Marketing Analytics: Read Your Numbers

01

Measure what matters

In simple words

If you want to grow taller, you measure your height, not how many shoes you own. Pick the numbers that actually show you're reaching your goal.

Key facts

Start with the goal, then choose numbers:
Goal: what the business wants (e.g. "fill 40 spots in the spring clinic").
KPI (key performance indicator): the main number that shows progress (e.g. "clinic sign-ups").
Supporting metrics: numbers that explain the KPI (e.g. landing page visitors, sign-up conversion rate, cost per sign-up).
Vanity metrics look good but don't guide decisions on their own (likes, total followers, total page views).
Actionable metrics tell you what to do next (conversion rate on a page, cost per sign-up, repeat purchase rate).
Leading vs lagging: email sign-ups this week (leading) can predict sales next month (lagging).
Keep it small: 1 KPI + 3–5 supporting metrics per goal.

Step by step

Write one business goal in a sentence, for example "fill 40 spots in the spring clinic".
Pick the one KPI that shows progress toward it, such as clinic sign-ups.
List 3 to 5 supporting metrics that explain the KPI, such as page visitors, sign-up conversion rate and cost per sign-up.
Look at the numbers you watch today and cross out the vanity ones (likes, total followers, total page views) unless they help a decision.
Mark which supporting metrics are leading (they predict) and which are lagging (they report).
Check: one KPI, 3 to 5 supporting metrics, and every number on your list helps you decide what to do next.

LESSON 01Measure what matters

LESSON 01 / ANIMATED LESSON / AI VOICE00:00 / 01:00

Voice

Read the video script

[Host] "A hundred thousand views. Great. Did anyone buy?"
[Text on screen: Goal > KPI > Supporting metrics] "Start with the goal. Pick one main number, your KPI. Then three to five numbers that explain it."
[Text on screen: Likes = vanity. Cost per sign-up = actionable] "Likes feel good. Cost per sign-up tells you what to do."
[Host] "If a number can't change a decision, stop checking it every day."

Try it now

Write one goal, its KPI, and 3–5 supporting metrics. Cross out any vanity metric you've been watching.

ClaudeStuck? Copy a ready-made prompt for Claude

Copy this, open Claude, paste it, and Claude will walk you through the lesson step by step.

For a grown-up: Claude is for adults (18+). Copy this, paste it into Claude, and use the answer to explain the lesson to your child.

I'm learning "Marketing Analytics: Read Your Numbers" on The Future Market. Lesson 1: "Measure what matters".

What the lesson teaches:
- Start with the goal, then choose numbers:
- Goal: what the business wants (e.g. "fill 40 spots in the spring clinic").
- KPI (key performance indicator): the main number that shows progress (e.g. "clinic sign-ups").
- Supporting metrics: numbers that explain the KPI (e.g. landing page visitors, sign-up conversion rate, cost per sign-up).
- Vanity metrics look good but don't guide decisions on their own (likes, total followers, total page views).
- Actionable metrics tell you what to do next (conversion rate on a page, cost per sign-up, repeat purchase rate).
- Leading vs lagging: email sign-ups this week (leading) can predict sales next month (lagging).

The exercise I'm working on:
Write one goal, its KPI, and 3–5 supporting metrics. Cross out any vanity metric you've been watching. ---

I'm stuck. Please:
1. Explain the main idea in plain, simple words with one everyday example.
2. Walk me through the exercise one small step at a time. Ask me what I've done so far before giving the next step.
3. Don't just give me the final answer. Help me do it myself, and check my work when I share it.

I'm a parent helping my child (about 8 years old) with a lesson called "Measure what matters" from the course "Marketing Analytics: Read Your Numbers".

Here's what the lesson says:
If you want to grow taller, you measure your height, not how many shoes you own. Pick the numbers that actually show you're reaching your goal.

The activity:
Write one goal, its KPI, and 3–5 supporting metrics. Cross out any vanity metric you've been watching. ---

Please explain this so an 8-year-old understands: short sentences, a fun everyday example, and no hard words.
Then give me 3 simple questions I can ask my child to check they understood, and a way to do the activity together, one tiny step at a time.

Open Claude

My notes

I learned this

02