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The Hidden Power of Tracking the Right Metrics for Business Growth
Understanding the Vanity Metrics Trap
Vanity metrics are those sparkly numbers like more followers, more likes, increasing page views, or a growing email list. They catch our attention and provide instant gratification because they seem to suggest that our business is expanding. But what if your revenue isn't growing despite these positive metrics? Believe it or not, these metrics are often just ego boosters and don't equate to meaningful growth. Imagine focusing solely on counting steps to lose weight without managing your diet. You may see movement, but the core issue remains unaddressed.
Essentially, vanity metrics serve as the glitter rather than the gold of your business data. Social platforms and website analytics make these numbers easily accessible, thus reinforcing their perceived importance. However, the real question is whether these metrics are helping transform your business strategies into increased revenue. If your sales aren’t improving, it’s time to dig deeper into the real metrics that matter.
The Common Red Flags
There are several red flags that signal you might be focusing on the wrong data:
Stagnant Revenue Despite Positive Metrics: If your sales aren’t increasing even when your website traffic, engagement, and email list are growing, you might be looking at what I call vanity metrics.
Data Overwhelm: If you feel swamped by the sheer volume of data and still unsure of what drives your business's success, it’s a sign to streamline your focus.
Decisions Lack Measurable Impact: Even after constant strategic adjustments, if there isn’t marked improvement over a sensible timeframe, you might be looking at the wrong metrics.
Prioritizing Superficial Numbers: Assessing success by likes and shares alone distract from what's truly important. The cycle of instant gratification from these numbers detracts from meaningful business growth.
Key Metrics That Actually Matter
Engagement to Conversion Ratios: It’s essential to track how many of your followers are converting into paying customers. This metric gives insight into the effectiveness of your engagement strategies.
Click-through Rates: Instead of just tracking email open rates, focus on click-through rates to understand who’s actually engaging with the content and ready to take action.
Conversion Rates from Page Views: Track how many visitors take action on your website as opposed to just counting views. This gives a better picture of how effective your landing pages are.
Qualified Lead Count: Evaluate the quality, rather than the quantity, of leads. If discovery calls aren't converting to clients due to mismatched expectations, your lead generation strategies might need tweaking.
The Strategic Shift: Ask the Right Questions
To ensure you're tracking the right metrics, ask yourself the following:
Does this metric directly impact my revenue? If the data doesn’t correlate with sales, it’s a vanity metric.
Can I take clear action based on this data? If a number doesn’t guide you towards improvement, it’s merely noise.
Is this metric helping me make better decisions? Tracking should illuminate your business path, not confuse it.
The goal is to harness data that not only informs but drives actionable strategies and boosts confidence in decision-making. Avoid analysis paralysis by being selective and purposeful with what you measure.
In Conclusion
Making a shift from vanity metrics to actionable data insights may seem daunting, but it is crucial for sustainable business growth. I encourage you to reflect on the metrics you currently track and evaluate their true contribution to your success. If you found today’s discussion helpful, I invite you to share your insights and continue the conversation over on Instagram at @amytraw. For those ready to delve deeper into strategic data use, head over to amytraw.com. Remember, stop guessing and start growing!
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Transcript for Episode 402. Are You Tracking the Wrong Business Metrics?
Amy [00:00:26]:
You're tracking your data, but are you actually wasting your time by focusing on the wrong metrics? If your sales aren't growing despite all of the hard work you've been putting in, it could be because you're tracking metrics that look good but that are not actually moving the needle. And today I really want to cut through the noise and get super clear on which numbers actually drive business growth and which ones are just wasting your time. And at first, this might feel counterintuitive, but not all numbers are created equal. And just because you can track something doesn't mean that you should track it. The right metric should really let you know what's working, what's not, and where to make those little adjustments so that you can grow your business with clarity and confidence because you have the objective data to back it up. So how do you know if you're wasting time by focusing on the wrong data? There's a couple red flags that I always tell clients to look out for. The first one is, is that your revenue's not growing despite positive metrics. So if your sales aren't increasing, even though your website traffic's going up, your engagement's going up, your email list is growing, you could be tracking what I like to call vanity metrics.
Amy [00:01:49]:
And we'll get into that deeper here in a minute. Or another sign is that you're really feeling overwhelmed with all this data. You're tracking all of these numbers, you're spending hours of time putting them into spreadsheets, looking at all of these numbers on pieces of paper, but you still feel lost on what's actually driving the results in your business. This is a really good sign that it is time to narrow your focus. The next red flag I look for is that your decisions aren't actually leading to measurable progress. Metrics are there to help you take action. And if you keep adjusting your strategies but you're not actually seeing significant improvement over time, you know, we're not talking just, oh, I tried it for a week. No, we're talking about a 90 day period of time.
Amy [00:02:47]:
But you're not actually seeing those improvements again, you're likely tracking the wrong metrics. Another red flag is prioritizing surface level numbers. So things like more followers, more likes, all those shiny objects that we like to think are super important, but are they? Are they, Are they as important? And it's hard because these vanity metrics, it all comes down to ego, because vanity metrics are like glitter. They're eye catching, fun, sparkly, because they feel like progress what it does is when you see that spike in your followers, your likes, your page views, what happens is you get that quick hit of dopamine. So you feel like your business is growing, although your revenue actually isn't. But what we want is to set aside that distraction of the fun glitter and dig for the gold in our metrics, because that's where the value lies. So why do we do this? Because we've all been guilty of tracking vanity metrics at one point or another. The first thing is I think they're just easier, easier to track.
