Effective marketing requires reviewing the correct metrics and taking action to boost them. But what is the “right” metric for a company to focus on?
Depending on what they’re trying to accomplish with their marketing campaign, their target metrics would differ. While there are only a handful of parameters that can genuinely make a difference in informing decisions, there is an entire collection of misleading ones. However, because of how complicated the art of analytics is, determining what metrics a company is tracking that don’t contribute to its success is a prickly topic.
Below, 11 professionals from Forbes Agency Council share the most common metrics that companies might be using that create a misleading picture of the business and its marketing campaigns.
Members share why you should think twice when evaluating these brand metrics.
Photos courtesy of the individual members
1. Vanity Metrics
Nothing gets C-suites quite so giddy as the number of likes or views a piece of content or a page may have. The problem is, they mean nothing. Great, 10,000 people viewed your video… and? My content has been seen by 14 million people! That’s awesome… did any of them convert to customers? Be wary of the dopamine hit of vanity metrics! – Kirk Westwood, Glass River Media
2. Number Of Clicks
As a business-to-business agency, we measure everything; however, we’ve had a growing concern about the relevancy of clicks. In email marketing, while clicks infer engagement, opens also reflect a connection between the topic and the customer. Clicks from paid advertising are a decent measure of interest but don’t portray the entire picture. Impressions are also a useful measure of interest, especially over time. – Francine Carb, Markitects, Inc.
3. Conversion Rate
Conversion rate is a metric that is generally praised but not even close to the bigger picture measure or success or growth. People pay too much attention to it, rather than focusing on other KPIs like average order value, engagement and other microgoals like “add to cart” and so on. Conversion rate in and of itself is a relative number. – Justin Christianson, Conversion Fanatics
4. Engagement And Reach
In terms of social media marketing, engagement and reach are no longer relevant KPIs. What should be tracked are actionable indicators — not just how many people clicked through but of those, who took action (e.g. made a purchase, signed up for a newsletter, etc.). – Rebecca Kowalewicz, Clearbridge Branding Agency
5. Impressions
Over the last eight to 10 years, the “impression” has become the gold-standard measurement metric to compare the reach of digital, PR, and broadcast and print media. However, not all impressions are created equal. Instead, we have begun measuring the potency of the consumer attention paid to the content or advertisement. The more potent the attention, the more likely the content will influence behavior. – Brett Hyman, NVE Experience Agency
6. Website Visitor Information
One thing that is very important for people to track is the number of visitors coming to the website. However, Google Analytics often gives a misleading impression of who the user is. It is important to look at more metrics other than visitor information. There are many more things that you can look at than just this number. – Jon James, Ignited Results
7. Net Promoter Score
Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) are both one-dimensional, point-in-time measurements. Customers are a lot more complicated than that. Either triangulate several measures, e.g. Customer Effort Score (CES), to give you a fuller picture or delve into the “why” behind these singular measures to gain true understanding. – Camille Nicita, Gongos, Inc.
8. Return On Investment
Brands use ROI to evaluate and compare agency performance — yet there is no standard equation. Does “return” include lifetime customer value or first sale? Marginal or gross profit? Does “investment” include allocated payroll and overhead or just media/agency fees? As more CFOs start viewing marketing activity as profit centers instead of cost centers, understanding ROI components becomes ultra important. – Bruce McMeekin, BKM Marketing Associates, Inc.
9. Followers And ‘Likes’
Tracking an influencer’s follower base and likes and then directly correlating that to sales can be very misleading. Those “lazy” metrics don’t speak to the multifaceted ways in which influencers can impact a brand, along with the meaningful KPI metrics that should be considered when determining a campaign’s success. – Jordan Edelson, Appetizer Mobile LLC
10. Share Of Voice
It’s important to track share of voice (SOV) against your competitors, but when you think about it, you don’t just want a lot of “noise” out there. You also need to look at whether your SOV is positive (ideally!), neutral or negative. In addition, you can further analyze the SOV to track whether your key messages are being well communicated and whether you’re establishing thought leadership. – Jodi Amendola, Amendola Communications
11. Single-Point Local Maps Ranking
There are many keyword tracking tools that report on local maps ranking. However, the location could be offset by just a mile and the same device could get entirely different results. It is important to get local map rankings from several points within the target geography. Depending on the business and location, you may need rankings every other block, every other mile or every five-plus miles. – Adam Draper, Gladiator Law Marketing
