Quick Answer: Whether in house or through an agency, your marketing team is working if they’re driving qualified leads at a predictable cost, improving your conversion rates, and can show clear ROI. If they’re only reporting on traffic, impressions, and engagement—without connecting those to actual business outcomes—you’re paying for activity, not results.
You’re six months into a marketing contract. Maybe longer.
Every month, a report arrives. It’s full of charts. Traffic is trending up. Social engagement is growing. Your blog published 12 articles. There are graphs showing reach and impressions.
But when you look at your pipeline? When you talk to your sales team? When you check your actual revenue?
Nothing’s really changed.
You ask your agency what’s working. They point to website visitors. They show you social media analytics. They talk about “brand awareness” and “long-term strategy.”
But you can’t shake the feeling that you’re paying for a lot of motion without momentum.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most marketing agencies report on the metrics that make them look good, not the metrics that drive your business forward.
If you’re wondering whether your agency is actually delivering value—or just delivering deliverables—here are the five metrics that tell you the truth.
The 5 Metrics That Actually Matter
1. Qualified Lead Volume (And Lead Quality)
This is the most important metric, full stop.
What to track: How many leads are you getting per month from your marketing efforts? More importantly, how many of those are actually qualified—meaning they fit your ideal customer profile and have genuine buying intent?
Why it matters: Traffic, impressions, and engagement are all means to an end. The end is leads that can become customers. If your lead volume isn’t increasing, or if the leads you’re getting aren’t qualified, your marketing isn’t working—no matter what the other metrics say.
What good looks like:
- Steady or growing lead volume month-over-month
- Clear breakdown of leads by source (organic, paid, social, email, etc.)
- Quality scoring or sales feedback showing leads are getting better, not just more numerous
Red flags:
- Your agency can’t tell you how many leads marketing generated
- Lead volume is flat or declining despite “growing traffic”
- Sales team complains leads are low-quality or not a fit
- Agency pivots to talking about “awareness” when you ask about leads
What to ask your agency: “How many qualified leads did our marketing generate last month, broken down by channel? How does that compare to three months ago? Six months ago?”
If they can’t answer clearly, that’s your answer.
2. Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) or Cost Per Lead (CPL)
Raw lead volume only tells half the story. You need to know what each lead costs you.
What to track: Total marketing spend divided by number of leads (or closed customers, if you have good attribution). Track this by channel—your cost per lead from Google Ads might be very different from organic search or email.
Why it matters: You might be getting more leads, but if your cost per lead is climbing, your marketing is becoming less efficient. Conversely, if lead volume is flat but cost per lead is dropping, your marketing is actually improving.
What good looks like:
- Cost per lead stays steady or decreases over time as campaigns optimize
- You know your numbers by channel (organic CPL, paid CPL, email CPL)
- Your CPL is well below your average customer value, giving you room for profit
Industry benchmarks (very rough):
- B2B services: $50-$200 per lead depending on deal size
- Home services: $25-$150 per lead
- Professional services: $100-$300 per lead
- Your acceptable CPL depends entirely on your close rate and average customer value
Red flags:
- Agency can’t provide CPL data
- CPL is rising month-over-month without explanation
- Agency doesn’t track which channels are most efficient
- You don’t know if your marketing spend is profitable
What to ask your agency: “What’s our cost per lead by channel? How has that trended over the last six months? Which channels are most efficient?”
3. Conversion Rate (By Channel and Page)
This tells you how well your marketing is turning traffic into action.
What to track:
- Overall website conversion rate (visitors → leads)
- Conversion rate by traffic source (organic, paid, social, email, referral)
- Conversion rate by landing page
- Form completion rates
Why it matters: Traffic growth is meaningless if your conversion rate is terrible. If you’re converting at 0.5% and your competition converts at 3%, they’re getting 6x more leads from the same traffic. Conversion rate is often the highest-leverage metric to improve.
What good looks like:
- Overall site conversion rate of 2-5% for service businesses
- Paid traffic converting at 5-10% (it’s more qualified)
- Conversion rates improving over time as you test and optimize
- Clear understanding of which pages and sources convert best
Red flags:
- Agency doesn’t track conversion rates at all
- Conversion rate is under 1% and nobody’s addressing it
- Agency celebrates traffic increases while conversion stays flat or drops
- No testing or optimization happening on landing pages
What to ask your agency: “What’s our overall website conversion rate? What about by channel? Which landing pages convert best, and what are we doing to improve the ones that don’t?”
4. Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) or Marketing ROI
This one’s simple: are you making more money than you’re spending?
What to track:
- Revenue generated from marketing ÷ marketing spend = ROI
- For paid ads specifically: Revenue from ads ÷ ad spend = ROAS
Why it matters: Everything else is a vanity metric if your marketing isn’t profitable. You need to know whether investing $5,000/month in marketing is generating $15,000 in revenue or $2,000.
What good looks like:
- Positive ROI (you’re making more than you spend)
- Ability to track revenue back to marketing sources
- Clear understanding of which channels are profitable vs. which are investments
- ROI improving as campaigns mature and optimize
Typical targets:
- 3:1 ROAS minimum for paid ads (every $1 spent generates $3 in revenue)
- 5:1 or higher for mature campaigns
- Overall marketing ROI of 5:1 to 10:1 depending on your margins
Red flags:
- Agency can’t or won’t discuss ROI
- No revenue tracking connected to marketing efforts
- Agency says ROI is “hard to measure” (it’s not—it’s just work)
- You have no idea if your marketing spend is profitable
What to ask your agency: “What’s our marketing ROI? Can you show me revenue generated by channel? How are we tracking leads through to closed customers?”
Note: This requires sales and marketing alignment. If your CRM isn’t tracking lead source through to closed deal, start there.
5. Pipeline Velocity and Sales Cycle Length
This metric is underused but incredibly valuable.
What to track:
- How long it takes leads to move from first contact to closed deal
- How marketing-generated leads compare to other lead sources
- Whether your sales cycle is getting shorter or longer
Why it matters: Good marketing doesn’t just generate leads—it generates better leads. If your marketing is educating prospects effectively, they should arrive more informed, have fewer objections, and close faster.
What good looks like:
- Marketing-qualified leads close faster than cold outreach
- Sales cycle length stays stable or decreases as content educates buyers
- Sales team reports marketing leads are “warmer” and easier to close
Red flags:
- Marketing leads take longer to close than other sources
- Sales complains marketing leads “aren’t ready”
- No tracking of how long deals take to close by source
- Marketing and sales teams aren’t talking about this
What to ask your agency: “How do our marketing-generated leads perform compared to other sources? What’s the average time to close? Are we tracking this?”
This might require collaboration between marketing and sales, but it’s worth it.
The Metrics That Don’t Actually Tell You Much
Now let’s talk about what doesn’t matter—or at least, what shouldn’t be the primary way you evaluate performance:
Website Traffic: More visitors is nice, but meaningless if they’re not converting. Would you rather have 10,000 visitors and 20 leads, or 2,000 visitors and 100 leads?
Social Media Followers/Engagement: Likes and comments don’t pay the bills. Unless social is directly driving leads or sales, it’s a brand-building activity—not a performance metric.
Impressions and Reach: Great for brand awareness campaigns, but terrible for measuring whether your marketing is working. Impressions just mean someone might have seen something.
Keyword Rankings: Ranking #1 is useless if the keyword doesn’t drive buyer-intent traffic. Rankings are a means to an end (traffic and leads), not the end itself.
Bounce Rate: Lower is generally better, but a 40% bounce rate with strong conversion is better than a 20% bounce rate with no conversions.
These aren’t bad metrics. They’re just not the ones that tell you if your marketing is driving business results. They’re leading indicators at best—inputs, not outcomes.
If your agency is primarily reporting on these and can’t speak to the metrics that actually matter, that’s a problem.
What Good Agency Reporting Actually Looks Like
You should be getting reports that connect marketing activity to business outcomes. Here’s what that looks like:
Monthly Dashboard Should Include:
- Leads generated (total and by channel)
- Cost per lead (by channel)
- Conversion rates (overall and by source)
- Traffic breakdown (but in context of conversion, not in isolation)
- Campaign performance (what’s working, what’s not, and what we’re changing)
- ROI or ROAS (if attribution is set up)
Quarterly Strategy Review Should Include:
- Trend analysis: Are we moving in the right direction?
- What we learned: What did we test? What worked? What didn’t?
- What we’re changing: Based on data, how are we adjusting strategy?
