I don’t want to scare you. But chances are good that you aren’t digging deep enough into your brand’s online performance. Fortunately, it’s easier than you think to start drilling into the core of your marketing.

Most of us aren’t data scientists. Some of us have a solid background in statistics. Others of us are math enthusiasts. The rest of us…well, let’s just say math was not my strong suit in school.

It took me awhile to really embrace the power of metrics in marketing. Now I’m a true believer in how analytics drive a successful marketing program.

Those of you who entered the realm of digital early had an excuse: Analytics tools were mostly primitive or too expensive for your brand to take advantage of. Now, big data is the buzzword on the lips of marketers globally. If you aren’t measuring yet, it’s time to start.

The most common faux pas in today’s marketing playbook is the tendency to take surface metrics at their word. Surface metrics are narcissistic, skin-deep. They just don’t tell you what you need to know about how your content drives business goals.

Surface metrics do have their place, of course. Let’s take a look at why they’re important and where they fall short.

We all measure surface metrics

Numbers permeate the surface of your marketing. It doesn’t take a lot of extra thought to understand those surface metrics.

Most of the time, measuring them is free. They’re often public. While they tell you something about your content, they don’t go deep enough to give you the full story.

What analytics fall into the category of surface metrics?

• Page views: Page views tend to be a metric we weigh heavily when it comes to your content. It’s true that you want to get eyes on your content. But where are those eyes coming from? What do they do after they’ve viewed the page? How long do they stay? Page views can be deceiving. As a result, they fall under the category of surface metrics.

• Social shares: Social shares are a real ego-boost. They represent a good way to find out if your content is strong enough to get people sharing. But strong, well-written content doesn’t always translate to your direct audience. You just might be getting great traction without doing anything for sales. Becoming a revenue driver should be the number one goal for your content.

• Comments & interactions: Engagement is a key goal for marketers—but it’s frequently misunderstood as enticing visitors to comment on content and interact with each other. Content that starts a conversation is most definitely powerful, but what does it tell you about how it impacts sales numbers? Not much. Comments and interactions are simply surface metrics.

What lies beneath: intent metrics

Intent metrics measure your visitor’s underlying motivations. They help you understand exactly where they are in the process of discovering your brand and products. They’re much more critical to content creation than surface metrics.

With intent metrics, you can customize content to create an experience that leads visitors down the path to conversion. As a result, they’re pertinent to driving more sales.

What analytics fall into the category of intent metrics?

• Lead capture: Think of lead capture as someone opting into the sales funnel. Your content might be your first step in initiating a sale, but the moment a lead is captured is often the moment someone willingly enters into a conversation spotlighting your brand. Content that gets fewer eyes but more leads is far more valuable than content that gets more eyes and fewer leads.

• Average number of pages visited: Here’s where you begin to map out your user experience. The average number of pages visited helps you see whether or not people are finding your content valuable enough to keep browsing your blog, website, or other channel. It’s related to your bounce rate in that they work inversely—but knowing the average number of pages is more important. It means that a certain percentage of people find your content valuable, while another percentage may just be stumbling across it.

• Visitor path: Do certain pieces of content pair well with certain calls to action? Savvy marketers create preferred digital paths through the purchase funnel to help define how they want audience members to interact with the site. You have the ability to track the path of individual visitor from social channel all the way through customer conversion. Are you leveraging that ability?

How do you measure?

Do you find other intent metrics more valuable than those presented above? Share them with us in the comments.

About the Author

Mark Sherbin is a freelance writer specializing in technology and content marketing. He shares occasionally insightful information at Copywriting Is Dead, where he promotes authentic communication between organizations and their audiences. Say hello on Twitter: @MarkSherbin.