Walk into any board meeting, and you’ll see them. Reports packed with impressions, CTRs, bounce rates, subscribers, email opens, social engagement, followers, conversion rates, and more. Dashboards with numbers and colourful graphs, all updating in real-time.
However, no one is truly confident which of those metrics matter, or why growth has stalled.
Such is the state of modern, data-driven marketing. Too much data and very little clarity.
What businesses need isn’t more metrics. It’s focus! You need a way to cut through the noise and focus on the key metrics that matter. That starts with defining your North Star Metric, understanding the key drivers behind it, and ruthlessly prioritising the bottlenecks holding you back.
Table of contents:
- North Star Metric
- Key Drivers
- Rate Limiting Step
- Nuance Metrics
- Metrics Examples
- Marketing Metrics
- Litmus Test
Start With Your North Star Metric
The North Star Metric (NSM) is your business’s single most important measure of growth. Forget about revenue for now. Shift your focus to the moment in their journey when your customers experience the value of your product or service. NSM is the one indicator that value, if improved, almost always leads to sustainable growth. And revenue will follow.
For Spotify, it’s time spent listening. For Airbnb, it’s nights booked. For Slack, it’s the number of messages sent. They reflect engagement with the product and demonstrate value delivered.
For your business, finding the North Star Metric means asking hard questions:
- What activity proves customers are finding value in what we offer?
- If this number grows, will revenue naturally follow?
- Can every team and person in the business influence it?
The answer might be monthly repeat purchases, active subscriptions, daily app users, or completed bookings. Whatever it is, that number becomes your compass. Everything else (campaigns, budgets, team focus) should align behind moving that number.
Break It Down Using Key Drivers
Your North Star tells you where you’re headed. But on its own, it’s too high-level to guide day-to-day decisions. That’s where Key Drivers come in.
Key Drivers are the tier 2 metrics that feed directly into your North Star Metric. Think of them as levers you can pull. Increase these, and your North Star will follow.
Take a SaaS company for example, with daily active users as its NSM. Their key drivers might include:
- New signups (acquisition)
- Activation rate (users hitting their first “aha” moment)
- Retention (how many stick around month after month)
- Referral growth (how many bring in others)
For an SME, the mix will vary. A retailer might focus on traffic, conversion rate, average order value, and customer retention. A service business might watch inbound inquiries, consultation bookings, close rates, and client churn.
Find Your Rate Limiting Step
Not all key drivers are equally important.
Among your key drivers, there’s often one critical bottleneck holding everything back. This is your Rate Limiting Step. And that’s the weak link in your growth engine.
It might be retention. You’re probably signing up plenty of customers, but they aren’t coming back. Or it could be acquisition. You’ve probably built a loyal customer base, but not enough new people are finding you.
Find this bottleneck by asking:
- If we doubled this metric, how much would it affect our North Star?
- Which driver, if left unaddressed, will keep us stuck, no matter what else we do?
Focus your resources here first. Everything else is secondary.
Nuance Metrics: Less, Not More
You’ll still need a few supporting metrics for context. These Nuance Metrics aren’t your priority, but they add depth to your decisions. Pick no more than five.
Examples include:
- Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
- Lifetime Value (LTV)
- Revenue per user
- Churn rate
- Marketing qualified leads (MQLs)
The rule is simple: if a metric doesn’t help you decide what to do next, it’s just noise.
Metrics Examples From The Real World
Let’s explore a range of examples to help get a better understanding of the concepts detailed in this article.
1. For a Private Physio Clinic in Edinburgh
Their North Star Metric could be Monthly Active Clients (MAC).
Why this NSM?
The clinic’s core value lies in clients attending treatments regularly, rather than just one-off sessions. MAC reflects both acquisition and retention, serving as the best proxy for health and business stability.
NSM contenders considered:
- Appointment Utilisation Rate (%): Important operationally, but not growth-focused.
- New Patient Bookings per Month: Measures acquisition but ignores retention.
Monthly Active Clients (MAC) wins because:
It ties directly to client health progress and sustainable revenue growth. More active clients equal more recurring income and word-of-mouth referrals.
Key Drivers:
- New patient consultations booked per month
- Target: 25 new consultations/month.
- Marketing channels that could be tested: SEO (ranking for “physio Edinburgh”), local PPC, Google Business Profile optimisation, etc.
- Notes: Initial consultations are the primary acquisition engine.
- Treatment plan conversion rate
- Target: 70% of new patients commit to multi-session treatment plans.
- Could focus on improving in-consultation sales skills, showing progress roadmaps, and using outcome-based language.
- Retention rate (clients completing full treatment plans) (Rate Limiting Step)
- Target: 85% completion rate for 6 to 10 session plans.
- Why Rate Limiting Step? Drop-offs mid-treatment destroy the compounding effect of repeat visits and limit active client count.
- Initiatives to test: SMS reminders, progress reporting, small loyalty perks (e.g., free massage after completing five sessions).
