How to Tell If Your Marketing Is Working

Most marketing reports we're shown lead with the same numbers: visits, followers, impressions. They're easy to count and they usually look healthy. But they rarely answer the question a founder actually cares about. Is this bringing us the right clients?

Here are the numbers we'd put at the top of the report instead, and what good tends to look like for each.

The right enquiries

Not every enquiry. The ones from the kind of client you'd genuinely want to win, tracked as a share of all enquiries. If that share is falling while total enquiries rise, your marketing is getting louder, not better. A rising share, even on lower volume, is real progress.

Time to first reply

This is almost always the quickest win. A well known Harvard Business Review study of 1.25 million leads found firms that replied within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to qualify the lead as those that waited longer. Aim for the same working day as a minimum, and within the hour wherever you can.

Enquiry to client rate

Published benchmarks vary wildly, because everyone defines an enquiry differently. As a rule of thumb for genuine enquiries: if fewer than one in five become clients, something in the journey is leaking. One in four to one in three is healthy. Referrals should convert higher still, often one in two.

Cost per right enquiry

Take what you spent on marketing in a period and divide it by the number of right enquiries. It turns a budget into something you can compare month to month and channel to channel.

Watch the direction more than the number itself.

The quiet one: your silence rate

How many enquiries simply went quiet, with no yes and no no? Most businesses never count this, and it's often where the most value slips away. A steady, thoughtful follow up rhythm can bring a surprising number back.

Where visits still fit

Traffic isn't useless. It tells you whether you're being found. But with more searches now ending on the results page itself, visits will fall for many businesses even while the right enquiries hold up. Judge traffic by who it brings, not how much of it there is.

Where to start

Pull last quarter's enquiries and work out these five numbers. It takes less time than you'd think, and it gives next year's plan something real to stand on. Every pound you spend should be able to say what it returned. If you'd like a second pair of eyes on yours, our 7-Day Sprint starts with exactly this baseline.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good enquiry to client conversion rate?

It depends on how you define an enquiry, so published benchmarks vary widely. As a rule of thumb for genuine enquiries, fewer than one in five becoming clients suggests something is leaking. One in four to one in three is healthy. Referrals should convert higher, often one in two.

How quickly should we reply to a new enquiry?

The same working day at the very least, and within the hour wherever you can. A well known Harvard Business Review study found firms that replied within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to qualify the lead as those that waited longer.

What counts as a "right" enquiry?

One from the kind of client you'd genuinely want to win. Agree three or four simple criteria as a team, such as the type of business, the size of the need and a realistic budget. Then mark every enquiry against them.

Should we worry if our website traffic is falling?

Not on its own. More searches now end on the results page without a click, so visits are falling for many businesses. If your right enquiries are holding steady or rising, your marketing is still doing its job.

What is a silence rate, and how do we work it out?

It's the share of enquiries that simply went quiet, with no yes and no no. Count the enquiries from a period that never reached a decision, then divide by the total number of enquiries in that period.

How often should we review these numbers?

Glance at them monthly and review them properly every quarter. Watch the direction of travel more than any single month's figure.