The “Feel Good” Numbers Trap
Picture this: Your Instagram post gets 500 likes, your Facebook page gains 100 new followers, and your latest TikTok video has 2,000 views. You’re feeling pretty good about your marketing efforts, right?
But then you check your bank account and sales haven’t budged. Your phone isn’t ringing with new customers. Your email list isn’t growing. What’s going on?
You’ve fallen into the “vanity metrics” trap – focusing on numbers that feel impressive but don’t actually tell you if your marketing is working. It’s like measuring how many people walked past your store without counting how many actually came in and bought something.
Vanity Metrics = Numbers that look good on paper but don’t directly connect to business growth or revenue
Actionable Metrics = Numbers that help you understand what’s working and make smart decisions to grow your business
According to recent data, 65% of marketing leaders say they need to prove how social media supports business goals to get leadership buy-in. Yet only 36% of marketers say they can accurately measure their real return on investment (ROI). That’s a huge problem.
Why We Get Obsessed with the Wrong Numbers
Before we dive into which metrics actually matter, let’s understand why so many business owners get caught up in vanity metrics:
They’re Easy to See and Understand
Likes, follows, and views are simple numbers that social media platforms put right in front of you. They update in real-time and give you instant gratification. It’s human nature to focus on what’s easy to measure.
They Make Us Feel Good
When your post gets 100 likes, it feels like success. Your brain gets a little hit of dopamine – the same chemical that makes us addicted to social media in the first place.
Everyone Else Talks About Them
When business owners get together, they often brag about follower counts or viral posts. It’s the marketing equivalent of comparing car models instead of talking about how well they actually get you where you need to go.
We Don’t Know What Else to Measure
Many small business owners have never been taught what metrics actually matter for business growth. Social media platforms don’t make it easy to see the numbers that truly count.
The Reality Check: What These “Impressive” Numbers Actually Mean
Let’s break down some common vanity metrics and why they might be misleading:
Follower Count
Why it feels good: “We have 5,000 followers!”
The reality: A high follower count might seem impressive, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re reaching the right audience or that these followers are engaged with your content
Better question: “How many of these followers become customers?”
Likes and Comments
Why it feels good: “Our post got 200 likes!”
The reality: Likes are frequently referred to as vanity metrics because they look impressive at a glance but may not necessarily translate into meaningful outcomes like sales
Better question: “Did people who liked this post take any action that helps our business?”
Website Traffic (Total Visits)
Why it feels good: “We got 10,000 website visitors this month!”
The reality: Traffic means nothing if visitors leave immediately without doing anything
Better question: “How many visitors actually contacted us, signed up, or bought something?”
Social Media Reach and Impressions
Why it feels good: “Our post reached 50,000 people!”
The reality: Reach measures the number of unique users who see your content, but it doesn’t provide information about how these users interact with the content or whether it leads to meaningful actions
Better question: “How many people who saw our post became interested enough to visit our website or contact us?”
The Metrics That Actually Matter (And Why)
Now let’s talk about the numbers that directly connect to business growth. These metrics tell you whether your marketing is actually working:
1. Conversion Rate
What it is: The percentage of people who take a specific action you want them to take
Why it matters: Conversion rate is the percentage of website visitors who take action, such as filling out a form on your landing page or buying something. This metric is preferred by expert marketers because it’s a good indicator of how well your digital marketing efforts are converting browsers into buyers
How to calculate: (Number of people who took action ÷ Total number of visitors) × 100
Example: If 100 people visit your website and 3 people call you, your conversion rate is 3%
2. Cost Per Lead (CPL)
What it is: How much money you spend to get one potential customer to show interest
Why it matters: Cost Per Lead is how much it costs to get a lead, including advertising expenses. This metric is worth investigating because digital marketing can be a good way to generate a greater number of leads at a lower cost than traditional channels
How to calculate: Total marketing spend ÷ Number of leads generated
Example: If you spend $300 on Facebook ads and get 10 people to fill out your contact form, your CPL is $30
3. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
What it is: How much money a typical customer spends with your business over their entire relationship with you
Why it matters: Customer Lifetime Value estimates how much revenue a single customer brings in over the course of their relationship with your client’s business. A high CLV means customers are making repeat purchases and continuing to find value in your brand over time
How to calculate: (Average order value × Number of orders per year × Average customer lifespan in years)
Example: If customers spend $100 per order, order twice per year, and stay customers for 3 years: $100 × 2 × 3 = $600 CLV
4. Return on Investment (ROI)
What it is: How much money you make back for every dollar you spend on marketing
Why it matters: This is the ultimate measure of whether your marketing is actually profitable
How to calculate: (Revenue acquired from digital campaign – Cost of digital campaign) ÷ Cost of digital campaign
Example: If you spend $500 on marketing and it brings in $2,000 in sales: ($2,000 – $500) ÷ $500 = 300% ROI
5. Website Actions (Not Just Visits)
What it is: Specific things people do on your website that show real interest
Why it matters: Tracking conversions, web visits, and referral traffic back to your social channels is a powerful way to prove ROI
What to track:
- Contact form submissions
- Phone calls
- Email newsletter signups
- Downloads (like price guides or brochures)
- Online purchases
- Appointment bookings
The Current State of Marketing: What the Data Says
Here’s what the latest research tells us about what actually drives business results in 2025:
ROI by Marketing Channel
In 2024, the top marketing channels driving ROI for B2B brands were their (1) website, blog, and SEO efforts, (2) paid social media content, and (3) social media shopping tools. For B2C brands, the channels with the best ROI were (1) email marketing, (2) paid social media content, and (3) content marketing.
