There are too many marketing metrics.

Inspired by responses from Katrine Rasmussen, Louise Robertson, Eric Melchor, and Brad Zomick.

The Challenge:

Marketing dashboards are drowning in data. As Katrine pointed out, different platforms define the same metric in different ways (e.g., a “click” on LinkedIn vs. a “click” elsewhere).

Louise mentioned sorting through 892 different reports in Salesforce, with 42 supposed to be the source of truth. And Eric and Brad summed it up: too many metrics, not enough insights.

What This Post Will Cover:

✅ Why having too much data leads to worse decision-making.

✅ How to define a core set of actionable marketing metrics.

✅ How to ensure metrics are consistent across platforms.

We’re at peak data collection in marketing. Especially in digital marketing, we’re tracking more metrics than ever before—more tools, more reports, more numbers. And you’d think that would make things better, right? More data should mean more answers.

But as everyone who responded to my LinkedIn post pointed out, that’s not the case. In fact, too much data often leads to worse decision-making.

Here’s why:

1. More Data = More Overwhelm

When you have too many choices, making a decision becomes harder. It’s like shopping for a bag when there are 1,200 options—you compare and contrast endlessly, trying to find the perfect one, until you’re paralyzed by choice.

Marketing data has the same problem. Instead of working from a few key reports, we end up drowning in dashboards. Take Louise’s example—she’s sorting through 892 different reports in Salesforce, and somehow 42 of them are meant to be the source of truth.

How are you supposed to work with that? How do you get that data into your brain, make sense of it, and actually use it to make a decision? You can’t. There’s just too much noise.

2. Data Starts Leading the Strategy (Instead of Supporting It)

Too much data doesn’t just slow us down—it changes the way we do marketing.

Instead of setting a strategy and using data to measure its success, we start chasing whatever metric looks important this week. One week, it’s click-through rates. The next, it’s engagement. Then we’re shifting budget based on impressions.

Marketing stops being intentional and becomes reactive.

Good marketing starts with a vision—a clear goal. The data should help you measure whether you’re getting there. But when we have too much data, we flip it: the numbers dictate the strategy instead of strategy dictating how we use the numbers.

3. More Data ≠ More Statistically Significant Data

Another major issue is that collecting more data doesn’t necessarily mean we’re making better decisions—because not all data is statistically significant. This very much speaks to Brad’s comment of ‘"Data, data everywhere. Not an insight to be had.”

As we track more and more metrics, we start hyper-analyzing every little fluctuation. We want to know exactly how something is performing, whether it’s going up or down, and what every minor shift means. But in reality, a lot of these changes are just random noise.

Example:

Let’s say you’re tracking 100 clicks on a demo button on your homepage. That’s a decent sample size—you can probably get meaningful insights from it.

But then, if you try to analyze what users did after clicking that button, the data starts to fragment. Maybe those 100 people took five or six different actions afterward, meaning each action now only has 10-30 data points.

At that point, the sample is too small to draw any real conclusions. If you start making decisions based on that data, you’re likely just reacting to randomness.

The same thing happens with pipeline tracking. If your lead volume increases by 10 in a month, that’s not statistically significant. If your leads visit three more pages than before, that could just be random.

When we assume all data is meaningful just because we have a lot of it, we risk making decisions based on trends that aren’t actually real. The data isn’t lying—it’s just not large enough to show us a reliable pattern.

How to Define Your Core Set of Actionable Marketing Metrics

Your core set of actionable marketing metrics should be no more than five.

I have no proof. No sources. I just know it’ll keep us all a lot more sane. Five is a nice number—it’s small, it’s manageable, and it’s something you can look at every day without feeling overwhelmed. You should be able to keep these numbers in your head and know them off by heart.

So, how do you define what those five metrics are?

It’s stupid simple—but hard to do. Because it requires you to be strict.

Your core marketing metrics should sit in the Venn diagram of two things:

1. They align to your business goals.
2. You can actually take action on them.

Metrics That Align With Business Goals

This one’s straightforward. If your company’s goal is to generate £1M in new revenue and 30% of that should be marketing-generated, then marketing is responsible for £300K in revenue.

That means you need a certain amount of pipeline to hit that revenue target, given a specific conversion rate. And to create that pipeline, you’ll need a certain amount of website interest, demo requests, downloads, calls—whatever your key pipeline-generation events are.

That’s your core set. Simple as that.

Personally, I’ve often had just two core metrics:

• Revenue closed
• Pipeline generated

Everything else was secondary.

Metrics That Are Immediately Actionable

This one is critical. Your core metrics should be ones you know what to do with IMMEDIATELY. If you don’t know how to act on them, they don’t belong in your core set.

For example:

Let’s say our marketing revenue target is £300K for the year. Six months in, we’ve only closed £100K.

What does that tell me?

1. We’re underperforming. (Because halfway through the year, we should be roughly at £150K.)
2. I need to investigate pipeline:
   • How much marketing-generated pipeline is still open?
   • If there’s not enough, do we still have time to close new pipeline before the end of the year?
   • Which segment should we focus on to generate that new pipeline?
   • What marketing strategy do we need to execute to make that happen?

See how the metric leads directly to clear actions? That’s the whole point.

Examples of metrics That Are NOT Actionable (And You Should Avoid Measuring Your Team Against).

Some metrics might be useful to track, but they don’t belong in your core set because marketing has zero control over them. (You can argue we do but amuse me).

