Email and customers · Lesson 5.1
Simple CRM Setup Metrics: Four Numbers Worth Watching
Once your list is running, it is tempting to count everything. Total contacts, rows added, emails sent. Those numbers feel good and tell you little. This post covers four measures that show whether your follow up is working, and how to read them once a week. Once your simple CRM setup is running, a few numbers show whether it works.
I am not giving you benchmarks. Good numbers differ a lot by business, so the useful comparison is your own figures from last month. Track them over time, and you will see what is changing.
Watch four things weekly: overdue rows, time to first reply, people moving between stages, and results by source. Compare to your own past numbers, not someone else's.
Measure 1: Overdue rows
Count how many active rows have a next step date in the past. This is the cleanest health check for a CRM. A low number means you are keeping promises. A rising number means people are waiting and the list is slipping.
How to read it: if it is climbing for two weeks, you either have too many people or too many vague next steps. Clear the oldest ones first, and push cold people to "not now".
Measure 2: Time to first reply
For new leads, note how long it takes you to send the first reply. You can record the date added and the date of first reply, and look at the gap.
How to read it: speed matters most at the start of a conversation. If your gaps are long, look at what is slowing you down. Replying to every new lead quickly covers a way to shorten this.
Measure 3: Movement between stages
Once a week, count how many people moved forward a stage, how many stalled, and how many were closed as won or lost.
How to read it: a lot of people stuck in one stage points to a problem there. Many in "quote sent" with no movement may mean your quotes need follow up. Many in "new" may mean slow first replies.
Measure 4: Results by source
Because you recorded where each person came from, you can count by source: how many people came from each, and how many of those bought.
How to read it: give it a few months before drawing conclusions, since small numbers mislead. Over time you will see which sources bring buyers and which only bring enquiries. Put your effort where buyers come from.
What to ignore
A weekly five minute review
- Count overdueNote the number and compare to last week.
- Check new leadsLook at how fast the latest ones got a reply.
- Scan stagesSee where people are stuck.
- Note sourcesAdd this week's wins to the source tally.
- Pick one changeChoose a single thing to improve next week.
Write the numbers in a small table beside the list or in a separate sheet. After a month you will have a trend, which is worth more than any single figure.
Keep measuring simple
You do not need a dashboard. A spreadsheet with four columns and one row per week is enough. If you want to build more later, do it when a question arises that these numbers cannot answer.
For setup help, see the complete guide, and for what to do when the numbers show trouble, the common mistakes. Lesson 5.1 shows how to get people into the list from your inbox and forms so the numbers stay accurate, and a welcome email and an email journey give the people in your list something useful to receive.
Simple CRM setup metrics: how to record them without extra work
The measures only help if recording them is nearly free. Here is a light way to do it using the list you already have.
For overdue rows, add a filter or a count formula on the date column that counts dates earlier than today. Note the number in a small table once a week.
For time to first reply, add two date columns: date added and date of first reply. The gap is the difference. You do not need a formula to start, just a quick glance at the newest rows.
For stage movement, note on Friday how many people sit in each stage. Compare to last Friday. You do not need to track every individual change.
For results by source, filter by the source column and count how many are in "bought". Do this monthly, not weekly, since small counts jump around.
A sample weekly log
Here is the shape of a log you could keep. The numbers are placeholders to show the layout, not benchmarks.
| Week | Overdue rows | New leads | Replied within a day | Moved forward | Closed won |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |||||
| 2 | |||||
| 3 |
Fill in your own numbers each Friday. After three or four weeks, look for direction. Is overdue falling? Is the share of quick replies growing? Are people moving forward, or piling up?
How not to misread the numbers
Be careful about chasing a metric at the cost of the work. Pushing overdue rows to zero by deleting dates, or by moving everyone to "not now", improves the number and helps nobody. The aim is that real people get real replies on time.
Turning a number into a change
Each week, pick one number that looks worst and ask a simple question. If overdue rows are rising, are your next steps too vague? If replies are slow, what stops you answering sooner? If people stall in one stage, what would help them move? Then make one small change and see what happens next week. One change at a time lets you tell what worked.
Go further
Lesson 5.1 gives you the list these numbers come from: every lead and buyer in one place, with a next step and date on each. To avoid common problems that spoil the numbers, see the five mistakes, and for a routine that keeps the data honest, the weekly routine.
A worked example of a Monday review
This is an illustration with made up figures, only to show the process, not a result from a real business.
Say your Friday log shows the overdue count has gone from two to six over three weeks. You sort by date and read the oldest rows. Four of them have a next step such as "follow up" with no clear action. That points at vague next steps, so this week you rewrite each one as a specific action, such as "send the revised quote", and give it a real date. Next Friday you compare the count to this one.
You did not need a perfect number to learn that. You needed a comparison with your own earlier weeks.
A simple tracking sheet
Make a sheet with columns for week ending, overdue rows, new leads, replied within a day, moved forward, closed won and one line of notes. Fill it once a week. After a month, read the notes column from top to bottom. The changes you tried, and what followed, are your next experiments.
What to do when numbers look fine but the business does not move
A tidy list does not create demand. If your overdue count is low and few people buy, look at what comes before and after the list: where leads come from, how clear your offer is, and what people receive after they first get in touch. See the welcome email lesson for one way to catch the people who do respond.
Questions people ask
What is a good number of overdue rows?
As close to zero as you can manage. Compare to your own past weeks.
How long before source results mean anything?
Give it a few months, and treat small counts with caution.
Do I need a dashboard?
No. A simple weekly table is enough.