The Data Trap
Can I tell you a secret?
Most course creators track too many things. Or the wrong things. Or nothing at all.
They drown in dashboards. They obsess over vanity metrics. They check analytics fifteen times a day but can't tell you if their business is healthy.
Sound familiar?
Here's what I've learned: More data isn't the answer. The right data is.
Today, I'm giving you the 7 metrics that actually matter. Track these, and you'll know exactly how your business is doing—without the overwhelm.
Why These 7 Metrics?
Every metric on this list passes a simple test:
Does this metric tell me something I can act on?
Follower counts feel good but don't pay bills. Revenue is important but doesn't tell you why.
These 7 metrics form a complete picture. They cover acquisition, conversion, delivery, and retention. Together, they tell you where your business is thriving and where it's breaking.
Let's dive in.
Metric 1: Email List Growth Rate
What it measures: How fast your audience is growing
Why it matters: Your email list is your most valuable asset. Social followers can disappear overnight. Email subscribers are yours.
How to calculate:
Growth Rate = (New Subscribers - Unsubscribes) / Starting List Size × 100
Example:
- Started the month with 2,000 subscribers
- Added 300 new subscribers
- Lost 50 to unsubscribes
- Net growth: 250
- Growth rate: 250 / 2,000 = 12.5%
Healthy benchmarks:
- 5-10% monthly growth: Solid
- 10-20% monthly growth: Excellent
- Under 5%: Need to focus on lead generation
Track it: Monthly
What to do if it's low:
- Create more lead magnets
- Optimize opt-in forms
- Guest on podcasts or collaborate
- Run list-building ads
Metric 2: Email Open Rate
What it measures: Engagement with your email content
Why it matters: A large list means nothing if no one opens your emails. Open rate signals trust and relevance.
How to calculate:
Open Rate = (Emails Opened / Emails Delivered) × 100
Note: With Apple's Mail Privacy Protection, open rates are less reliable than before. Track trends over time, not absolute numbers.
Healthy benchmarks:
- 30-40%: Good
- 40-50%: Excellent
- Under 20%: Problem with subject lines, frequency, or list quality
Track it: Weekly (review each email)
What to do if it's low:
- Improve subject lines (curiosity, benefit, personalization)
- Clean your list of inactive subscribers
- Send more relevant content
- Test different send times
Metric 3: Sales Page Conversion Rate
What it measures: Percentage of visitors who buy
Why it matters: This is where interest becomes revenue. Small improvements here multiply everything.
How to calculate:
Conversion Rate = (Sales / Unique Visitors to Sales Page) × 100
Example:
- 1,000 people visited your sales page
- 25 people bought
- Conversion rate: 2.5%
Healthy benchmarks:
- 1-2%: Average
- 2-5%: Good
- 5-10%: Excellent (often during launches with warm traffic)
- Under 1%: Offer, price, or page needs work
Track it: Monthly (or per launch)
What to do if it's low:
- Strengthen the headline and opening
- Add more social proof
- Address objections directly
- Test different prices
- Simplify the page
- Improve the offer itself
Metric 4: Revenue Per Subscriber
What it measures: How much each email subscriber is worth
Why it matters: This tells you how much you can afford to spend on list building—and whether your monetization is working.
How to calculate:
Revenue Per Subscriber = Total Revenue / Total Subscribers
Example:
- Total revenue this year: $100,000
- Email list size: 5,000
- Revenue per subscriber: $20
This means every new subscriber is worth $20 to your business (on average, over time).
Healthy benchmarks:
- $10-30: Good for most niches
- $30-50+: Excellent (high-ticket or multiple products)
- Under $10: Monetization could be stronger
Track it: Quarterly
What to do if it's low:
- Launch more products (higher and lower priced)
- Improve email marketing to drive more sales
- Create upsells and order bumps
- Add recurring revenue (membership, coaching)
Metric 5: Course Completion Rate
What it measures: What percentage of students finish your course
Why it matters: Completed students get results. Results lead to testimonials, referrals, and repeat purchases. Incomplete students often regret buying.
How to calculate:
Completion Rate = (Students Who Completed / Total Enrolled Students) × 100
Example:
- 200 students enrolled
- 60 completed the full course
- Completion rate: 30%
Healthy benchmarks:
- 10-20%: Typical for self-paced courses
- 30-40%: Good
- 40-60%: Excellent
- 60%+: Outstanding (usually with cohort or accountability)
Track it: Monthly
What to do if it's low:
- Shorten the course (less content, more impact)
- Add accountability (deadlines, cohorts, community)
- Improve onboarding (first 48 hours matter)
- Send reminder emails to inactive students
- Celebrate milestones to keep momentum
Metric 6: Net Promoter Score (NPS)
What it measures: How likely students are to recommend you
Why it matters: NPS predicts referrals and long-term growth. Promoters become your marketing engine. Detractors damage your reputation.
How to calculate:
Ask students: "On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend this course to a friend?"
- 9-10 = Promoters
- 7-8 = Passives
- 0-6 = Detractors
NPS = (% Promoters) - (% Detractors)
Example:
- 100 responses
- 60 promoters (60%)
- 25 passives (25%)
- 15 detractors (15%)
- NPS: 60 - 15 = 45
Healthy benchmarks:
- 0-30: Needs improvement
- 30-50: Good
- 50-70: Excellent
- 70+: World-class
Track it: Quarterly (or after each cohort)
What to do if it's low:
- Read detractor feedback carefully
- Identify and fix the biggest complaints
- Improve student support
- Set better expectations before purchase
- Enhance the student experience
Metric 7: Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
What it measures: Total revenue from an average customer over their relationship with you
Why it matters: CLV tells you how much you can spend to acquire a customer. It also reveals whether you're maximizing existing relationships.
