It is important to check your business’ metrics on a regular basis. The numbers help you see if your company is growing, staying the same, or declining over time. If you are consistently thriving, then continue implementing the same approach that is working for you. If you are staying at the same level or declining, then you can benefit from energizing your marketing efforts to reach more people and grow your business. Diagnose the health of your business by reviewing these 11 items on a regular basis.
1. Identify the total number of appointments over the next 4 weeks.
This number helps you understand whether your business is growing over time. Perhaps you recently did a promotion and want to see if the number of appointments over the next 4 weeks has increased as a result of it. Look at the appointment totals before and after the promotion to get an idea of its impact.
2. Find out the number of new clients coming into your office.
This metric helps address the question, “are we reaching new people?” It is also important to factor in your lifetime customer value. Lifetime customer value is the amount that an average customer will spend in their entire lifetime at your business. One of my clients in the medical aesthetics industry summarized it this way: “In 5 days, we are going to see 17 consults, which is great for long-term growth. Of those 17 consults, we hold about 90% of those (aka turning 90% of them into new customers). That’s roughly $50,000 or $60,000 over the next 3 or 4 years just based on those people.”
Having a long-term view and a solid understanding of customer lifetime value helps you understand the impact of your marketing efforts.
3. Identify your most popular services.
What services are your customers investing in over the next month? You can build promotions around in-demand services. You can analyze your customers to figure out why a particular service is popular. For example, you may notice that your customers are visiting your office for laser hair removal right before beach season, or are investing in weight loss treatments before their family member’s wedding. In the future, you can create ads that are tailored to people in similar situations and mention the importance of planning your treatments in advance. Your ads may say something to the effect of “A little planning goes a long way. Start now to be ready for the summer!”
4. Review the statistics regarding reach and impressions from your advertising campaigns.
If you are running paid ad campaigns, identify how many people you are reaching and the number of times your ads are being seen. You can compare the numbers week-by-week, month-by-month, or over other time periods. Other statistics you can review are the number of times your ads are saved and shared. If your ad has a video in it, you can see how many people watched 25%, 50%, 75%, 95% or 100% of the video. You can see how engaged your audience was with your video.
5. Check in on your new reviews.
If you have a feedback system set up, such as an automated email asking your customers how their experience was at your office, check in on the feedback regularly. Some medical aesthetics practices have an automated email that asks people to share their feedback privately, and then if the customer’s internal review is 5 stars, their system asks them to share their review on Google. When people review your business on Google, respond to their feedback because Google will send the customer an email saying that your business answered them. The customer took the time to review your business on Google. Demonstrate that you are responsive by responding to their feedback.
6. Review how many people open your email marketing campaigns.
See if certain emails are connecting more than others with your customers. The subject line of an email impacts how many people open the email. Be sure that you are implementing email marketing best practices and addressing the new email rules from Gmail and Yahoo.
7. Analyze the activity on your Google business profile (clicks on the call now button, requests for directions, website clicks, etc).
Your Google business profile displays your Google reviews, shows the posts that you have published to your Google business profile, and lists your contact information. Monitor the number of clicks on your call now button, how many times people request directions to your office, and how many website clicks are generated from your profile. You can track those metrics over time to see if your office received more phone calls in one month as compared to others.
8. Review your company’s revenue.
Of course, for all the different metrics one can review, financial statistics hold a great deal of importance for your business. Did you have a great sales week? If so, try to connect the dots to see what contributed to that success. For example, you may notice that the same week your ads reached a record number of people, your business generated a strong amount of revenue, the phones were busy, and your appointments increased over the next 4 weeks. All of your marketing efforts work together to draw attention to your business.
9. Review the promotional email that you are sending out that week.
Consider sending a weekly email to your past and present customers. The messages keep you top-of-mind with them and can encourage referrals. Review your weekly marketing email to ensure it aligns with your overall business goals and promotional calendar, which leads us to our next point.
10. Create your promotional calendar for the next 3 months.
On a regular basis, review the services that you want to promote over the next 3 months. This is also referred to as your 90-day marketing calendar. Re-use campaigns that have worked well in the past, and take note of the season of the year that you are in. Are your customers getting ready for beach season? Do your customers want to look and feel their best for the Christmas and holiday season? Being aware of what your customers are doing and the time of year you are in can help you write engaging, relevant ads.
11. Check in with your team regarding how the phones are and what people are calling about.
Your receptionist, office manager, and in-person team members can provide useful insights regarding what your customers are calling about and are interested in. Your front desk staff can share what services your customers are inquiring about and any potential objections they may have.
Bringing it all together:
To answer questions like, “is my business growing” and “are we on track to achieve our goals,” you need to know your numbers. Consistently track the items mentioned in this article to understand how your business is doing in both the short and long term.
Want a marketing professional to promote your business and reach more potential customers? Schedule a 15-minute discovery call with Michael to see if you are a good fit to work together.
Email Michael at Michael@MichaelGuberti.com.
