s not): Are your social media campaigns bringing in leads? Is your website traffic increasing? Metrics provide concrete evidence of what resonates with your audience and where you might be wasting your time and resources.
- Make smarter decisions: Instead of relying on gut feeling, you can use data to inform your marketing strategies. Should you invest more in email marketing or focus on content creation? The numbers will help you decide.
- Prove your ROI (Return on Investment): Knowing your metrics allows you to see the tangible results of your marketing spend. This is crucial for justifying your budget and showing the value of your efforts.
Six (6) Essential Marketing Metrics To Track
1. Social Media Engagement Rate
First off, if your brand or business still doesn’t have an active and optimized presence on social media, you need to work on changing that immediately! Having a consistent and strategic presence on social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter (X), Facebook, or TikTok is a crucial way to find your target, engage them with relatable content, and convert them to paying customers.
Engagement rate shows how your audience is interacting with your content. This includes likes, comments, shares, and saves.
Formula:
(Total Engagement ÷ Total Number of Followers) x 100%
OR
(Total Engagement ÷ Total Reach or Impressions) x 100%
*Total engagement = Likes + comments + shares
Higher engagement suggests your content is resonating with your followers. A highly engaged audience is also more likely to become paying customers. Most social media platforms provide these analytics directly and easily, and other tools like Sprout Social provide helpful benchmarks for measuring engagement across different platforms, so you know where you stand
To boost engagement rate, consider;
- Segmenting your audience and personalizing content to resonate with each segment
- Asking questions in your captions.
- Sharing behind-the-scenes stories.
- Posting consistently (quality + consistency).
2. Email Open and Click-Through Rates
Email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to connect with your audience. If you have an email marketing set up or plan in place, keep an eye on your open rate (the percentage of people who opened your emails) and your click-through rate (the percentage of people who clicked on a link within your email).
These metrics tell you how engaging your email content and subject lines are. Most email marketing platforms (like Mailchimp, MailerLite, HubSpot, or Zoho) provide the insights to help you track these metrics effectively.
3. Website Traffic
This is the number of visitors coming to your website. Think of your website as the digital equivalent of your storefront. If people aren’t walking through the door, it doesn’t matter how beautiful your setup is inside.
Website traffic tells you whether your marketing activities are attracting people to your business in the first place, and also lets you know the source of the traffic.
For instance, are most of your visitors finding you through Google searches, paid ads, social media, or referrals from other websites? If most of your traffic is coming from Instagram, that’s a clear sign you’re doing well there and might want to double down on those efforts. If you’re barely getting any traffic from search engines, it may mean your search engine optimization (SEO) needs work.
A tool like Google Analytics can give you a detailed breakdown of how visitors find your website, and resources like HubSpot’s SEO guide can help you strengthen areas where you’re weak.
4. Conversion Rate
Attracting visitors is only the first step. The more important question is: how many of those visitors actually take the action you want?
Conversion rate measures how many of your website visitors or leads complete a desired action. This action could be anything like filling out a contact form, signing up for your newsletter, or making a purchase.
Formula: (Conversions ÷ Total Visitors) × 100
For example, if 100 people visit your landing page for an ad you created, and 5 of them subscribe to your newsletter, your conversion rate is 5%. Similarly, if 1,000 people visit your site in a month and 40 of them make a purchase, your conversion rate is four percent.
A low conversion rate might indicate issues with your website design, your offer, or the quality of your traffic. But not to worry – small improvements can make a huge difference. Increasing your conversion rate from three percent to five percent could mean dozens more customers without increasing your ad spend.
To improve conversions, make sure your website is easy to navigate, your call-to-action buttons are clear and inviting, and your offers are compelling. Adding customer reviews or simplifying your checkout process can also play a huge role.
5. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
One of the most overlooked numbers in small business marketing is the cost of acquiring a new customer. Customer Acquisition Cost, or CAC, tells you how much you’re spending on marketing and sales to bring in each new customer. Understanding your CAC is crucial for ensuring your marketing efforts are profitable in the long run.
Formula: Total Marketing Spend ÷ Number of New Customers
For instance, if you spend ₦250,000 on a Facebook ads campaign and that effort brings in 50 new customers, your CAC would be ₦5,000 per customer.
Why does this matter? Because if you’re spending more to acquire a customer than you’ll earn from them, you’re running at a loss, even if you’re making sales. Tracking CAC gives you a realistic picture of whether your marketing is sustainable and where you might need to adjust your strategy.
6. Return on Investment (ROI)
Ultimately, the most important question is whether your marketing is delivering a positive return on investment. ROI measures how much revenue you generate compared to what you spend. For example, if you spend ₦200,000 on a campaign and it brings in ₦600,000 in sales, your ROI is 200 percent.
This number helps you separate the marketing activities that are worth repeating from those that aren’t. By tracking ROI, you ensure that every naira you put into marketing is working as hard as possible to grow your business.
Getting Started Without Feeling Overwhelmed
Many entrepreneurs avoid tracking metrics because they feel overwhelmed or simply don’t know where to start.
The truth is, you don’t have to track everything at once. Start by focusing on three or four of the most important metrics and build from there. Free tools like Google Analytics, Instagram/Facebook insights, and Mailchimp reports make it easy to get started, and you only need about thirty minutes a week to keep an eye on your numbers.
Remember, the goal isn’t to drown in data. It’s to use the right information to make smarter decisions. Even small improvements in your key metrics can create significant growth for your business. By keeping an eye on a few essential numbers, you can stop guessing, start measuring, and grow your business with confidence.
You Don’t Have to Do It Alone!
If tracking metrics still feels like just another item on an already overflowing to-do list, even when simplified to the basics, you’re not alone. Many business owners would rather not deal with all these themselves, and that’s where we come in!
At The Ad Guys, we live and breathe marketing metrics. We can help you create and execute high-quality marketing campaigns that resonate with your target audience, identify the right metrics to track for your specific business goals, set up systems for easy monitoring, and, most importantly, translate those numbers into actionable strategies that drive real growth.
Ready to take the guesswork out of your marketing? Contact us today to get started
