A marketing metrics dashboard holds the working numbers under your headline results: email clicks, SMS replies, form completion, landing page conversion, review volume, chat conversations started. These are the levers channel owners can actually pull this week. This article answers how to organise those metrics by channel in Reporting on the levelpartner.ai platform, how to link each one to the result it feeds, and how to stop the screen turning into a wall of numbers nobody reads.
Metrics are the levers, results are the score
Booked calls and won revenue are results. You cannot change them directly. You change them by moving the inputs: more people completing a form, faster replies, a better email click rate, more reviews on your profile. Those inputs are your metrics.
The point of a metrics dashboard is to show each input next to the result it feeds. Without that link, a channel owner can improve a metric that does not matter, such as open rate on a newsletter that never produces calls.
Group metrics by channel, then by stage
Give each channel its own row on the dashboard. Within each row, order the metrics from first contact to booked call. For email, that might be delivered, clicked, replied and booked. For forms, it might be page visits, form starts, completions and booked. For chat, it might be conversations started, contact captured and booked.
Every row ends with the same result: booked calls from that channel. That shared end point lets you compare channels fairly, even though their inputs look different.
Before you start
- A short list of the channels you actually use, no more than six.
- Source recorded on contacts, so each booked call is linked to a channel.
- Email marketing, SMS, chat and forms running through the platform rather than separate tools.
- Reputation connected if review volume is one of your metrics.
- An owner for each channel row.
How to set it up
- Write each channel on its own line with three or four metrics in funnel order.
- Add booked calls from that channel as the last metric on every line.
- Go to Dashboard, click + Add Dashboard and name it marketing metrics.
- Add Opened Emails, Clicked Emails and Replied Emails as the first row.
- Add Total Opt-ins (All Funnels) and Unique Funnel Views as the second row.
- Add New Conversations started (This Week) as the third row.
- Add SMS by Status and Incoming SMS Count if you use SMS.
- Add the Google Business Profile widget from General as a reviews row.
- Add Lead Source Report from General as the final widget.
- Click Save Changes and add last month as the comparison range.
- Put each row owner's name in the first widget Title on that row.
What it is for in a 10 to 250 person firm
In a 60-person firm with flat revenue, the leadership team sees results and the channel owners see their own platform's statistics. Nobody sees the connection. A metrics dashboard puts the connection on one screen. When booked calls from email fall, the email owner can see straight away whether clicks fell or whether clicks held and the booking page stopped converting.
It also stops channels being judged on activity. A row that shows high email volume and almost no booked calls is easy to question when both numbers sit side by side.
Suppose the email row shows 4,200 delivered, 380 clicks, 41 replies and 9 booked calls this month, against 4,100 delivered, 360 clicks, 39 replies and 17 booked calls last month. Every input holds steady and only bookings fall. That pattern would point past the email itself, for example to a change in the booking calendar that removed evening slots, which the calendar owner could reverse the same day.
What it replaces
It replaces the habit of logging into each tool separately to see how a channel is doing. It also replaces monthly channel reports written by each owner in their own format, which are impossible to compare. One dashboard with a shared end point does both jobs.
Time it takes
Setup takes two to three hours, mostly deciding which three or four metrics each row needs. Each channel owner spends five minutes a week on their row. A monthly review of the whole screen with the marketing lead takes 20 minutes.
The mistake most people make
Adding every metric the platform can report. A metrics dashboard with forty widgets gets opened once and never again. Each row should hold the three or four inputs that most directly feed booked calls, plus the booked call count itself. If a metric has never caused anyone to change what they do, remove it.
When not to use it
If you run one or two channels and a single person owns both, a metrics dashboard is unnecessary. Add the two or three inputs you care about to your marketing KPI dashboard instead. It is also the wrong place for leadership. Directors should see results, not inputs, on a summary such as the CMO dashboard.
Troubleshooting
Booked calls by channel do not add up to the total. Some bookings have no source, usually because the calendar link was shared directly. Add a source parameter to every shared booking link, and check the marketing data dashboard for the gap.
Email metrics look unusually high. Automated opens from mail security tools inflate open counts. Rely on clicks and replies rather than opens.
Chat metrics show conversations but no contacts. The chat widget or AI agent is not asking for contact details before the conversation ends. Adjust its instructions to capture a name and email or phone early.
Channel owners argue about whose row gets credit. Agree one rule for source, usually first source, and use it on every row. The multi-touch attribution guide covers when to use more than one.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between marketing metrics and KPIs?
KPIs are the few results you set targets against. Metrics are the inputs that move those results. A KPI dashboard is short and target-led. A metrics dashboard is wider and organised by channel.
Should open rates be on the dashboard?
Rarely. They are distorted by privacy and security features in mail clients. Clicks and replies are more reliable signals of interest.
How many rows should the dashboard have?
One per active channel, usually four to six. If a channel produces almost nothing, give it a single line until it earns more space.
Can each channel owner have their own version?
Yes. Duplicate the dashboard and filter to one channel, but keep the shared version as the one used in team meetings.