Four metrics marketers should avoid, and what to replace them with

Darwin Liu

Relying on valid metrics in all their nuance is essential for marketers looking to continually improve their businesses.

Choosing metrics that measure what matters can be a major headache even for seasoned e-commerce marketers. Valid metrics help concentrate attention and resources on what will bring success to the business. After all, you can’t manage what you can’t measure. But just because it can be measured doesn’t mean it should be measured.

One thing is clear: marketers shouldn’t place their confidence in so-called “vanity metrics” – measurements whose only purpose is to improve the appearance of the scorecards and dashboards they inhabit. These are the metrics that are easy to measure and look good on a slide deck, but...

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