For example:

• Salesperson closing speed → You can measure it, but marketing can’t directly influence it.
• How much discount a salesperson gives → Again, out of marketing’s hands.
• How many years a marketing lead renews for → Not marketing’s responsibility unless you have a customer marketing function.

If your marketing team doesn’t own the outcome, then don’t make it one of your core metrics.

That doesn’t mean you ignore these numbers—just that they shouldn’t be in the set of 5 (or fewer) core, actionable marketing metrics that drive your decisions.

Why did I use the word ‘strict’ earlier?

Because Everyone Will Ask for More Data (you might also do this to yourself)

If you’ve ever sat in a marketing performance meeting, you know exactly what I mean.

The moment you present your core metrics, someone will say,

"Can we also see X?"

"What about Y?"

"Can you break this down further?"

Eric summed this up perfectly when talking about podcast metrics: “But now platforms are shouting 'we have listen data, engagement data, impression data!'

Suddenly, you’re being pulled in 10 different directions, reporting on things that aren’t actually core to your marketing strategy.

That’s why being strict matters. You need to be able to push back and say:

"Nope. These are the key metrics. These are the ones we’re measuring consistently. We can talk about the other stuff if we want, but these are the ones we come back to—again and again."

Your job isn’t to produce endless reports. It’s to focus on the data that actually drives marketing performance.

How to Ensure Your Marketing Metrics Are Consistent Across Platforms

Here’s the sad truth: you can’t.

Marketing data will never be 100% consistent across platforms. But your core metrics should be.

The key isn’t to make all data match—it’s to decide where your core numbers live and ensure that everyone is aligned on those. Here’s how.

1. Pick a Source of Truth for Your Core Metrics

Your core metrics—the big, high-level numbers that matter most—should always be pulled from the same place.

That means choosing a single source of truth, whether it’s:

✅ A spreadsheet

✅ A CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.)

✅ A dashboard that consolidates multiple data sources

It doesn’t matter where, as long as it’s consistent.

For example, if website traffic is one of your core metrics, you decide up front:

• Are you pulling it from Google Analytics?
• Are you using sessions from OpenReplay?
• Are you tracking unique visitors, sessions, or page views?

Once you decide, that’s where you always report from.

The same goes for pipeline. If sales is tracking pipeline one way and marketing is tracking it another, you’re setting yourself up for a fight. Before reporting anything, align with sales on where pipeline is measured and how. That conversation needs to happen intentionally—it won’t magically align on its own, especially if you’re using multiple CRMs or data sources.

2. Accept That Other Metrics Will Vary (And That’s Okay)

Outside of your core numbers, expect fluctuations between platforms.

For example:

• Clicks on an ad platform will rarely match what your CRM tracks as incoming leads.
• Attribution models (first-touch vs. last-touch) will differ between analytics tools.
• Even using two different SEO tools (like Ahrefs vs. SEMrush) will give you different numbers.

That’s normal. The key is to decide which platform’s data you trust for each metric and stick with it.

I recommend:

✔ Using the platform’s native data for top-of-funnel metrics (e.g., clicks, impressions, CTR in Google Ads, LinkedIn, etc.).

✔ Using your CRM as the source of truth for lower-funnel metrics (e.g., leads, demo bookings, pipeline, revenue).

That way, you avoid unnecessary reconciliation and just accept that different platforms calculate data differently.

3. Prevent the “No, That’s Not What My Report Says” Problem

One of the biggest pain points in marketing reporting is misalignment. You go into a meeting saying:

"We generated $500K in pipeline this quarter."

And then the sales leader responds:

"No, we didn’t. Here’s my report."

Cue the awkward silence.

To avoid this:

• Make sure everyone—sales, leadership, CS—agrees on the source of truth for shared metrics.
• Document your reporting rules so the entire marketing team reports from the same place.
• Standardize reporting formats to ensure numbers match across teams.

The goal is for everyone to sing from the same hymn sheet—or better yet, the same actual sheet.

TDLR:

Marketing teams are swimming in data, but more metrics don’t necessarily mean better decisions. Here’s what to keep in mind:

✅ Too much data = overwhelm. When you have hundreds of reports and conflicting definitions across platforms, decision-making becomes harder, not easier. Instead of clarity, you get chaos.

✅ Data should support strategy—not dictate it. If you’re constantly shifting focus based on the latest metric, you’re reacting instead of driving a clear marketing vision. Strategy comes first; data should help measure progress.

✅ More data ≠ better insights. Just because you have more numbers doesn’t mean they’re statistically significant. Be careful not to make big decisions based on random fluctuations.

✅ Keep your core metrics tight. No more than five. These should be aligned with business goals and immediately actionable—numbers you can track daily and actually do something with.

✅ Be strict with reporting. Marketing meetings often turn into “Can we see X? Can we break down Y?” If it’s not part of your core set of metrics, don’t let it distract from the numbers that truly matter.

✅ Define a single source of truth. Data will always vary across platforms. What matters is that your core metrics come from a consistent and agreed-upon source—whether it’s a CRM, dashboard, or spreadsheet.

✅ Align with sales and leadership on reporting. Nothing derails a conversation faster than one team saying, “We generated $500K in pipeline” and another saying, “No, we didn’t.” Get on the same page before you report.

At the end of the day, marketing isn’t about tracking everything. It’s about tracking what matters—consistently, clearly, and in a way that actually drives results.