Marketing Dashboard: What to Track Each Month

A marketing dashboard is one page that shows the few numbers that tell you if your marketing works. This guide lists seven to check each month and shows how to build the page for free.

1. The short answer

   The number that matters most is cost per lead, because it joins your spend to your results. Next come leads, conversion rate, traffic by source, and return on ad spend. Add two more if you sell online or run email. Check all of them once a month, in the same order, on the same page.

   You do not need paid software. Google offers a free reporting tool that does the job for most small teams, and the steps are below.

2. Why one page beats ten reports

   Most teams have numbers in many places. Ads live in one tool, web traffic in another, and leads in a sheet or inbox. Each report tells part of the story. Nobody sees the whole.

   A dashboard fixes that. It pulls the key figures into one view. Anyone can open it and see the same numbers. That ends the monthly hunt for screenshots, and it makes meetings shorter.

   It also keeps you honest. When the same seven numbers sit side by side every month, a drop is hard to miss. A win is easy to explain.

3. Seven numbers worth tracking each month

   Start small. A dashboard with seven numbers gets read. One with forty does not. This table is a good starting set.

   Number	What it tells you	Where it comes from
   Website visits	How many people arrived	Google Analytics
   Traffic by source	Search, ads, email, social or direct	Google Analytics
   Search clicks and impressions	How often people see and click your pages in Google	Search Console
   Leads	Forms sent, calls and quote requests	Your form tool or CRM
   Conversion rate	Leads divided by visits	Worked out from the two above
   Ad spend and cost per lead	What each lead cost you	Google Ads or Meta Ads, plus leads
   Return on ad spend	Sales earned for each dollar of ads	Sales records and ad spend

   If you run email, swap one row for open and click rates. If you sell online, add average order value. Keep the list short either way.

   Pick a target for each number before the month starts. A figure with no target is just trivia.

4. How to build a free marketing dashboard

   On 12 October 2022, Google renamed Google Data Studio to Looker Studio. The tool is the same free reporting product. It turns your data into dashboards and reports that are easy to read and share. A paid version, Looker Studio Pro, was announced at the same time. You do not need it for this job.

   Looker Studio can pull from Search Console, Google Analytics, Google Ads and other sources. Here is a simple build.

   1. Open Looker Studio and start a blank report.
   2. Add your first data source, such as Google Analytics.
   3. Add the other sources one at a time, such as Search Console and Google Ads.
   4. Place one scorecard for each of the seven numbers across the top.
   5. Add one line chart below, showing visits by month.
   6. Add a table of leads by source.
   7. Set the date range to the last full month and compare it with the one before.

   Numbers that live in a spreadsheet, such as leads from a form, can usually be added as another data source. Do that last, once the first three work.

   Sources: Search Engine Land, Google Data Studio now known as Looker Studio (12 October 2022)

5. Keep it readable

   A dashboard is for decisions. Treat it that way.

   • Put the most important number at the top left, where eyes land first.
   • Use the same colours for the same meaning on every chart.
   • Label every figure in plain words. Say "leads", not "conv. 1".
   • Show the change from last month next to each figure.
   • Leave out charts nobody has used in three months.

   Share the report as a link, so everyone sees the current version.

6. A 20-minute monthly routine

   A dashboard only helps if someone reads it. Block the same slot each month, early in the first week.

   1. Open the dashboard and check that the dates are right.
   2. Look at each number against its target. Mark each one up, flat or down.
   3. For any big move, ask what changed. A new ad, a site edit or a holiday are common causes.
   4. Write down one thing to do next month. Only one.
   5. Save a note of the decision, so next month you can see if it worked.

   Be careful with small samples. If you only got six leads, a change of two is not a trend. Wait for another month before you act on it.

7. Sources

   1. Search Engine Land, Google Data Studio now known as Looker Studio (12 October 2022)

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