Why the Boring Stuff (KPIs) Is What Actually Grows Your Business

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Marketing Now Working? Here's Why:

Most business owners would rather do a million other things. They'd rather brainstorm new products, design a new logo, reorganize their office, post on social media, or even clean out their email inbox. Anything but sit down and look at numbers in a spreadsheet.

But here's the truth:

The boring stuff, like tracking your numbers and making small changes, is what actually grows your business.

It's like going to the gym. You don't get stronger from going once and taking pictures. You get stronger by going every week, counting your exercises, and lifting a little more weight each time.

So What Even Is a KPI?

KPI stands for Key Performance Indicator.

In simple words: it's a number that tells you if what you're doing is working.

Think of it as your business scoreboard. If you're running ads or sending emails, your KPIs tell you if you're getting sales and making money or just spending money with nothing to show for it.

Without KPIs, you're driving blind. You might feel busy, but you don't know if you're actually making progress.

ROAS vs CPA vs AOV vs LTV vs CPL: Four Numbers Every Business Owner Should Know

If you only learn four things this year, make it these:

ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)

This tells you how much money you make for every dollar you spend on ads.

Example: You spend $1,000 on ads. You make $5,000 in sales. Your ROAS is 5x.

Simple, right? It shows you if your ads are turning your money into more money.

CPA (Cost Per Acquisition)

This tells you how much it costs to get one paying customer.

Example: You spend $1,000 on ads. You get 10 customers. Your CPA is $100.

ROAS looks at how much money you made. CPA looks at how much each customer cost you.

And remember, this is just the cost to GET the customer. You still have to pay your sales team, buy materials to make your product (that's called COGS, or Cost of Goods Sold), and cover all your other expenses. But those are KPIs for another day.

AOV (Average Order Value)

AOV tells you how much money customers spend on average when they buy from you.

Here's why it matters: If you know your AOV, you can tell right away if your CPA makes sense.

Example:

If your AOV is $150 and your CPA is $50, you're good!

If your AOV is $60 and your CPA is $70, you're losing money on every customer.

LTV (Lifetime Value)

LTV tells you how much money a customer will spend with you over their entire relationship with your business.

This is huge because it changes everything about what you can afford to spend to get a customer.

Example:

If a customer only buys once and spends $60, their LTV is $60.

But if that same customer comes back 5 times and spends $60 each time, their LTV is $300.

Now that $70 CPA doesn't look so bad anymore, does it?

You need all four numbers to understand what's really happening. Let me show you why with a real story.

CPL (Cost Per Lead)

Before someone buys from you, they become a lead. A lead is someone who shows interest in what you sell.

Your CPL is how much you pay to get one person interested.

If your CPL keeps going up, that's a warning sign. Your ads might be getting old. Your targeting might be off. Or more people are competing with you.

If your CPL stays the same or goes down, your marketing is getting better. That's a good sign.

A Quick Story About How These Numbers Work Together

Sarah runs a bakery. She spent $500 on Facebook ads last month. She made $2,500 in sales. She was excited! Her ROAS was 5x.

But then she did the math. She got 15 customers from those ads. That means each customer cost her $33 (that's her CPA). But her average customer only spent $25 (that's her AOV).

She was losing $8 on every single customer.

And that's BEFORE she paid for flour, sugar, butter, her baker's wages, and rent. The real loss was way bigger than $8.

Landing a new customer felt great. But if it costs you more to get that customer than they spend with you, your model needs to get fixed.

So Sarah made some changes. First, she added a loyalty card program. Buy 5 coffees, get one free. She also started sending a monthly email with a special offer to past customers.

Now her customers started coming back. The average customer visited 3 times instead of just once. Her AOV stayed at $25, but now her LTV jumped to $75 (because they came back 3 times).

Suddenly, that $33 CPA made sense. She was spending $33 to get a customer worth $75. She was making $42 profit per customer instead of losing $8. And now she actually had room to cover her ingredients, staff, and other costs.

But Sarah didn't stop there. She noticed people always asked about cookies but never bought them because they seemed expensive. So she created a combo deal: coffee + cookie for $8 (instead of $9 separately).

Her AOV went from $25 to $32. And since customers came back 3 times on average, her LTV jumped to $96.

Now she was spending $33 to get a customer worth $96. That's a $63 profit per customer. After paying for ingredients, staff, and everything else, she was finally building a real, sustainable business.

Her ROAS still looked amazing at 5x. But now when she looked at her CPA, AOV, and LTV together, they told a completely different story. She wasn't losing money anymore. She was actually building a profitable business.

This is why you need to track all these numbers. One might look good while the others show you're actually losing money. And sometimes a small change in one number can fix everything.

Why a Good Agency or CMO Knows These Numbers Inside and Out

Here's the thing: most business owners are too busy running their business to track all these numbers every day. And that's okay.

But a good marketing agency or fractional CMO? They live and breathe these KPIs.

They know your CPA, AOV, LTV, and ROAS like the back of their hand. They're constantly watching these numbers, testing new ideas, and making adjustments so your business can actually scale.

They don't just "run ads and hope for the best." They build a system that's based on real data. A system that can grow without breaking.

Because here's the truth: you can't scale what you can't measure. And if your marketing partner doesn't know these numbers, you're basically flying blind together.

Why KPIs Are the CEO's Secret Weapon

Once you start tracking your key numbers, even simple ones like CPA, ROAS, and AOV, making decisions gets way easier.

You'll know which ads are actually making you money. You'll know when to spend more on ads (and when to stop). You'll know when to double down on something that's working. You'll know when to fix your sales process before spending more money.

The truth? You don't need 30 dashboards and 500 numbers. You just need a few solid KPIs that show you if your marketing is making money.

These Aren't the Only KPIs (But They're the Most Important for Marketing)

Look, there are dozens of KPIs you could track. Conversion rates, click-through rates, email open rates, website traffic, bounce rates, and the list goes on.

But in our opinion, for a marketing agency or fractional CMO, the ones we covered today are some of the most important. They tell you the real story about whether your marketing is actually making you money or just keeping you busy.

If you want a CMO who knows their numbers and can help you build a marketing system that actually scales, we'd be happy to work with you as a fractional CMO. Get in contact with us here to set up a call and see if we're a good fit.

Final Takeaway

KPIs might be the most boring part of marketing, but they're also the most powerful.

While everyone else is chasing the next viral trend, the business owners who track their numbers are the ones who actually grow.

So grab your coffee, open that spreadsheet, and start paying attention to the numbers that make you money.

Your future self (and your bank account) will thank you.