5 essential marketing metrics you should be measuring

There are metrics, and then there are metrics. We've already talked about the dangers of pursuing vanity metrics – those that look pretty in a quarterly report yet tell you very little about the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. But what about the essential marketing metrics you really ought to be measuring?

Marketing metrics help you gauge the success (or failure) of your marketing efforts across campaigns, themes, time periods, or other factors. The right metrics go beyond surface-level data, digging into your overall strategy’s contribution to revenue, return on investment (ROI), and customer growth.

Why the right metrics make a difference

Simply knowing your page views and click-throughs is not enough. Isolated data points might go down well in status meetings, but they can't really tell you if you're getting a good ROI from your marketing spend.

You need metrics that tell a story and show you a more detailed picture of your marketing efforts.

Today, advanced analytics tools like Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and **HubSpot CRM** can offer a more granular view of user behaviour and channel attribution. Users can enrich this data with platforms like Hotjar for behavioural insights or Clearbit (now part of HubSpot) for lead data, for example. By combining data from these sources, you gain a deeper understanding of the entire customer journey and the true impact of your marketing investment.

But what, exactly, should you be measuring?

The five essential marketing metrics

1. Revenue

Looking at how much revenue each channel is generating gives you a more objective way of identifying your most effective channels. (Don't forget, revenue differs from profit. Profit is your net revenue after expenses.) Tracking revenue means you can begin to justify your continued investment in successful channels and reroute funds from less effective ones to experiment with other tactics.

Segment your revenue by customer persona and analyse it by different touchpoints throughout the buyer’s journey. With the development of brand new channels and the evolution of existing ones, it’s essential to understand how each touchpoint—be it social, email, organic, or paid—is contributing to your bottom line. This is where attribution models come into play. Using first-touch, multi-touch, or data-driven models, you can identify which campaigns are driving direct conversions and which channels are assisting along the way. Armed with this knowledge, your team can make more informed decisions about where to allocate your budget and optimise your strategy.

2. Cost per lead (CPL)

Instead of calculating a one-size-fits-all CPL for all channels, you need to break it down. Establish the cost per Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL), Sales Qualified Lead (SQL), and paid vs. organic lead. This will help you identify which channels are generating the most leads, and more importantly, which are providing the highest-quality ones.

But there’s more to it than just costs. Consider pipeline velocity—the rate at which leads move through your sales funnel. If your pipeline velocity is high, it means you’ve got an efficient lead nurturing process. If it’s low, there might be a bottleneck that needs attention. Evaluating your CPL in tandem with pipeline velocity gives you a fuller picture of how efficiently your leads are converting and where you might need to refine your approach.

3. Website traffic-to-lead ratio

Page views and unique visitor numbers might look good in a report, but while they’re useful for measuring brand visibility and thought leadership, they can’t tell you the full story. Dig deeper to see where visitors are actually coming from. Is it direct, referral, or organic traffic? And what are they doing when they arrive? How many are converting into leads and customers?

A simple traffic count isn’t enough. Instead, look at engaged sessions in Google Analytics 4 (GA4), which shows you how many users are interacting with your content rather than just passing through. And don’t stop there. Keep an eye on your engagement rate—the percentage of users who are clicking, scrolling, and downloading content versus those who quickly bounce away. High engagement rates suggest your content is resonating and can signal which pages or topics are successfully moving prospects down the funnel.

4. Landing page conversion rates

It’s one thing to know how many visitors land on your pages, but quite another to see how many of them actually convert. If your landing page conversion rate isn’t where you’d like it to be, it’s time to dig into the details. Look at conversion rates by device type, geographic location, and audience segments to uncover which groups are responding well and which are falling short. For instance, you might discover that your landing page performs well on desktop but not on mobile, or that a specific offer appeals more to one demographic than another.

To get more granular insights, use **heatmaps and session recordings** from tools like Hotjar. These show you where visitors are dropping off, where they’re clicking, and which parts of the page are getting the most attention. Then, experiment with A/B or multivariate testing to see if small changes—like adjusting the wording on your CTA or tweaking the form layout—can nudge your conversion rates up. It’s all about fine-tuning based on what your visitors are actually doing, rather than what you think they might want.

5. Customer lifetime value (CLV) and churn rate

Knowing how many customers you have is all well and good, but how much are they buying? And how long do they stick around? Understanding customer lifetime value (CLV) is essential to getting a handle on the long-term profitability of your marketing efforts.

But why stop at just the current value? Predictive CLV models use machine learning to forecast how much revenue a customer will generate over their entire lifecycle based on early interactions and engagement patterns. Pair this with net revenue retention (NRR), which takes upsells, cross-sells, and customer expansions into account, and you’ll get a clearer picture of your long-term growth potential and customer loyalty.

By focusing on both CLV and NRR, you’ll see not just how much value your customers are bringing, but also how they’re contributing additional revenue over time through continued engagement and future purchases. This holistic view can help you prioritise retention strategies and ensure your marketing investment pays long-term.

Bonus: Emerging metrics and trends to watch in 2025 and beyond

Customer engagement score (CES)

The days of relying solely on MQLs and SQLs may soon be coming to an end. The customer engagement score (CES) is now gaining popularity as marketers look to get a fuller picture of how leads are interacting with their brand over time. This metric pulls together multiple touchpoints—social, email, and on-site activity—to show just how engaged (and interested) a prospect really is.

Brand awareness and sentiment analysis

It’s not just about how much people are talking about you, but how they’re talking about you. With tools like Brandwatch and Sprout Social, marketers can go beyond just tracking brand mentions to measure the sentiment behind those conversations. Whether it’s positive, negative, or neutral, this kind of qualitative insight helps you understand how your brand is being perceived and whether your content is sparking the right kinds of discussions.

Converting analytics into action

Of course, stats mean nothing if you don't do something with them.

Measuring these metrics should be an integral part of your marketing strategy. Understanding the people behind the numbers and their journeys provides the insights needed to fix any gaps in your funnel and make smarter decisions about where to invest your marketing budget.

If you’d like to get these metrics and more to a happy place, now’s the time to get in touch with our A-team. Schedule a quick and friendly chat today.