Amy [00:04:06]:
Social platforms and website analytics highlight them front and center, making them seem important. So you open up Instagram and immediately you can see how many followers that you have. You can go and do quote unquote, market research, look at your competitors and see, oh my gosh, they've got 10,000 followers. That must be why my business isn't growing. I don't know about that. It's. It may look impressive, you may see that they're getting a post with a thousand likes, but is it actually leading to sales? And what happens is we get stuck in that cycle of instant gratification. You know, we see those numbers go up and it feels good, but at the end of the day, it's not actually leading to business growth.
Amy [00:04:50]:
You think about it this way, it's kind of like obsessing over how many steps that you take, but at the same time ignoring your eating habits. Sure, steps are movement, you're doing something, you're taking action. But if your goal is actually lose weight, step count alone won't get you there. You can't be getting all of these steps and basing your entire progress on that. You know, if you're eating a diet full of ice cream and fast food and expect that just getting in the steps is the magical solution. It's the same thing with these vanity metrics that we all get lured in with. But at the end of the day, it's wasting your time because it doesn't actually lead to action. High engagement really doesn't matter unless it's leading to email list growth, which then we can get really skewed by some of these metrics.
Amy [00:05:50]:
Again, we want to look at those click through rates versus just, just the sheer size of it. We want to see is it actually converting. Because what's happening is we create this false sense of success. We might think that we're making progress, but if our bank account is not reflecting it, something's off and it's distracting us from what's actually Going to move the needle forward. We're spending so much time wrapped up in chasing these likes, these shares, these follower accounts that we could use be using this time and energy to actually refine our offer in improve our process and really nurture those leads. So if a metric isn't helping you make better business decisions or increase your revenue, it's just noise. It's a distraction because the power is in tracking those numbers that tell you what's working and what to adjust. And this is exactly what metrics Mastery, my signature program, helps you to do so that you can stop wasting time on those numbers that don't matter and focus strategically on what's going to grow your business.
Amy [00:06:56]:
You know, another great way to think about this is it's that bucket analogy. You know, we've all heard it before. You're trying to fill a bucket with water, but there's a hole in the bottom of the bucket. So instead of actually fixing the leak, fixing the hole, you just keep pouring more water in, hoping that it's going to stay full. This is what's happening when you're focusing on those vanity metrics without actually taking the time leverage where things are falling through the cracks. You could be attracting a ton of potential clients. You have awesome visibility. But if they're dropping off before they're converting, it's a waste of time and effort.
Amy [00:07:36]:
And the right data lets you find the leak so that you can fix it and see consistent growth. And this is what I love talking about because nobody's talking about this. It's we need more. We need more. We need to go viral. We need to grow our social media account. We need to grow our email list. Well, no, why don't we actually identify where is that hole in our bucket so that we can fill it? You know, I want to talk about now some common metrics that maybe you're tracking and could be wasting your time and why they don't actually help your business grow.
Amy [00:08:13]:
And some of these might surprise you. The first one, the first shiny object that we all tend to get caught up in is social media followers. You know, the hive of social media follower count means nothing. I mean, it really means nothing. I have had clients that have had less than 500 followers and are seven figure earners. They just know exactly who their product or service is for. They are so super specific. They have the right people in their world.
Amy [00:08:49]:
So these huge follower counts don't matter if they're not leading to sales. So instead of tracking this, start tracking like your engagement to conversion ratios of those followers, how many are actually buying on a monthly basis? Next up is email open rates. This is another tricky one. You may be thinking, well, that's a good metric to track, right? But most people aren't tracking the click through. Just because somebody's opening your email doesn't mean that they're actually interested. Click through rates actually tell you who's taking action. They show you where those hot leads are. They can show you where people are dropping off.
Amy [00:09:32]:
So maybe somebody is clicking your buy link, but they're not actually purchasing. That's data we can use to get curious and go, hmm, where's the disconnect in this? It's information. Next is page views. If you have a website. Page views, yeah, traffic is great, but we want to know the conversion rate. So of those people that are visiting, who is actually buying, who is opting in? Because traffic's great, but if they're not taking action, it's just noise. So instead, track those conversion rates and next, that lead count without qualification. So if you're hopping on discovery calls with people and they're just not qualified, it's really a waste of your time to track that metric.
Amy [00:10:26]:
Because more leads don't mean more sales. If they aren't the right leads, again, we're looking for conversion. Where are the people that are those ideal fits? How are they finding you? Then we can double down there. The right metrics actually give you clarity. So how do you know if you're tracking the right metrics? Well, there's three questions I always tell my clients to ask. First question, does this metric directly impact my revenue? If it doesn't correlate back to sales, it's not a priority. Metrics should guide you towards actions that increase sales. If a number looks good, but it's not actually increase in cash flow, it's likely a vanity metric.
Amy [00:11:18]:
Question two, can I take clear action based on this data? If you don't know what to do with the number, it's just noise. It's just more clutter. In your business, metrics should tell you what to adjust, not just what's happening. So if you're tracking something but you don't know how to improve it, it's likely not a useful metric. And question three, is this helping me make better decisions? Again, if the tracking isn't leading to clarity, you need to refine what you're measuring. The goal of your metrics are to bring clarity, not confusion, to your business. So if you're tracking that data and you're still not sure what's working, you're probably tracking too many things. And this is something clients do all the time.
Amy [00:12:16]:
They get all this data, and then they sit in analysis paralysis. But when you're being strategic and tracking the right numbers, you gain confidence in your decisions and clarity on what's actually working so that you can grow your business. Tracking data does not have to be overwhelming or complicated. It just has to be strategic. If you found today's episode helpful, take a screenshot and tag me over on Instagram Metraw. And if you're ready to get serious about using your data to break through your sales plateau, make sure you head on over to amytraw.com to learn more. And until next time, stop guessing and start growing.
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