“Our marketing isn’t working.”
When a business owner tells us this, we always ask the same follow-up question: “How do you know?”
The answer is usually one of two things. “The posts aren’t getting many likes.” Or, a little sheepishly, “I’m not really sure.”
Both are completely understandable. Neither tells you whether marketing is bringing in money. So let’s fix that. Good measurement is surprisingly simple. Every month it should answer one question: is our marketing bringing us customers at a cost we’re happy with?
Two kinds of numbers
- Feel-good numbers: followers, likes, impressions and reach. Nice context, shaky ground for decisions.
- Money numbers: enquiries, booked calls or appointments, how many become paying customers, and what each customer costs you to win.
Keep an eye on the first. Make decisions with the second.
The five numbers to track every month
1. Qualified enquiries, by source
How many real enquiries came in, and where did they come from? Google, Instagram, referrals, ads, your website’s WhatsApp button? Ask every new enquiry “how did you hear about us?” and write the answer down. It’s the simplest tracking tool in the world.
2. Response time
How quickly did your team reply? It matters more than most people think. Research in Harvard Business Review found that firms who contacted a lead within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to qualify it.
3. Enquiry-to-customer conversion
Out of every ten enquiries, how many became paying customers? This one number tells you where to look. Few enquiries points to marketing. Plenty of enquiries with few sales points to the sales process.
4. Cost per new customer
Add up everything you spent on marketing, including agency fees and staff time, and divide it by the number of new customers. Then compare it with what a customer is worth to you over time.
5. Search visibility
Open Google Search Console to see which searches show your website and how many people click. When impressions for the right searches start climbing, your content is working, even before the enquiries catch up.
Set up the basics once
In Google Analytics 4, mark form submissions, WhatsApp clicks and phone taps as key events. Now you can see which pages and channels lead people to act. Keep a simple enquiry sheet alongside it too, because plenty of customer journeys happen offline.
When you know where last month’s customers came from, you know exactly where to put next month’s money.
What the numbers are telling you
- Few enquiries but a good conversion rate? People like you once they find you. Invest in visibility: search, content or ads.
- Lots of enquiries but few sales? Look at response time, how clearly you explain pricing, and your follow-up.
- Good results but high costs? Move budget towards the channels with the lowest cost per customer.
A one-page monthly report with these five numbers, explained in plain language, sits at the heart of our reporting and accountability service, and it’s included in our retainer plans. If you’d like help getting tracking set up, our digital marketing team can have you measuring within a week.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most important marketing number for a small business?
Qualified enquiries each month, broken down by where they came from. It links straight to revenue and shows which channels deserve more of your time and money.
Do I need Google Analytics?
It helps a lot. Google Analytics 4 can record key events like form submissions and WhatsApp clicks, and Google Search Console shows which searches bring people to your site. Together they cover what most small businesses need.
How often should I check my marketing results?
Look at a short report every month and step back for a strategy review every quarter. Paid ads are worth checking weekly; everything else is calmer to judge monthly.
Share this with your business partner before your next “is marketing working?” meeting. It’ll be a much shorter meeting.
Tagon Digital
Editorial team, Tagon Notes
Tagon Digital brings together website design, content strategy and digital marketing to help businesses improve online visibility and customer journeys.
Prepared by the Tagon Digital team with AI-assisted research and drafting. Facts and figures link to their original sources below.
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