- Projections: Where should we be in 3-6 months?
Most importantly: Your agency should be able to have a conversation about these numbers. Not just present them, but interpret them and explain what they mean for your business.
If your reports are just data dumps with no insight, that’s not strategic partnership—it’s just reporting.
Red Flags That Your Agency Isn’t Working
Beyond the metrics, here are signs your agency relationship isn’t delivering value:
They avoid talking about leads and revenue
When you ask about business impact, they pivot to traffic, rankings, or “brand building.” Good agencies want to talk about results.
Reports are full of jargon and pretty charts, light on outcomes
If you need a decoder ring to understand what’s supposedly working, something’s wrong.
No clear strategy connecting tactics
They’re posting on social, running ads, doing SEO—but there’s no coherent story about how these work together toward a goal.
They never bring you new ideas
You’re getting the same tactics month after month with no testing, no optimization, no evolution.
They can’t explain what’s working and why
“Traffic is up” isn’t an explanation. Good agencies know which campaigns, keywords, or content pieces drive results.
Your sales team doesn’t know what marketing is doing
Marketing and sales should be aligned. If they’re not talking, your agency isn’t operating strategically.
What to Do If Your Agency Isn’t Measuring What Matters
If you’ve realized your agency isn’t tracking the right metrics—or can’t show you clear ROI—here’s what to do:
Step 1: Have the Conversation
Schedule a call specifically to discuss measurement and outcomes. Come prepared with questions:
- “Can you show me lead volume and cost per lead by channel?”
- “What’s our marketing ROI?”
- “Which campaigns or tactics are driving the most qualified leads?”
- “How are we tracking leads through to customers?”
Their response tells you everything. Good agencies welcome this conversation. Bad ones deflect.
Step 2: Request Better Reporting
Ask for a reporting overhaul focused on business outcomes, not marketing activity. If they push back or say “that’s not how we report,” that’s telling.
Step 3: Set Performance Expectations
Define what success looks like in concrete terms:
- “We need to generate 50 qualified leads per month”
- “Our cost per lead needs to be under $100”
- “We need 3:1 ROAS minimum on paid ads”
If your agency can’t commit to outcomes or says “marketing doesn’t work that way,” you have an agency that’s not accountable to results.
Step 4: Evaluate Your Options
Give them 60-90 days to adjust. If reporting improves and you start seeing progress on metrics that matter, great.
If not? It might be time to find a partner who treats marketing as a revenue driver, not just a service they provide.
The Bottom Line: Your Marketing Should Drive Business Growth
Here’s the simplest test: If your marketing stopped tomorrow, would your revenue drop?
If the answer is no—or you’re not sure—your marketing isn’t working, regardless of what the reports say.
Good marketing is measurable. It drives qualified leads. It has a clear cost structure. It produces ROI. And a good agency can show you all of that, clearly and confidently.
If yours can’t, you’re not getting what you’re paying for.
Is Your Marketing Actually Driving Growth?
At Blackfeather, we build Growth Systems around the metrics that matter: qualified leads, cost per acquisition, conversion rates, and ROI. Every Growth System includes transparent performance dashboards that connect marketing activity directly to business outcomes—so you always know what’s working and where your dollars are going.
Not sure if your current marketing is measuring what matters?
Book a Growth Audit and we’ll evaluate your current performance, identify gaps in tracking and attribution, and show you exactly what good measurement looks like for your business.
Related Questions:
What’s a good cost per lead for my industry?
It varies widely, but generally: B2B services ($100-300), home services ($25-100), and professional services ($100-300). More important than industry benchmarks is whether your CPL allows for profitable customer acquisition based on your average deal size and close rate.
How do I track marketing ROI if my sales cycle is long?
Use pipeline value as a leading indicator. Track marketing-generated opportunities and their total value, even before they close. Over time, you’ll establish a close rate for marketing leads and can project revenue. Also track first-touch and last-touch attribution to understand marketing’s role in longer sales cycles.
Should I fire my agency if they can’t show ROI?
Not immediately. First, make sure your tracking infrastructure is set up properly (CRM, lead source tracking, conversion tracking). If tracking is solid and your agency still can’t demonstrate value after 90 days, that’s a red flag. Good agencies want to prove ROI—it’s how they retain clients and justify their fees.