The Marketing Metrics That Actually Predict Growth
Most dashboards measure activity. A handful of numbers measure whether the business is compounding.
Activity Is Not Progress
Impressions, clicks and sessions describe how busy your marketing was. They rarely tell you whether next quarter will be better than this one.
Three Numbers That Move Slowly and Lie Rarely
Track the ratio of new customers who came from an existing customer, the time from first touch to first value, and the share of revenue from accounts older than a year.
- Referral share of new customers
- Time from first touch to first realised value
- Revenue from accounts older than twelve months
- Payback period on acquisition spend, by channel
Each of these takes a quarter to move, which is exactly why they are trustworthy. Metrics that swing weekly are usually measuring noise.
Cut Anything You Would Not Act On
When a number cannot change a decision you are willing to make, stop reporting it. A shorter dashboard that people act on beats a complete one nobody reads.
“Measure the handful of things that would change your mind, and have the discipline to ignore the rest.”
Review the dashboard itself once a quarter. The metrics that earned their place last year are rarely the ones that deserve it now.
