Systems • Measurement • Decisions

Seven marketing metrics worth checking every week

You do not need a dashboard with 40 charts. These seven marketing metrics tell a local business whether its marketing is working, and where it is leaking.

SYS 4 min read

Weekly check

Ignore the noise

Most marketing metrics reports are long, colorful, and hard to act on. Impressions, reach, and engagement go up and down, and nobody knows what to do differently on Monday.

A short weekly check works better: seven numbers, the same seven every week, tracked in one place.

The rule.

If a number would not change a decision, stop reporting it. Marketing metrics are only useful when they tell you what to do next.

1. New leads, by source

Count every new inquiry this week and where it came from: Google, your website, social media, referrals, or ads. This is the most important of all marketing metrics, because everything else feeds it.

2. Speed to first reply

How long did it take, on average, for a real person to respond to a new lead? Slow replies quietly undo good marketing. Our guide to where lead follow-up breaks shows how to tighten it.

3. Booked jobs or appointments

Leads are not revenue. Count how many inquiries turned into a booked job, visit, or consultation.

Divide booked jobs by new leads to get your close rate. If leads go up but bookings do not, the problem is after the inquiry, not before it.

4. Cost per booked job

If you spend on ads, divide what you spent by the jobs it produced. Cost per lead can look great while cost per booked job looks terrible.

This is the marketing metric that tells you whether to spend more, spend less, or fix the follow-up. It is also how we report on Google Ads management.

5. Calls and clicks from your Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile shows calls, website clicks, and direction requests. These are some of the most direct marketing metrics a local business has, and they cost nothing to check.

Watch the trend over a month, not the change from one day to the next. Our guide to local SEO without gimmicks explains what moves them.

6. New reviews

Count new reviews each week and note the average rating. A steady flow means your review requests are working; a stall usually means someone stopped asking.

7. Website inquiries

Track form submissions and calls from your website separately from other sources. If traffic holds steady but inquiries drop, check your homepage and your forms first.

What to do when one of these marketing metrics moves

Leads drop Check each source. A dip from one channel points to that channel, like a paused ad or a slower month on your Google profile.

Leads rise, bookings do not Look at speed to reply and how quotes are followed up.

Cost per booked job climbs Review ad targeting and search terms, and make sure the landing page matches the ad.

Reviews stall Someone stopped asking. Restart the request routine.

Marketing metrics you can mostly ignore

Impressions and reach on their own
Follower counts
Likes
Average time on page
Anything you cannot connect to a lead or a booking

These can help explain a trend, but they should not drive decisions on their own.

Set up a 15-minute weekly marketing metrics check

1

Same day, same time
Pick a slot each week, like Monday morning.
2

One sheet or dashboard
Put the seven numbers in one place, with last week next to this week.
3

One decision
End every check with one thing to change, or one thing to keep doing.

Keep the numbers next to your marketing plan so goals and results live together. If you do not have a plan written down, the U.S. Small Business Administration's marketing and sales guidance is a simple place to start.

Practical action plan

Pick a weekly time for a 15-minute check
Track new leads by source
Track speed to first reply
Track booked jobs and cost per booked job
Add Google Business Profile calls and clicks
Count new reviews and website inquiries
End every check with one decision