- Referral rate (clients referring friends/family/colleagues)
- Target: 20% of existing clients refer one new client per year.
- Test an incentivised referral program (e.g. “Free 30-minute massage for you when your friend completes their initial consultation”).
2. Physical Trainer Launching Their 10-Week Summer Programme
Their North Star Metric could be Program Completion Rate (%).
Why this NSM?
The trainer’s value isn’t just selling places; it’s in clients finishing and achieving results. A high completion rate drives transformation stories, including before-and-after photos, testimonials, and referrals. Program Completion Rate aligns with delivering results and long-term brand growth.
NSM contenders considered:
- Seats Sold per Programme: Critical for revenue, but doesn’t reflect client success or retention.
- Retention into Next Programme: Relevant later, not at launch.
Key Drivers:
- Programme sign-ups per launch
- Target: 50 participants per 10-week cohort.
- Marketing channels to test: Instagram Reels/TikTok showing “day 1 to week 10” stories, email list nurturing.
- Mid-programme attendance rate (week 5 drop-off monitoring) (Rate Limiting Step)
- Target: Keep 90% of participants active by week 5.
- Why Rate Limiting Step? Most attrition happens mid-programme. Solving this increases overall completion.
- Actions to test: Weekly accountability check-ins, gamified progress tracking.
- Pre-programme waitlist growth
- Target: 150 people on waitlist for next cohort.
- Purpose: Builds anticipation and cushions against last-minute dropouts.
- Post-programme referrals/testimonial submission rate
- Target: 30% of graduates submit before/after testimonials or refer a friend.
- Importance: Feeds acquisition flywheel for future cohorts.
3. SaaS CRM Software for Care Homes
This is a B2B SaaS product. Unlike horizontal CRMs (HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, Pipedrive), this is vertical SaaS: purpose-built for care homes. That matters because:
- Sales cycles are longer.
- Customer relationships are stickier (if you solve their pain).
- Churn is deadly in a niche market.
The metrics need to reflect both product adoption (care homes actively using the CRM) and commercial growth.
Their North Star Metric could be the Number of Monthly Active Care Homes (MAC). This measures how many care homes are actively using the CRM each month.
Why this NSM?
Each active care home reflects a team managing residents, compliance, and workflows through the CRM, providing direct evidence of the value delivered. Driving more active accounts aligns sales (acquisition), onboarding (activation), customer success (retention), and product teams (improved adoption). Active care homes are the source of revenue (MRR and LTV). High activity means they’re embedded operationally (stickiness proxy), reducing churn.
NSM contenders considered:
- Daily Active Users (DAUs): This metric shows user engagement across all staff. Although useful, care homes may have a limited number of users. It doesn’t reflect account-level success.
- Net Promoter Score (NPS): Signals customer love and retention potential. Lagging indicator; doesn’t drive daily focus.
- Onboarded Care Homes per Month: Tracks acquisition success. Ignores retention and adoption health.
Key Drivers:
- New care homes onboarded per month
- Target: 15–20 new care homes/month.
- Marketing channels to test: Outbound sales (target care home groups), partnerships (care associations, software resellers), SEO/PPC targeting “CRM for care homes”.
- Onboarding activation rate (first 30 days)
- Target: 80% of new accounts fully set up within 30 days.
- Definition: An account is considered “activated” when the admin account is created, at least three staff users are added, the first resident record is managed via the CRM, and the compliance dashboard is set up.
- Initiatives to test: In-app guided onboarding, a dedicated customer success manager for the first 30 days, and automated check-in emails + milestone tracking.
- Monthly retention rate (active care homes) (Rate Limiting Step)
- Target: ≥ 95% monthly retention.
- Rationale: This niche market is small. Losing accounts means losing future referral networks and reputation.
- Why Rate Limiting Step? Retention challenges (poor adoption, staff resistance, competitor switch) are the single biggest blocker to compounding growth.
- Areas to focus on: Regular customer success check-ins, early detection of churn signals (such as drops in logins or support tickets), and premium support packages for larger care groups.
Why their NSM drives focus:
This metric unites:
- Product: Build features that care homes rely on daily.
- Marketing: Generate leads in a tight, referral-driven industry.
- Sales: Drive new accounts.
- Customer Success: Embed product usage to prevent churn.
Churn prevention relies on care homes integrating your CRM into their operations, not just accounts or revenue.
Adding a quality lens as an advanced move:
To avoid counting zombie accounts, they could define an Active Care Home as:
- At least 5 staff logins per week.
- 80% of resident records managed via CRM.
- At least 1 compliance report generated monthly.
This prevents NSM inflation from inactive or trial accounts.
4. Boutique Tea Brand (Royal Mile Shop, eCommerce, Trade Supply)
Their North Star Metric could be Total Monthly Orders (Across All Channels).
Why this NSM?
Orders capture core value delivered across B2C retail, online, and B2B trade. It balances seasonal fluctuations in footfall (tourists) with the growth of eCommerce and trade relationships. Total Monthly Orders reflects both scale and multi-channel reach.
