Vanity metrics: reach and clicks are possession, not goals
In 2016, Leicester City won the Premier League with 42.4% possession, the lowest of any champion in the data era.
Before the season, bookmakers had them at 5,000 to 1. They had the ball less than almost every team. They were second to last in pass accuracy. They still finished with 81 points, 10 clear of Arsenal.
What they did have: the fastest forward play in the league, attacks that lasted about 5.5 seconds on average, and the best shot conversion rate in the league, 13.0%.
Possession is what a marketing dashboard measures
Reach. Impressions. Clicks. Followers. A busy feed. It all feels like control. It is not the score.
These numbers are easy to grow and easy to report, which is why they fill most weekly reports. But a team can win every one of them and still lose: more traffic that does not convert, more installs that do not stay, more followers who never buy.
What the score looks like
The score is the number that pays the bills, measured as close to revenue as you can get:
- Revenue or contribution margin from new users
- Paying users or subscribers added
- Retained users at day 30
- Payback period on acquisition spend
- Incremental revenue from a channel, measured with a holdout
Activity metrics still have a job. They explain why the score moved. They should sit underneath it, not on top.
The move
- Check which number your Monday report opens with. If it is activity, you are playing for possession.
- Move one outcome metric to the top and make every other line explain it.
- Cut activity metrics nobody acts on. If a number has never changed a decision, drop it from the weekly review. More in why more dashboards lead to fewer decisions.
- Judge channels on conversion, not volume, the way Leicester was judged on goals, not passes.
Bottom line
Skip the possession. Count the goals. Win ugly.
FAQ
What are vanity metrics in marketing?
Numbers that are easy to grow and look good in a report but do not reliably connect to revenue, such as impressions, reach, clicks and follower counts.
What should a weekly marketing report lead with?
An outcome metric close to revenue, such as new paying users, revenue from new cohorts, day 30 retention or payback period. Activity metrics belong underneath, to explain changes.
Are impressions and clicks useless?
No. They help diagnose why an outcome changed. The problem is treating them as the goal, because they can rise while revenue stays flat.
How did Leicester win with low possession?
By being efficient with the ball they had: fast attacks of about 5.5 seconds on average and the league's best shot conversion rate, 13.0%.