Conversion Rate Benchmarks
B2B companies typically see marketing conversion rates in the 2–5% range. The average conversion rate across all e-commerce sites is under 2%
Email Marketing Performance
Email marketing has the best average ROI at a huge 3,600%. For every $1 invested in email marketing, businesses see an average of $36 in return.
Three Simple Ways to Start Measuring What Matters
Here are three easy tasks you can do right now to start tracking metrics that actually help your business grow:
Task 1: Set Up Conversion Tracking in Google Analytics (5 minutes)
What it does: Shows you exactly what actions people take on your website after visiting from different sources
How to do it:
- Go to Google Analytics (analytics.google.com)
- If you don’t have an account, set one up – it’s free
- Click “Admin” then “Conversions”
- Click “Create Conversion Event”
- Set up tracking for actions that matter to your business:
- Contact form submissions
- Phone number clicks
- Email address clicks
- Newsletter signups
Why this helps: UTM tracking adds a short code to any URLs you share on social—think blog posts or product links—so you can see in Google Analytics exactly how much traffic each channel, post, or ad sends to your site
Task 2: Create UTM Tracking Links (5 minutes)
What it does: Let’s you see exactly which social media posts, ads, or emails are bringing you real results
How to do it:
- Go to Google’s Campaign URL Builder (free tool)
- For your next social media post or email, create a special tracking link:
- Website URL: Your normal website link
- Campaign Source: Where you’re posting it (Facebook, Instagram, email)
- Campaign Medium: The type of content (social, email, banner)
- Campaign Name: What you’re promoting (spring-sale, new-service-launch)
- Use this special link instead of your regular website link
- Check Google Analytics after a week to see which sources sent you the most conversions
Why this helps: UTM parameters are essential for campaign tracking. They allow you to categorize website traffic into specific segments, providing detailed insights into the effectiveness of your marketing efforts
Task 3: Calculate Your Current Customer Value (5 minutes)
What it does: Helps you understand how much you can afford to spend to get a new customer
How to do it:
- Look at your sales records from the past year
- Calculate your average sale amount
- Count how many times per year your typical customer buys from you
- Estimate how many years customers typically stay with you
- Multiply these three numbers together
Example calculation:
- Average order: $150
- Orders per year: 2
- Customer lifespan: 4 years
- Customer Lifetime Value = $150 × 2 × 4 = $1,200
Why this helps: Once you know a customer is worth $1,200 to you, you can confidently spend $200-400 to acquire each new customer and still be profitable
The Vanity Metrics to Stop Obsessing Over
Here’s your official permission to stop worrying about these numbers:
Follower Count
Why to ignore it: A brand’s follower count can skyrocket, but if those followers aren’t engaging with your content, what good is that?
Focus instead on: How many followers become customers
Total Website Visits
Why to ignore it: 10,000 total registered accounts might seem impressive, but that number loses face quickly if there are only 100 active monthly users.
Focus instead on: What visitors do when they get to your website
Post Likes and Shares
Why to ignore it: They don’t pay your bills
Focus instead on: Click-through rates and conversions from your posts
Email List Size
Why to ignore it: A big list means nothing if people don’t open your emails.
Focus instead on: Email open rates, click rates, and sales from email campaigns.
Video Views
Why to ignore it: Views don’t equal sales
Focus instead on: How many video viewers visit your website or contact you
Common Mistakes That Lead to Bad Data
Even when you start tracking the right metrics, it’s easy to make mistakes that give you wrong information:
Mistake 1: Not Setting Up Tracking Properly
Many businesses set up Google Analytics but never configure it to track the actions that matter to their business. It’s like having a security camera that only films the ceiling.
Mistake 2: Mixing Up Internal and External Traffic
You should not put UTM parameters on links from your own website that lead to other pages on your website. If you add UTM tracking parameters to internal links, you will lose information on where the traffic originally came from
Mistake 3: Inconsistent Naming
Using inconsistent capitalization (e.g., Facebook vs. facebook vs. FaceBook), typos, or different terms for the same thing (e.g., email vs. e-mail vs. newsletter) are treated as separate entities in GA4
Mistake 4: Not Connecting Marketing Spend to Results
47% of marketers struggle with multi-touch attribution, which makes it difficult to determine which channel or strategy is driving the most ROI
The Bottom Line: Quality Over Quantity
The goal of your marketing isn’t to impress other business owners with big numbers. It’s to grow your business profitably.
83% of marketing leaders now consider demonstrating ROI as their top priority, up from 68% five years ago. But only 28% of marketers have a solid system for measuring ROI.
This means most of your competitors are still chasing vanity metrics while you can focus on what actually works.
Remember these key principles:
- A smaller, engaged audience beats a large, uninterested one: 1,000 followers who buy from you is better than 10,000 who ignore you
- Track actions, not just attention: Measure what people do, not just what they see
- Connect spending to results: Always know which marketing efforts are making you money
- Quality metrics require more work but give better results: It’s harder to track conversions than likes, but conversions pay your bills.
Starting today, instead of celebrating when a post gets lots of likes, celebrate when someone fills out your contact form. Instead of bragging about follower counts, talk about how many new customers you got this month. Instead of checking vanity metrics every day, check your conversion rates and customer acquisition costs every week.
The businesses that thrive in 2025 won’t be the ones with the most followers – they’ll be the ones who best understand and optimize the numbers that actually matter.
Ready to start tracking metrics that actually grow your business? Our team specializes in helping small businesses set up proper analytics and focus on the numbers that drive real results. Contact us for a free consultation on measuring what matters.