Marketing metrics you need to measure to get your budget signed off

There are so many marketing metrics you could be measuring. From engagement metrics, conversion rates, velocity to pipeline. All marketing metrics come with their own case for why you should track them, but some have more power when it comes to getting your budget signed off. 

In this article we’ll explore the top marketing metrics to measure that’ll help you to get that business critical budget sign-off. 

We recommend tracking all marketing metrics on a monthly / quarterly and annual basis so that you can track trends over time. We also recommend setting up monthly reports in your CRM (such as HubSpot) to give you real time marketing metrics for in the moment discussions. 

Lead volumes in marketing metrics 

Lead volumes can sometimes be a red herring, but nonetheless still an important marketing metrics to keep tabs on. As later on this will help you to tell a comprehensive narrative around your metrics.  

This metric is looking at the volume of leads coming into your funnel and then through the funnel (goes without saying you first need to define the different stages of your funnel).

This metric tracks the sheer number of:

• Leads
• Marketing qualified leads (MQLs) 
• Sales qualified leads (SQLs) 
• Opportunities (deals open or created) (Opps) 

Conversion rates

Conversion rates are critical for tracking your marketing metrics as they show whether your funnel is optimised and can improve conversations with your sales leadership because they highlight which stages of the funnel are working (are leads moving through the funnel or not). 

This is a % calculation that measures:

1. Leads -> MQLs
2. MQLS -> SQLs 
3. SQLs -> Opps

And would look something like this: number of MQls divided by number of leads = %:

This shows us that at present 25% of your leads are moving from lead to MQL. 

Over time you’ll be able to see how your conversion rates fluctuate, stabilise or improve which will give you greater alignment with sales and also highlight areas for improvement. 

Lead quality 

As talked about above it’s all well and good measuring the volume of the leads coming in, but what if they aren’t your ideal customer profile (ICP) or meet your personas? What’s the point of selling dog food to cat owners? 

We recommend setting up your ICP or persona within your CRM and then ensuring each contact has a field tracking this. 

When you do your monthly reporting you can report the quality of your leads as well as the volume in order to strike a balance. It’ll also help you and your sales leadership have constructive conversations about the handover process between marketing and sales (for example, which leads go to which salespeople, should they go to SDRs)

This is how you could set this up in a tracker: number of leads that meet your ICP divided by number of leads = % 

This shows that the number of leads coming through marketing that meet your ICP is 12%. 

Overtime you can track and monitor this to ensure you’re targeting the right ICP or persona and helping them convert through your funnel. In the context of your marketing budget this will also help you to see that your marketing channels are bringing the right audience through your funnel. 

If for example your lead quality % remained low you might want to look at readjusting your spend to activities and channels your ICP or personas use.