How to calculate (simple version):
CLV = Average Purchase Value × Average Number of Purchases
Example:
- Average course purchase: $297
- Average student buys 1.5 products
- CLV: $297 × 1.5 = $445
Advanced version includes:
- Upsells and order bumps
- Membership revenue over time
- Coaching purchases
- Referral value
Healthy benchmarks:
- CLV should be at least 3x your customer acquisition cost (CAC)
- Higher CLV = more room to invest in marketing
Track it: Quarterly
What to do if it's low:
- Create additional products (advanced courses, done-for-you services)
- Add upsells and order bumps
- Launch a membership or community
- Improve email marketing to existing customers
- Build a referral program
Your Dashboard Setup
Now let's put this into practice.
Weekly Review (15 minutes)
Check these every week:
| Metric | This Week | Last Week | Trend | |--------|-----------|-----------|-------| | New subscribers | | | | | Email open rate (average) | | | | | Sales page visitors | | | | | Sales this week | | | |
Weekly question to answer: Are we moving in the right direction?
Monthly Review (30 minutes)
Check these monthly:
| Metric | This Month | Last Month | 3-Month Avg | |--------|------------|------------|-------------| | List growth rate | | | | | Sales page conversion rate | | | | | Course completion rate | | | | | Revenue | | | |
Monthly question to answer: What's working and what needs attention?
Quarterly Review (1-2 hours)
Check these quarterly:
| Metric | This Quarter | Last Quarter | YoY | |--------|--------------|--------------|-----| | Revenue per subscriber | | | | | NPS score | | | | | Customer lifetime value | | | | | Total revenue | | | |
Quarterly question to answer: Is the business getting healthier over time?
Tools for Tracking
You don't need fancy software. Here's what works:
Simple Option: Spreadsheet
Create a simple Google Sheet or Notion database with:
- One tab for weekly metrics
- One tab for monthly metrics
- One tab for quarterly metrics
Update it at the same time each week (make it a calendar appointment).
Integrated Options
For email metrics:
- ConvertKit, Mailchimp, or your email provider's dashboard
- Export data monthly for your records
For sales metrics:
- Your course platform (Teachable, Kajabi, MineCourse, etc.)
- Stripe or PayPal dashboards
- Google Analytics for traffic
For completion and NPS:
- Course platform analytics
- Simple survey (Typeform, Google Forms)
- Manual tracking in a spreadsheet
All-in-one dashboards:
- Google Data Studio (free, connects to many sources)
- Geckoboard (paid, prettier)
- Cyfe or Klipfolio (mid-range options)
Keep it simple. The best dashboard is one you actually use.
The Metrics That Don't Matter (As Much)
Stop obsessing over these:
Social media followers
- Vanity metric
- Doesn't predict revenue
- You don't own the platform
Course enrollments (alone)
- Revenue matters more
- High enrollment + high refunds = problem
Website traffic (alone)
- Conversions matter more
- 100,000 visitors with 0 sales = worthless
Number of courses created
- Quality beats quantity
- One great course > five mediocre ones
Hours worked
- Output matters, not input
- 10 hours of high-leverage work > 50 hours of busy work
These can be interesting data points. But they shouldn't be your dashboard. They don't tell you if you're winning.
The Power of Trends
Here's something crucial.
Any single metric on any single day is noise.
What matters is the trend.
Is it going up, down, or sideways?
A 25% open rate going up each month is better than a 40% open rate going down.
When reviewing metrics, always compare:
- This period vs. last period
- This period vs. same period last year
- This period vs. your 3-month average
Context makes metrics meaningful.
Taking Action on Metrics
Data without action is just entertainment.
For each review session, identify:
1. What's winning? Do more of this. Double down.
2. What's concerning? Investigate. Is this a trend or a blip?
3. What's one thing to improve? Pick ONE metric to focus on until the next review.
Trying to improve everything at once improves nothing. Focus wins.
The 80/20 of Course Metrics
If you only track 3 things, track these:
- Email list growth rate – Are you building an audience?
- Sales page conversion rate – Is your offer working?
- Course completion rate – Are students getting results?
These three metrics predict long-term success better than anything else.
Everything else is supporting detail.
Building the Habit
A dashboard only works if you use it.
Create a ritual:
- Same time each week (Sunday evening? Monday morning?)
- Same process each time
- Takes 15-30 minutes max
Make it visual:
- Graphs help you see trends
- Color-code good/bad/neutral
- Keep it visible (not buried in folders)
Review with intention:
- Not just "look at numbers"
- Ask: "What does this mean? What should I do?"
The goal isn't to become a data analyst. It's to run a healthier business with confidence.
The Clarity You Deserve
Here's what I want for you.
Instead of checking random metrics throughout the day, anxious about what they mean...
You check your dashboard once a week. You know exactly how your business is doing. You know what to focus on.
That's the power of the right metrics.
No overwhelm. Just clarity.
Your One Small Win Today
Here's your action step.
Create a simple spreadsheet with these 7 metrics.
Fill in the numbers for last month (or your best guess).
Now you have a baseline.
Next week, update it. Compare. Adjust.
You just built your first real dashboard.
Next Step: Great metrics tell you what's working. But knowing what to do with that information is what separates good creators from great ones. Read Building a Community: From Course to Membership—and learn how to turn your course into predictable recurring revenue.