What to measure in online marketing — and how

"It feels like we're doing better this year — maybe we should hire more salespeople or order more stock."

Nobody runs a company like that anymore. Yet paradoxically, many businesses still approach online marketing exactly this way. Without properly defined metrics, even the best data is just noise. Money is being spent, things are happening, but nobody knows precisely what's working — or how much it's actually contributing to results.

This article is for business owners, CEOs, and managers who want clarity in their online marketing. Don't expect technical deep-dives — expect a framework that helps you judge whether your digital investment makes sense and where your money is quietly disappearing.

1. Start with the business, not the clicks

The biggest mistake we see companies make is this: they measure marketing from the bottom up. How many clicks, likes, video views… but nobody translates that into business language.

The right order is the reverse:

What do we want to change in the business?

• "We want to grow our e-shop revenue by 20% in 6 months."
• "We want 200 qualified B2B leads per quarter."
• "We want customers returning at least twice a year."

Only then do you figure out which marketing activities will get you there — and how to measure them.

Real-world example: A manufacturing company was spending CZK 150,000 per month on online campaigns. The reports looked beautiful: 250,000 impressions, 15,000 clicks, 6% CTR. But actual inquiries averaged just 18 per month.

When they started tracking only three hard metrics — number of inquiries, cost per inquiry, and revenue from won contracts — it became clear that half their ad sets were generating clicks but almost no actual business.

Switching those campaigns off saved roughly CZK 40,000 per month — without losing a single inquiry.

2. KPIs vs. metrics: why you only need a few numbers

In marketing, you can measure practically everything. That doesn't mean everything belongs in a report. The more numbers you have, the less likely you are to make a meaningful decision based on them.

It helps to distinguish:

• KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) — a handful of key figures that tell you whether the business is moving in the right direction
• Operational metrics — help marketers fine-tune campaigns, but management doesn't need to see them every week

How this works in practice: An e-shop with CZK 50M annual turnover sets three core KPIs:

• Monthly revenue from online marketing
• Number of orders
• Return on ad spend (e.g., "for every CZK 1 spent on ads, we want at least CZK 5 in revenue")

Everything else — clicks, cost-per-click, add-to-cart rates — is supporting data for the marketing team.

If you're working with an external agency, you only need answers to your KPIs. You don't need every granular number. On the other side of that equation, a capable marketer should deliver reports that help you make decisions — not ones that add to the confusion.

3. A simple framework: four questions for every channel

Instead of complex dashboards, you can get a long way with four basic questions — and they apply equally to PPC, social media, email marketing, and beyond:

1. How many people did we reach?
   Reach, website visitors, ad impressions.
   "In March, our campaigns brought 32,000 visitors to the website."
2. How well did they engage?
   Conversion rate, time on site, pages per visit, social engagement.
   "9% of newsletter subscribers clicked through; they viewed an average of 3 pages."
3. How many people actually did what we wanted?
   Orders, inquiries, account registrations, pricing sheet downloads.
   "The new product campaign generated 420 orders at a 2.1% conversion rate."
4. What did it cost, and was it worth it?
   Cost per order/lead (CPA, CPL), return on ad spend (ROAS, ROI).
   "We invested CZK 80,000 into the campaign; it generated CZK 560,000 in revenue — CZK 7 back for every CZK 1 spent."

Once you have answers to these four questions for each channel, you stop managing marketing by feeling. You can see exactly where marketing is earning its keep — and where you're just burning through budget.

You don't need to master all the jargon. You just need to understand these four questions and insist that your team — or your external partner — can answer them.

We are the partner. Get in touch, and let us show you the path to more effective marketing.

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