Vanity metrics are numbers that look impressive but don’t predict revenue, profit, or business growth. The marketing metrics that actually matter are leads generated, conversion rates, customer acquisition cost, and revenue attributed to marketing activities.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most marketing dashboards are designed to make agencies look good. Not to help you make better decisions.
I’ve sat in hundreds of marketing review meetings. The pattern is always the same. Slides full of graphs going up and to the right. Impressions. Reach. Followers. Engagement rate.
Everyone nods. The agency gets paid. Nothing changes in the business.
Let me show you what’s actually worth measuring.
What Are Vanity Metrics?
Vanity metrics are numbers that:
- Make you feel good
- Don’t connect to business outcomes
- Can be easily gamed
- Don’t help you make decisions
The classic examples:
Social media followers. You could have 50,000 followers and zero customers. I’ve seen businesses with 500 followers generating £200k a year. And businesses with 100,000 followers struggling to pay rent.
Website traffic. More visitors sounds good. But if they’re the wrong people, you’ve just increased your hosting bill. A client once celebrated doubling their traffic. Revenue stayed flat. Turns out their blog was ranking for keywords their customers never searched.
Impressions. Your ad was “seen” 100,000 times. Were those people watching? Did they care? Did they remember your business five seconds later?
Engagement rate. Likes and comments feel validating. But engagement doesn’t pay invoices. I’ve seen posts go viral and generate precisely zero enquiries.
The Metrics That Actually Matter
Here’s what I look at when evaluating marketing performance:
1. Leads Generated (By Source)
Not just total leads. Leads broken down by channel.
This tells you where to spend more and where to cut. If LinkedIn generates 20 leads a month and Facebook generates 2, you have a decision to make.
The caveat: lead quality matters more than quantity. 10 qualified leads beats 100 tyre-kickers every time.
2. Cost Per Lead (CPL)
Total marketing spend ÷ leads generated = cost per lead.
UK benchmarks for 2026:
| Channel | Average CPL |
|---|---|
| Google Ads (B2B) | £50-150 |
| LinkedIn Ads | £75-200 |
| Facebook Ads | £15-50 |
| SEO (organic) | £20-40 |
| Content marketing | £30-60 |
These vary wildly by industry. Professional services run higher. E-commerce runs lower. The point isn’t hitting a benchmark. It’s knowing YOUR number and improving it.
3. Conversion Rate (By Stage)
How many visitors become leads? How many leads become customers?
Track the full funnel:
- Website visitor → enquiry (should be 1-5%)
- Enquiry → qualified lead (should be 30-50%)
- Qualified lead → proposal (should be 50-70%)
- Proposal → customer (should be 20-40%)
When something breaks, you’ll know exactly where.
4. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
Total sales and marketing spend ÷ new customers = CAC.
This is the number that determines whether your business model works.
If you spend £5,000 on marketing and sales to acquire a customer worth £2,000… you have a problem. Even if your dashboard looks beautiful.
5. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
Average purchase value × purchase frequency × customer lifespan.
Now compare CLV to CAC.
The rule of thumb: CLV should be at least 3x your CAC. If you spend £500 to acquire a customer, that customer should be worth at least £1,500 over their lifetime.
This ratio tells you how aggressively you can invest in growth.
6. Revenue Attributed to Marketing
The ultimate metric. How much revenue came from marketing activities?
This requires proper attribution. Which means:
- Asking new customers how they found you
- Tracking the first touchpoint digitally
- Understanding the full customer journey
It’s not perfect. Multi-touch attribution is genuinely difficult. But a rough answer beats a precise irrelevance.
Why Agencies Love Vanity Metrics
Let’s be honest about incentives.
Agencies get paid whether your revenue grows or not. Monthly retainers don’t require results.
Vanity metrics are:
- Easy to grow (just spend more)
- Hard to question (sounds technical)
- Always available (platforms provide them free)
- Visually impressive (nice graphs)
Revenue metrics are:
- Harder to influence
- Slower to improve
- Dependent on the whole business
- Sometimes embarrassing
If your agency only reports on traffic, followers, and engagement, ask why. If they can’t connect their work to leads and revenue, you have a problem.
Building a Dashboard That Tells the Truth
Here’s the marketing dashboard I use with clients:
Weekly numbers:
- Leads by source
- Cost per lead
- Website conversion rate
- Active opportunities in pipeline
Monthly numbers:
- Customer acquisition cost
- Marketing-attributed revenue
- Return on ad spend (ROAS)
- Pipeline value
Quarterly numbers:
- Customer lifetime value trends
- Channel efficiency comparison
- Marketing ROI
That’s it. One page. No vanity.
The test for any metric: “If this number doubles, will revenue increase?” If the answer is no or maybe, it doesn’t belong on your dashboard.
The Vanity Metric Detox
Ready to clean house? Here’s the process:
Week 1: Audit your current reports.
List every metric you receive from agencies, tools, and internal reports. Be ruthless about what connects to revenue.
Week 2: Define your core metrics.
Pick 5-7 numbers maximum. They should cover the full journey from awareness to revenue.
Week 3: Set up tracking.
This might mean:
- CRM integration with marketing tools
- UTM parameters on all campaigns
- A simple “how did you hear about us?” question
- Google Analytics goals properly configured
Week 4: Have the conversation.
Tell your team and agencies what you’re measuring now. Some will adapt. Some will push back. Their reaction tells you a lot.
What About Brand Awareness?
“But what about top-of-funnel? Brand building? Long-term positioning?”
Fair question.
Brand matters. But it’s not unmeasurable. You can track:
- Branded search volume (are more people searching your name?)
- Direct traffic (are people typing your URL?)
- Share of voice (how often are you mentioned vs competitors?)
- Unaided recall (surveys asking “name a company that does X”)
The difference between brand metrics and vanity metrics: brand metrics connect to a business hypothesis. “If more people know us, more will search for us, and more will buy.”
Vanity metrics don’t connect to anything. They just exist.
FAQs
What’s the difference between vanity metrics and KPIs?
KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) directly measure progress toward business goals like revenue and profit. Vanity metrics look impressive but don’t predict or influence business outcomes.
Are all social media metrics vanity metrics?
Not necessarily. Social metrics that connect to leads (like click-through rate to landing pages) can be meaningful. Follower counts and engagement rates are vanity metrics unless they correlate with business outcomes in your specific case.
How do I track marketing ROI without expensive software?
Start simple. Use UTM parameters and Google Analytics (free) to track traffic sources. Add a “how did you hear about us?” field to your enquiry forms. Track leads in a spreadsheet if needed. Sophistication can come later.
What’s a good marketing ROI benchmark?
Most businesses target 5:1 return on marketing spend. For every £1 invested, £5 in revenue. But this varies by industry, margins, and business model. What matters more is knowing YOUR baseline and improving it.
Should I fire my agency if they only report vanity metrics?
Not immediately. First, ask them to report on leads, conversion, and revenue attribution. A good agency will adapt. If they can’t or won’t, that tells you something important.
What to Do Next
- Audit your current reports — what connects to revenue?
- Define 5-7 core metrics — the numbers that actually predict growth
- Set up proper tracking — you can’t improve what you don’t measure
- Have honest conversations — with your team and your agencies
Want help building a marketing dashboard that tells the truth? Talk to us about fractional CMO services →
Related: Digital Marketing for Small Business UK | Why Your Marketing Isn’t Working | Fractional CMO: Complete UK Guide
