The only numbers worth tracking — what each means, what good looks like, and exactly what to do when each one moves.
By Angelina Mihaylov · angelinamihaylov.com
If you’re drowning in marketing data, the answer isn’t more dashboards. It’s fewer numbers — the right ones, measured weekly, acted on monthly.
Below is the dashboard you actually need. Five tiles. One operating rhythm. Print it, pin it above your desk, and let it kill the guesswork.
PART I
The Dashboard
Marketing · Health Snapshot
Live
Return on Investment
300%+
Healthy benchmark per channel. Did this make money?
Healthy
Customer Acquisition Cost
≤ ⅓ CLV
Aim to spend no more than one-third of customer lifetime value.
Watch
Conversion Rate
2–5%
Site baseline. Landing pages and emails should run higher.
Healthy
CLV : CAC Ratio
3 : 1
A customer should be worth at least 3× what you paid to get them.
Sustainable
Engagement → Revenue
Match
Your top engagement channel should also be a top 3 revenue channel. If not — act.
Investigate
Targets above are healthy benchmarks — not promises. Your numbers will vary by industry; what matters is the trend.
PART II
How To Read Each Tile
01
Return on Investment (ROI)
The Truth-Teller
The one number every other metric pretends to be. Run it per channel and per campaign — the ugly truth shows up fast: usually one or two channels are carrying the whole business.
How much you spend to win one new customer. A rising CAC usually signals weakening targeting or dulling messaging — both fixable, but only once you see them.
FormulaTotal Marketing Spend ÷ New Customers · Example: $2,000 ÷ 20 = $100 per customer
HealthyStable or falling vs. last quarter
Act whenRising 3+ months — sharpen niche or message
03
Conversion Rate
The Leverage Lever
The cheapest growth there is — doubling conversion is the same as doubling traffic, for a fraction of the cost. Run one A/B test a month and the compounding is enormous.
Formula(Visitors who converted ÷ Total visitors) × 100 · Example: (40 ÷ 1,000) × 100 = 4%
Healthy2–5% site baseline; 10%+ landing pages
Act whenFlat for 3 months — test headlines & CTAs
04
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
The Number That Lets You Spend Bigger
What one customer is worth across their whole relationship with you — not just the first sale. The CLV : CAC ratio is what makes serious ad investment safe to scale.
FormulaAvg. Order Value × Avg. Purchases per Year × Avg. Retention Years · Track the CLV : CAC ratio — aim for 3 : 1
HealthyCLV : CAC at 3 : 1 or better
Act whenBelow 1 : 1 — you’re paying to lose money
05
Engagement-to-Revenue Ratio
The Vanity-Killer
The one almost nobody tracks — and the reason businesses look great on social and starve in the bank. Cross-check where engagement is high against where revenue actually shows up.
CheckIs the channel with your highest engagement also in your top 3 by revenue? · If not, treat engagement as a signpost, not a paycheck
HealthyTop engagement channel = top 3 revenue channel
Act whenBig mismatch — rebalance content effort
PART III
Your Operating Rhythm
A dashboard without a cadence is just decoration. Run this rhythm and the numbers start running the business.
Want each number walked through with you?
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