What are vanity metrics, and which numbers should a small business care about?
Vanity metrics are numbers that look good in a report but do not show whether customers came: followers, likes, impressions, reach and raw visits. They can rise while inquiries fall. The numbers a service business should care about are the ones tied to money: inquiries by source, jobs won, what each customer cost and what the work was worth. Use the softer numbers only to explain those.
Common vanity metrics, and what each one hides
| Number | What it counts | What it does not tell you |
|---|---|---|
| Followers | People who chose to follow an account | Whether they live in your area or will ever hire you |
| Likes and comments | Reactions to a post | Whether anyone called or booked |
| Impressions and reach | Showings of a post or ad, and accounts that saw it | Whether anyone noticed it |
| Website visits | Sessions on the site | Who the visitors were, or what they did next |
| Engagement rate | Visits that met a short test of interest | Whether the visit became an inquiry |
The engagement-rate trap
Google Analytics counts a visit as engaged once it lasts longer than 10 seconds, among its other tests, so an engagement rate can look healthy while no one calls. The related answer on bounce rate explains Google's definition and what to read instead.
The numbers that matter
Inquiries by channel, jobs won, what each new customer cost and what the work was worth. The related answer on how to know whether your marketing is working lists the monthly numbers in full, and the related answer on CAC, ROI and ROAS explains the cost terms.
When a soft number is still useful
As general advice, a soft number can point to where to look. A page with many visits and no inquiries is worth a look, but judge any fix by the inquiries that follow, not by the rate going up.
Reading a report that leads with the first kind
If a report opens with followers or impressions, ask one question: how many inquiries and paying customers came from this, by channel? A good report answers that on its first page.
Sources
Related answers
- How do you know if your marketing is working?
- What is a bounce rate, and should a service business worry about it?
- What do customer acquisition cost, ROI and ROAS mean in a marketing report?
Lead generation and lead tracking
A lead that waits a day goes cold, and a lead with no source teaches you nothing. Ascent Vision fixes both.