Showerthought: a client told me their last agency only sent them vanity metrics

I was talking to a potential client in Denver who said their old agency sent monthly reports full of likes and shares, but never tied it to actual sales. They felt like they were paying for a popularity contest, not a business result. It got me thinking about whether agencies should focus more on bottom-line numbers like leads or revenue, even if those reports look less impressive. How do you balance giving clients what they want to see versus what they actually need?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_wyatt5d agoMost Upvoted

Brought this up with a client last quarter and straight up replaced the vanity metrics page with a simple board showing cost per lead and revenue per campaign. @dylan_thompson hit it right - putting real numbers next to the engagement stuff kills the fluff. Took some convincing at first but once they saw the cost per lead drop, they stopped asking about likes. Now they actually use the reports to decide where to spend next month.

dylan_thompson2mo ago

Totally get that. We switched to showing cost per lead right next to the engagement stuff. It made the real value clear and stopped those vanity conversations. What kind of numbers would actually help your client make a decision?

janac512mo ago

Vanity conversations" is such a good way to put it... I see that everywhere, not just in work stuff. People focus on the likes and the showy numbers instead of what actually gets you a result. It's why I always look for the quiet, useful data in anything now.