NSM contenders considered:
- Repeat eCommerce Customers per Month: Ignores in-store and trade channels.
- Trade Account Growth: Too narrow for a multi-channel business.
Key Drivers:
- Foot traffic to Royal Mile store
- Target: 10% YoY increase, tracked via door counter.
- Ideas to test: Geo-targeted Instagram ads (“Tea Shops in Edinburgh”), partnerships with local walking tours.
- eCommerce conversion rate (Rate Limiting Step)
- Target: Improve from 1.2% → 2.5%.
- Why Rate Limiting Step? Website traffic may be decent from tourists searching post-trip, but poor UX and unclear shipping offers might be limiting online purchases.
- Actions to test: Simplified checkout, free UK shipping over £30, retargeting ads for cart abandoners.
- Trade account monthly order frequency
- Target: Avg 2.5 orders/month per active trade client.
- Tactics to test: Subscription model for hotels/restaurants with small discounts for regular supply.
- Average order value (AOV) across channels
- Target: £35 AOV (currently £27).
- Tactics to test: Bundle promotions (e.g., “Royal Mile Favourites” box set), upsell premium blends at checkout.
5. B2B Coach/Mentor
Their North Star Metric could be Active High-Value Relationships.
Why this NSM?
The coach’s growth depends on trust and influence, not traffic volume or lead funnels. Active relationships represent a healthy network of clients, referral partners, and advocates. More than signed clients, this NSM reflects value delivered and long-term business momentum.
Key Drivers:
- Discovery or chemistry calls per month
- Target: 5–10 meaningful calls per month.
- Marketing channels to test: Follow-up from networking events, LinkedIn DM conversations, newsletter CTAs for free consultations.
- LinkedIn personal brand reach and engagement (Rate Limiting Step)
- Target: 10,000 post impressions per week and 50+ meaningful engagements (comments, DMs) per month.
- Why Rate Limiting Step? Without consistent visibility and engagement, new relationships don’t flow in. This driver fuels awareness and inbound interest.
- Actions to test: Weekly thought-leadership posts sharing helpful frameworks and success stories, commenting on high-value industry posts, leveraging carousels and short videos for reach.
- Face-to-face networking activity
- Target: Attend 2–4 high-quality events per month (conferences, masterminds, local business groups).
- Purpose: Builds deeper relationships and credibility beyond digital presence.
- Referral partnerships activated
- Target: Build 1–2 new referral partnerships per quarter.
- Importance: Trusted introductions from synergistic professionals (consultants, accountants, niche agencies) often convert faster than cold leads.
Marketing Metrics in a World Without Attribution
Your North Star Metric, Key Drivers, and Nuance Metrics are all that you need to make effective decisions at the company level. However, your marketing team might go in-depth to measure the performance of their campaigns.
That is where most marketers get stuck. With privacy changes, cookie loss, and multi-device customer journeys, classic attribution models are broken. Even the ultra-expensive platforms that promise attribution data are only making assumptions by combining multiple data sources.
So, how do you measure the real impact of marketing?
Think in terms of signals across the funnel.
At the top, watch for branded search trends (use Google Search Console data), direct traffic growth (via Google Analytics 4), and social reach (yes, those post reach and impressions are no longer just vanity metrics). These indicate brand awareness and market presence.
In the middle, track site visits (break it down by channel type), social engagement rates, and content interaction. This is evidence that people are moving closer to a decision.
At the bottom, focus on new social followers, new email subscribers, new registered users, etc. They are your marketing qualified leads, the ones who have opted in to hearing from you.
Finally, measure sales data and customer feedback.
Post-purchase surveys are invaluable. “Where did you hear about us?” Offer a free text field so people can type whatever they remember as the source. The data will require periodic cleansing and standardisation. It won’t be perfect, but it’ll offer direction. Combine this data with the top/middle/bottom/sales metrics and run experiments. Pause your ads for a week: does branded search drop? Push Instagram harder for a month: do your followers grow?
You’re not going after precision. Instead, you’re using our own manual data modelling to learn what’s driving results so you can double down.
The “Does It Move the Needle?” Litmus Test
Before committing to any growth marketing initiative, ask one question:
“Will this directly impact our Rate Limiting Step or one of the Key Drivers?”
A trade show across the Atlantic? Only if it drives your bottleneck metric. A shiny new TikTok strategy? Only if we demonstrate that it helps to move the North Star through one of the key drivers.
If not, park it. Staying focused beats activity for activity sake.
From Dashboards to Decisions
Growth doesn’t rise up from tracking tons of numbers. Find the right metrics. You only need the few metrics that guide decisions, drive focus, and align your team.
- North Star
- Key Drivers + Rate Limiting Step
- Nuance Metrics
That’s it. Get these right, and you’ll stop drowning in data. You’ll lead with clarity and unlock growth that compounds.