tangyslice » marketing sherpa http://www.tangyslice.com sharp. social. accountable. Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:52:49 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 sharp. social. accountable. tangyslice no sharp. social. accountable. tangyslice » marketing sherpa http://www.tangyslice.com/wp-content/plugins/powerpress/rss_default.jpg http://www.tangyslice.com Metrics that Matter http://www.tangyslice.com/2008/10/29/metrics-that-matter/ http://www.tangyslice.com/2008/10/29/metrics-that-matter/#comments Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:00:35 +0000 Frank http://www.tangyslice.com/?p=69 Continue reading →]]> A couple of weeks ago I poked fun at the array of numbers that frequently masquerade as metrics.  As a follow-up to that post, here are some additional thoughts about the attributes of meaningful marketing measures:

  • Connected – The best metrics are related to your overall business goals. This means things like program revenue or cost per new customer.
  • Results-oriented - Whenever possible try to connect activity to specific results.  Don’t get confused by activity-based metrics like homepage visits or page views. Think about measures that reflect real results like converted leads.
  • Have benchmarks – Are there industry-specific numbers you can compare your metrics with?  Checkout  Lynne Harrold’s recent post for some ideas for selecting the right benchmark. She references a variety of places to find relevant numbers for comparison including the Direct Marketing Association and Marketing Sherpa.

In the end, they are numbers not an answers.  They can illustrate progress (or the lack thereof) and help mediate differences of opinions.  Choose them carefully.

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