Marketing metrics that matter (steal them)

Today, we're going to get nerdy. Put your thinking caps on. Mine's the one with the spinning propeller on top.

Let's talk data, shall we?

Doing marketing without data is like flying a plane from point A to B without any dashboard instruments:

• You're not even sure if you started heading the right direction

• Are you going fast enough to hit your destination on time? Who knows

• You seek hints to know you're on the right path

• After enough time, reality hits. You have no idea where you're going. Chaos ensues

• You fall short of your destination and overall goal

Metrics are the:

• Speed

• Compass

• GPS

In your marketing airplane.

Would you trust a pilot with only a yoke and throttle?

Probably not.

Unfortunately, there are a million and one metrics you could focus on. That's a lot of options.

But, if there's one thing I learned:

• More options = Confusion

• Confusion = quitting

Instead, I'm going to just give you the metrics I like. Then tell you how to find them.

The metrics I like

I'm going to focus on the three most popular marketing channels rental operators use for now:

• Ads

• Email

• OTAs

Each with different numbers I look at.

First, I'll share my golden metrics. Everything I do must improve these.

Makes sense?

Let's begin...

The Golden Metrics

• Bookings (duh)

• Leads

• Followers*

*If applicable

I like focusing on leads because it's the clearest way someone can say "I'm interested in spending money with you". They willingly have to give you contact information to become a lead.

Same idea with followers. They have to manually hit that "follow" button because they want to see more of your stuff.

Bonus: Reaching these people is free. I like free marketing.

Ads

The golden metrics +

• Cost Per Click (CPC)

• Click Through Rate (CTR)

• Click Share

Cost Per Click is the amount of money you pay to get one person to click.

Goal:

• Meta: <$0.15 - $1.00

• Google: <$1.00

Click Through Rate is the percentage of people who click vs who see an ad.

Goal:

• Meta & Google: >1-3%

Click Share is different. Let's say you're running five different ads. You will have 2-3 take up most of the clicks. They have the most click share.

Make sure those 2-3 ads meet the CPC and CTR goals above and find common variables that might contribute to their success.

Replace the others with new ads weekly.

I like these data points because they let me know if people are even interested in my stay.

Email

• Open Rate

• Click Through Rate

Open Rate is the number of people that read your email.

• Goal: >30%

Click Through Rate is the number of people who clicked on a link in that email.

• Goal: >1-3%

Email should be a channel you earn a lot of money from. Make sure people are reading those emails.

OTAs

• Impressions

• Listing views

• Bookings (duh)

Impressions are eyeballs.

Listings views is self explanatory.

Goal: Look at these metrics like stages.

Impressions (stage 1) -> Listing Views (stage 2) -> Bookings (stage 3)

Then aim for this:

• Impressions → Views: >5%

• Views → Bookings: >1%

• Impressions → Bookings: >0.10%

It's easy to spot wins and opportunities if you read it this way.

Where to find the numbers

This is simple. Monitor weekly and compare to the previous week.

Ads

Meta: Ads Manager main dashboard

Google: Overview → Campaigns

Email

I'll show you MailChimp because it's the one most people use:

Main Dashboard → Analytics

OTAs

Airbnb: Host Dashboard

Insights → Performance

Your move

If you want to get your own guests from the internet, don't be a blind pilot.

Look at the data. Weekly.

Why guess if you're on the right path if you don't have to?

That's all for today. I'll see you in the next article.

P.S. Writing this from the Pennsylvania mountains. Spent the day at Elk Mountain. NE PA skiing is extremely underrated. If you like to shred but hate the lines, I approve. Ski here. Stay here.

5 hrs from Boston // 2.5 from Philly & NYC

Before you go

I spend about 10 hours writing this newsletter each week. The rest of my time is spent running Lodge Social.

Our marketing team will help you get more guests to like, share and book.

Work with me and my team here.

Links you might like:

1. (2025) Best short term rental marketing articles (The Lodge Social)

2. Not really relevant - but this Chris Willx episode is good (Diary of a CEO)

3. Make a marketing plan with ChatGPT (The Lodge Social)

4. 2026 outlook report (Airdna)