marketing-analytics

What this skill does

## Channel Metric Reference

### Email

| Metric | How It Is Calculated | Typical Range | Insight Provided |
|--------|---------------------|---------------|-----------------|
| Delivery rate | Delivered / Sent | 95-99% | Sender reputation and list hygiene |
| Open rate | Unique opens / Delivered | 15-30% | Subject line and sender name effectiveness |
| Click-through rate (CTR) | Unique clicks / Delivered | 2-5% | Relevance of content and CTA |
| Click-to-open rate (CTOR) | Unique clicks / Unique opens | 10-20% | In-email content quality among openers |
| Unsubscribe rate | Unsubscribes / Delivered | Below 0.5% | Audience-content fit and send frequency tolerance |
| Bounce rate | Bounces / Sent | Below 2% | List data quality |
| Conversion rate | Conversions / Delivered | 1-5% | Full-funnel email performance |
| Revenue per send | Total revenue / Emails sent | Varies | Direct monetary contribution |
| List growth rate | (New subs - Unsubs) / Total list | 2-5% per month | Audience acquisition health |

### Social Platforms

| Metric | How It Is Calculated | Insight Provided |
|--------|---------------------|-----------------|
| Impressions | Times content appeared in feeds | Distribution breadth |
| Reach | Unique users who saw content | Audience coverage |
| Engagement rate | (Reactions + Comments + Shares) / Reach | Content resonance |
| Click-through rate | Link clicks / Impressions | Ability to drive traffic |
| Follower growth rate | Net new followers / Total followers per period | Audience expansion pace |
| Share/Repost rate | Shares / Reach | Virality and advocacy signal |
| Video view rate | Views / Impressions | Hook effectiveness for video |
| Video completion rate | Completed views / Total views | Content quality and length fit |
| Share of voice | Your mentions / Category total mentions | Competitive visibility |

### Paid Advertising (Search and Social)

| Metric | How It Is Calculated | Insight Provided |
|--------|---------------------|-----------------|
| Impressions | Times the ad appeared | Budget utilization and audience sizing |
| Click-through rate (CTR) | Clicks / Impressions | Creative and targeting relevance |
| Cost per click (CPC) | Spend / Clicks | Traffic generation efficiency |
| Cost per thousand impressions (CPM) | Spend per 1,000 impressions | Awareness cost efficiency |
| Conversion rate | Conversions / Clicks | Landing page and offer effectiveness |
| Cost per acquisition (CPA) | Spend / Conversions | Full-funnel cost efficiency |
| Return on ad spend (ROAS) | Revenue / Ad spend | Revenue generation return |
| Quality Score (search) | Platform relevance rating (1-10) | Alignment of ad, keyword, and destination |
| Frequency | Average exposures per user | Ad fatigue risk indicator |
| View-through conversions | Conversions from users who saw but did not click | Influence of display and awareness placements |

### Organic Search / SEO

| Metric | How It Is Calculated | Insight Provided |
|--------|---------------------|-----------------|
| Organic sessions | Visits originating from search engines | Overall SEO health |
| Keyword positions | Rank for target search terms | Search result visibility |
| Organic CTR | Clicks / Search impressions | Title and meta description appeal |
| Indexed pages | Pages present in the search index | Crawlability and site architecture |
| Domain authority | Third-party composite score | Aggregate site strength |
| Backlink count | External domains linking inward | Off-page authority and content value |
| Page speed | Time to interactive | UX quality and ranking signal |
| Organic conversion rate | Conversions / Organic sessions | Intent alignment and content quality |
| Top organic entry pages | Most-visited pages from search | Highest-performing SEO content |

### Content Performance

| Metric | How It Is Calculated | Insight Provided |
|--------|---------------------|-----------------|
| Pageviews | Total views across content pages | Content reach |
| Unique visitors | Distinct users consuming content | True audience size |
| Average time on page | Duration spent on content pages | Depth of engagement |
| Bounce rate | Single-page sessions / All sessions | Content-audience alignment and UX |
| Scroll depth | Percentage of page scrolled | Engagement persistence |
| Social shares | Times content was distributed socially | Audience advocacy |
| Backlinks generated | External links earned by content | SEO value and authority |
| Leads attributed | Leads traced to content interaction | Conversion power |
| Content ROI | Attributed revenue / Production cost | Investment return |

### Pipeline and Revenue Metrics

| Metric | How It Is Calculated | Insight Provided |
|--------|---------------------|-----------------|
| Marketing qualified leads (MQLs) | Leads passing marketing qualification criteria | Top-of-funnel output |
| Sales qualified leads (SQLs) | MQLs accepted by the sales team | Lead quality |
| MQL-to-SQL conversion | SQLs / MQLs | Marketing-sales alignment |
| Pipeline created | Dollar value of new opportunities | Marketing revenue impact |
| Pipeline velocity | Speed of deal progression | Campaign urgency and quality signal |
| Customer acquisition cost (CAC) | Total marketing + sales spend / New customers | Acquisition efficiency |
| CAC payback period | Months to recoup CAC from revenue | Unit economics viability |
| Marketing-sourced revenue | Revenue from marketing-originated deals | Direct marketing contribution |
| Marketing-influenced revenue | Revenue from deals with any marketing touchpoint | Broader marketing footprint |

## Report Structures

### Weekly Snapshot
Designed for rapid team consumption:
- **Three headline metrics** with week-over-week movement
- **Wins**: 1-2 data-backed highlights
- **Watch items**: 1-2 areas requiring attention with supporting numbers
- **Upcoming actions**: 3-5 priorities for the week ahead

### Monthly Performance Review
Standard format for stakeholder reporting:
1. Executive summary (3-5 sentences)
2. Core metrics table with month-over-month and target comparisons
3. Channel-level performance breakdown
4. Campaign results and highlights
5. What succeeded and what underperformed, with working hypotheses
6. Recommendations and priorities for the coming month
7. Budget spent vs. planned

### Quarterly Strategic Review
For leadership-level analysis:
1. Quarter results against stated goals
2. Year-to-date progress and trajectory
3. Channel-by-channel ROI assessment
4. Campaign portfolio performance summary
5. Competitive and market landscape observations
6. Strategic recommendations for the next quarter
7. Budget proposal and reallocation plan
8. Experiment outcomes and key learnings

### Dashboard Construction Principles
- Feature the metrics that tie directly to business goals, not vanity numbers
- Display trends over multiple periods rather than isolated data points
- Provide comparison anchors: prior period, target, industry benchmark
- Apply uniform color signaling: green for on-track, yellow for at-risk, red for off-track
- Organize by funnel stage or the business question being answered
- Confine the dashboard to a single screen; relegate granular data to an appendix
- Match the refresh cadence to the decision cadence (real-time for paid media, weekly for content)

## Trend Analysis and Projection

### Spotting Patterns
When examining performance data, investigate:

1. **Sustained direction**: is the metric consistently rising, falling, or flat across 4+ consecutive periods?
2. **Turning points**: at what moment did the trajectory change, and what event coincided?
3. **Cyclical patterns**: are there recurring fluctuations by day of week, month, or quarter?
4. **Outliers**: isolated spikes or dips — what triggered them, and could the cause be replicated or avoided?
5. **Predictive signals**: which metrics shift first and foreshadow downstream outcomes?

### Analytical Process
1. Plot the metric across time with at least 8-12 data po