The prospect of business growth in 2023 couldn’t be more exciting. In the digital age, business owners have a wealth of assets at their disposal to propel their business forward. The invention and take off of social media has helped businesses of all sizes exponentially.
Still, it is important to ensure you have the fundamentals right, and a stable base, in order to facilitate continued, sustained growth.
This starts with identifying and measuring a number of important metrics. Business metrics are not a new concept in the business world, but one that inexperienced entrepreneurs allow to fall by the wayside.
For any business looking to really take off in 2023, it is vital that metrics are baked into your business’s culture. Keeping track of some key metrics, of which we are going to share, will help to identify areas of success as well as areas for improvement. Continue below where we define metrics in business, and how you can fuel growth by examining a select few.
Firstly, What Are Metrics?
Metrics can be defined in a few different ways, which makes creating a universal definition difficult. What’s more, there are a huge range of metrics that vary in importance depending on you, your business and your goals.
Loosely speaking though, they are ‘’the collection of relevant and meaningful business data that can help you make informed decisions to grow your business’’.
As you can see, without the existence and measurement of metrics you are navigating the market blind. It is incredibly difficult to make important decisions that contribute to business growth without first identifying key metrics and performance indicators.
If you are new to business, you may be overwhelmed by all this information. This is perfectly understandable. Metrics, performance indicators, growth, market position. These are all terms which mean very little at the start, but understanding them will determine whether you are successful.
If you find yourself overwhelmed, it may be sensible to enlist the support of an expert in business performance. Companies like Accuracy bring a wealth of experience and resources, which allows you to focus on your business solely. Outsource your workload to an expert in business strategy and development, and put your undivided attention into customer care and product.
Continue below where we explore some important metrics, and how you can use them to propel yourself forward in 2023.
The Key Metrics for Sustained Growth
Performance of Staff and Operations
This should be the first thing you consider, way before you delve into the more complicated and technical metrics.
If you don’t know how your staff are performing, and you are not measuring their performance against accepted standards, it will be hard for your business to grow.
Additionally, you need to access company operations across a range of departments. The bigger the business, the harder and more logistical this becomes. Your staff’s sales performance, for example, could be calculated by looking at revenue against staff numbers.
As mentioned, it’ll be hard for your business to grow if you’re not measuring your staff’s performance against accepted standards. One of such standards has to do with compliance and sustainability. Depending on the nature of your business, you can consider partnering with companies experienced in providing the reliable data your business needs. For example, working with companies like Metallurgical Systems to gain data-led insight into accepted standards regarding compliance and sustainability while promoting operational efficiency is beneficial if your company is into mining.
Retention/ Churn Percentages
This section can be divided into two parts, with both being equally important. As a business, you need to understand your customer retention percentages. Ideally, you can then calculate churn and create a strategy to keep this as low as possible.
Retention and churn suffer when customers are not happy, and customer loyalty is not incentivised or valued. Thus, you need to go above and beyond for the customer. By doing this, you improve retention and lower churn. Resultantly, you maximise profit margins. Examples of rewarding customer loyalty are regular email marketing campaigns offering flash discounts. This is just one example.
Conversion Rate
Understanding your overall conversion rate allows you to identify where areas of the business are working, and where areas of the business are not.
A high conversion rate is fantastic. A low conversion rate is nothing to be concerned about immediately. It does, however, present cause for further investigation.
If your conversion rate is low consistently, it can give you some indication that things are not working as they should be. Perhaps areas of your online store are broken, or there is an overlooked product issue. Understanding your conversion rate and striving to fix problems is conducive to monumental growth.
These are only a few simple examples of important business metrics. The truth is, there are a huge range of variables that contribute to growth. The most important thing is that you, as a business, are self aware. Superficial analysis is great, but you need to delve deeper to understand your business as a whole. By understanding your business, your staff, your customers and the market, you can begin to create a model that thrives and generates a healthy return on investment.