I once had a client proudly share their weekly marketing spreadsheet containing 47 metrics.
Forty-freaking-seven.
That’s the marketing equivalent of setting 47 morning alarms because you don’t trust yourself to get up.
Predictably, their marketing felt like drowning — overwhelming, directionless, noisy. And noise, my friend, is the enemy of resonance.
More metrics don’t give you clarity; they just create an illusion of control. The more data you drown in, the less resonance your strategy actually has.
In a previous issue, I said that marketing attribution is mostly BS. I stand by that — perfect attribution is like chasing your tail — it keeps you dizzy, exhausted, and getting nowhere.
Does that mean ditching all metrics? Hell, no.
It means picking fewer, smarter, resonance-focused ones.
Why you shouldn’t fall into the trap of measuring too much
Briefly put, because what you measure defines what you prioritize.
My favorite existentialist, Jean-Paul Sartre, called it “bad faith (mauvais foi)” — you’re lying to yourself that those metrics matter. After all, you’ve spent so much time designing that pretty tracker, did you?
Goodhart’s Law says that “when a measure becomes a target, it becomes worthless”.
Herbert Simon bluntly pointed out: “A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.”
These are a few of my favorite takes on the topic, but I could come up with dozens that essentially say the same thing, in fancier language:
If you track noise, you’ll chase noise.
So be a ruthless curator of your metrics — because metrics aren’t innocent. They’re your strategic values made visible.
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The metrics worth a damn/what you should regularly track
You can track thousands of things, but how many of them move the needle for you in the long run? These do:
1. Audience growth (on the platforms you truly invest in)
Why it matters: growing strategically on at least one primary and one secondary platform is proof that your ideas resonate and your visibility strategy is working.
How to do it:
- Choose one platform that helps you get retention and one that helps you retain it (typically, that’s email + one social media).
- Track organic follower/subscriber growth monthly.
- Slow or declining growth? Your message isn’t resonating, your content is stale, or you aren’t strategically active enough. Fix it.
2. Revenue per subscriber (RPS)
Why it matters: this metric brutally reveals if you’re running a business or a really expensive hobby.
Whether you run a newsletter or an email list, this should be your main revenue driver. Low RPS screams “monetization problem”.
How to do it:
- Calculate monthly revenue divided by total subscribers (yes, it’s simple math).
- Benchmark against industry standards and figure out where your monetization strategy needs a makeover.
- Test premium upsells, exclusive content, or personalized offers to nudge RPS higher.
A caveat here: I teach this in Inbox to Income but it bears repeating: do not compare your revenue with just any other’s business. Find benchmarks that are relevant to your industry, your list health, and your audience.
Example: You made $2,500 last month. You have 400 subscribers. RPS = $6.25. Is that good? It depends — compare it to your last three months, not someone with a Shopify store and 100k TikTok followers.
3. Customer lifetime value (CLV)
Why it matters: because sustainable growth doesn’t happen if customers buy once and vanish into thin air like my last three gym memberships. (I’m back on track now!)
High CLV means your customers stick around longer, spend more, and save you from the endless, costly churn of always chasing new leads. Plus, it means that your (new) products resonate with them and that you have a reliable source of income.
How to do it:
- Actively invest in retention: delight current customers with valuable, surprising touches.
- Pay attention to what they need: don’t build new stuff just because you can.
- Strategically introduce upsells, cross-sells, or loyalty perks.
- Monitor CLV trends over time. If it’s dropping, there’s trouble in paradise — investigate promptly.
4. Strategic Time Allocation (STA — yes, I made this up)
Why it matters: revenue is vital, but so is your sanity.
STA is about consciously measuring how much of your work time is devoted to strategic versus tactical tasks. If you’re drowning in emails, admin tasks, and trivial nonsense, you’re not running a business — not really.
- A lot of time spent on tactics = business stuck in neutral.
- A lot of time spent on strategy = business actually moving forward.
How to do it:
- For a full week, log all tasks. Mark each as strategic (high impact, vision-aligned) or tactical (busywork, admin, day-to-day stuff, minor details, firefighting).
- Aim for at least 40% strategic focus weekly (brainstorming and implementing growth ideas, working on new partnerships, and so on). It’s ambitious but doable.
- Ruthlessly automate, delegate, or eliminate as much of your busywork as possible.
Your metrics are seasonal — embrace that
The metrics above are what you should be tracking every month. Beyond them, there are a ton of other metrics you can (and should) track, but not religiously. Some examples:
- Conversion rate for a specific page. Yes — if you promoted that product recently. Otherwise, assume only cold traffic went there and that’s almost irrelevant.
- Audience growth on your secondary platforms. Yes — if you invested more time in them than usual. For me, those are Threads and Bluesky. I rarely spend more than 10 mins/day there, so there’s no reason for me to expect growth. I track them but I don’t obsess over them.
Some metrics are always relevant, others — just occasionally.
Plus, in micro-businesses, there is a lot of seasonality, whether you perceive it or not:
- When you’re in launch mode, your revenue will grow BUT your audience will grow less or plateau because you don’t spend your time attracting new people into your world. You’re converting the people who are already there.
- If you’re focused on growing your audience, you’ll have less time to craft promos and sell, so your revenue will decline.
- During tax season, your time allocation won’t be strategic — it will be mind-numbing. But that’s what needs to happen.
See where I’m going with this? Don’t sweat small declines. They are 100% normal in all businesses, from Apple to the one-person company that barely got started this year.
Look at direction, not position.
When you feel the tinge to obsess over some metric going down, zoom out — do you notice a yearly or a quarterly downward trend DESPITE you investing time and money as usual?
If so, it’s time to act. If not, let it be. It’s just the inherent seasonality of business.
So when you feel tempted to spiral over a metric dropping by 2.3%, pause. Zoom out. Ask better questions.
Don’t just measure growth. Measure momentum. Measure meaning. Measure resonance.
And for the love of strategy, stop measuring crap.
🔦Community spotlight
The creator space is getting crowded with growth hacks and AI-generated content. But the best creators know that connection still wins long term.
That’s why I want to introduce you to Creator Glue.
Every Sunday, my friend Kyle Adams shares one practical strategy to help you grow an audience that actually cares.
He calls it Warm Growth – building for people, not algorithms.
His newsletter is one I always open because we’re so values-aligned. Subscribe here!
🎙️ My podcasts and interviews
I recently joined James Allen on the Profit Your Knowledge podcast to talk about building a profitable email list. Tune in here!
