Quick Summary
- If you only look at “likes” or “traffic,” you are missing the numbers that actually drive revenue.
- A simple monthly dashboard can show you what is working, what is wasting budget, and what needs a quick fix.
- Paid ads, SEO, and email each have different “success stats,” so you need to track them separately.
- Small improvements compound fast (especially on site speed and conversion rate).
- If you want help building a clean reporting system, The Diamond Group can help you set it up and keep it running.
Most business owners do not need 40 marketing metrics. They need the right 8–12 numbers, checked once a month, in the same place, with the same definitions.
That is how you stop guessing.
Below is a practical, business-owner-friendly list of monthly digital marketing stats to track, plus what each one tells you and what to do when it looks “off.”
If you want a partner to set up tracking, reporting, and monthly improvements, start with the basics on our homepage or explore our digital marketing services.
1) Website Sessions (and Where They Came From)
What to track monthly
- Total sessions (traffic)
- Traffic by channel:
- Organic search (SEO)
- Paid search (Google Ads)
- Paid social
- Referral
- Direct
Why it matters
Traffic is not the goal, but it is the earliest signal of demand. The real value comes from seeing which channel is growing (or shrinking) so you know where to focus.
Quick action if it drops
- Organic down? Check Google Search Console for indexing issues and ranking changes.
- Paid down? Check budgets, campaign status, and lost impression share.
- Social/email down? Check posting cadence, list growth, and send frequency.
2) Leads (Your “Primary Conversion”)
What to track monthly
- Total leads (forms, calls, bookings, purchases—whatever counts as a real inquiry for you)
- Leads by source (SEO vs PPC vs social vs email)
Why it matters
Leads are the bridge between “marketing activity” and “sales activity.” If leads are not rising over time, the rest is just noise.
Pro tip
Make sure you are tracking calls correctly. If phone calls matter in your business, they should show up as conversions, not as a mystery.
3) Conversion Rate (Site-Wide and by Landing Page)
What to track monthly
- Overall website conversion rate
- Conversion rate for top landing pages (especially ad landing pages)
Why it matters
Conversion rate is where you win without spending more. When conversion rate improves, every traffic source gets more valuable.
Even small speed improvements can move conversion results. Google research found that a 0.1 second improvement in mobile site speed increased conversions by 8% for retail and 10% for travel (on average).
Quick action if it dips
- Look for broken forms, confusing CTAs, or slow pages
- Compare mobile vs desktop performance
- Review the top 3 pages that should convert and fix those first
If you suspect your site is leaking leads, our web design team can help you tighten up the experience without rewriting your whole website.
4) Cost Per Lead (CPL) and Lead Quality (Together)
What to track monthly
- Cost per lead by channel (Google Ads, paid social, etc.)
- A basic lead quality check (good / okay / not a fit)
Why it matters
A “cheap lead” that never closes is not a deal. Track CPL alongside quality so you do not optimize yourself into low-intent inquiries.
For context, WordStream’s 2024 search ads benchmarks report lists overall Google Ads averages including $66.69 cost per lead and 6.96% conversion rate (across industries in aggregate).
Quick action if CPL rises
- Tighten targeting (location, match types, audience layers)
- Improve landing pages (message match, faster load, clearer CTA)
- Audit conversion tracking (false conversions can inflate “performance”)
If you want a team to manage and improve this monthly, start here: PPC management.
5) Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) or Marketing ROI
What to track monthly
- ROAS (for ecommerce) or cost per acquisition (for lead gen)
- Total revenue influenced by marketing (when you can track it)
- Sales cycle notes (if deals are longer)
Why it matters
This is the “bottom line” metric, but it only works if tracking is clean and sales follow-up is consistent.
Quick action if ROI is unclear
- Define what counts as a conversion (and track it the same way every month)
- Use UTMs and consistent source tracking
- Connect forms → CRM → closed deals where possible
6) Search Visibility (SEO Rankings + Clicks, Not Just “Position”)
What to track monthly
- Organic clicks (from Google Search Console)
- Impressions
- Click-through rate (CTR)
- Top queries and top pages
Why it matters
Rankings are helpful, but clicks and qualified traffic are what pay the bills. Also, SEO wins often show up first as impressions, then clicks, then leads.
HubSpot’s reported ROI channel insights reinforce what many teams see in practice: for B2B, website/blog/SEO shows up among top ROI drivers.
If you are serious about consistent organic growth, our managed SEO services are built around monthly progress you can actually see.
7) Email Performance (List Growth + Engagement + Revenue)
What to track monthly
- List growth (new subscribers)
- Open rate and click rate (trend lines, not one-off spikes)
- Conversions from email (bookings, purchases, replies)
Why it matters
Email is one of the few channels you truly “own.” And it is still one of the strongest ROI levers when it is consistent.
Litmus’ State of Email 2025 highlights that many teams report strong returns from email spend (often in the $10–$50+ return per $1 range, depending on the organization).
Quick action if engagement drops
- Clean the list (remove unengaged contacts)
- Improve subject lines and the first 2 lines of copy
- Send less “newsletter,” more “helpful + specific”
8) Sales Follow-Up Speed (Yes, This Is a Marketing Metric)
What to track monthly
- Average time to first response on inbound leads
- Lead-to-appointment rate (or lead-to-quote rate)
Why it matters
If your marketing is doing its job but leads are not followed up quickly, your cost per lead goes up and your ROI goes down. This is one of the most common “silent killers” we see.
If you are using HubSpot (or want to), we can help you build a clean funnel from form fill → follow-up → booked call. Learn more about our team on the about page and check out our latest thinking on the blog.
Your Monthly Marketing Check-In (Without the Guesswork)
If you are tracking the right digital marketing stats every month, you will start to notice patterns fast: which campaigns bring real leads, which pages leak conversions, and where a small change will produce a bigger return.
If you want help setting up tracking, building a simple monthly dashboard, and making improvements that show up in leads and revenue, reach out through our contact page. We will help you turn marketing reporting into a system you can rely on.
