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Understanding The Metrics That Matter for Local Businesses

Posted on by avintivmstg

According to LivePlan, 90% of businesses that set growth targets fail to track them in real-time, and one in ten have no growth targets at all.

Unsurprisingly, 77% of these businesses generate less than $100K in annual revenue.

This issue turns into more than just a data problem. It’s a growth problem. Many local business owners rely on instinct and hustle instead of insight. However, gut instinct isn’t a scalable strategy.

You need clarity. You need structure. And most of all, you need the right numbers guiding your next move.

In this guide, we’re laying out the top 10 business performance indicators that matter most for local brands. 

TL;DR: The Top 10 Metrics Local Businesses Need to Track

  1. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
  2. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
  3. Churn Rate
  4. Conversion Rate
  5. Gross Profit Margin
  6. Net Promoter Score (NPS)
  7. Website Traffic Sources
  8. Average Order Value (AOV)
  9. Return on Investment (ROI)
  10. Employee Turnover Rate

What Are Local Business Metrics?

Business metrics are measurable values that reveal how effectively your company is operating, growing, and delivering on its goals. 

Think of them as your business’s vital signs. Data points that reveal what’s driving momentum, where the leaks are, and where untapped opportunities exist.

The right metrics help answer questions like:

  • Are your marketing efforts bringing in high-quality leads?
  • Are you pricing your services profitably?
  • Are customers satisfied enough to return or recommend your business to others?
  • Are your team and systems operating efficiently?

When tracked consistently, these measurable outcomes become your operational playbook. They help you identify patterns, course-correct faster, and make confident decisions that drive predictable growth.

Common Misconception: Metrics aren’t just for agencies or tech startups. They’re essential for every kind of local business, from boutique fitness studios and medspas to HVAC contractors and high-ticket service brands.

Metric #1: Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

What it is: CAC reveals how much you spend to land a new customer. It includes ad spend, sales commissions, software costs, and labor tied to prospecting and onboarding.

Why it matters: If you’re spending $500 to acquire a client who only brings in $400 of profit, you’re operating at a loss — even if your top-line revenue looks healthy. Knowing your CAC allows you to scale intelligently and profitably.

How to calculate it: 

Total marketing + sales costs ÷ Number of new customers acquired 

= CAC

How to improve it:

  • Tighten up your lead funnel and cut unqualified traffic
  • Invest in conversion-focused landing pages
  • Track which campaigns produce the highest LTV customers

Metric #2: Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

What it is: CLV estimates the total revenue a single customer will bring over the duration of your relationship. For membership-based models, this is especially vital.

Why it matters: CLV tells you what each customer is really worth. It also sets a ceiling for your customer acquisition cost. If a new client will bring in $3,000 over time, spending $500 to acquire them makes perfect sense.

How to calculate it: 

Average order value x Purchase frequency x Customer lifespan 

= CLV

How to increase it:

  • Introduce loyalty and upsell programs
  • Create subscription tiers or retainer models
  • Improve retention through better onboarding and customer experience

Metric #3: Churn Rate

What it is: Churn rate tracks how many customers stop doing business with you over a given period. For service and subscription businesses, it’s a silent killer.

Why it matters: High churn kills growth. Even if you’re signing up new clients, you’ll never gain traction if you’re losing out on the back end.

How to calculate it: 

Customers lost during a period ÷ Total customers at the start of the period 

= Churn Rate

How to reduce churn:

  • Build in automated follow-ups 
  • Improve client onboarding and education
  • Gather feedback and resolve dissatisfaction proactively

Metric #4: Conversion Rate

What it is: Your conversion rate quantifies the percentage of people who complete a desired action, such as booking a call, signing up for a free trial, or making a purchase.

Why it matters: High traffic means nothing if nobody takes action. Your conversion rate is the ultimate test of how persuasive your messaging, offers, and user experience are.

How to calculate it: 

Conversions ÷ Total visitors or leads x 100 

= Conversion Rate (%)

How to improve it:

  • Test new offers, page layouts, or call-to-action (CTA) copy
  • Use testimonials and case studies to increase credibility
  • Optimize mobile responsiveness and load speed

Metric #5: Gross Profit Margin

What it is: Gross profit margin shows how much revenue remains after you take away the direct costs of delivering your product or service (cost of goods sold or COGS).

Why it matters: This metric distinguishes between businesses that are growing revenue and profit and those that are merely shifting funds. Strong margins signal pricing power and operational efficiency.

How to calculate it: 

(Revenue – COGS) ÷ Revenue x 100 

= Gross Profit Margin (%)

How to boost it:

  • Raise your prices or package more value into premium offerings
  • Negotiate better vendor rates or improve sourcing
  • Cut inefficient labor or overdelivery in service execution

Metric #6: Net Promoter Score (NPS)

What it is: NPS measures customer loyalty based on how likely your clients are to recommend your business to others. It’s a single-question survey with powerful predictive value.

Why it matters: A strong NPS reflects exceptional client satisfaction, often the key driver of organic growth. High scores can signal readiness for referrals, testimonials, or even influencer partnerships.

How to calculate it:

Ask customers this: “On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend us to a friend?”
% Promoters (scores 9–10) – % Detractors (scores 0–6)
= NPS

How to improve it:

  • Deliver standout customer experiences consistently
  • Resolve issues quickly and proactively
  • Follow up with passives (7–8) to convert them into loyalists

Metric #7: Website Traffic Sources

What it is: This performance indicator breaks down how visitors find your website, such as organic search, direct traffic, paid ads, referrals, social, or email campaigns.

Why it matters: Knowing where your traffic originates helps identify which marketing channels are generating awareness and which ones need refinement.

How to analyze it: Utilize platforms like Google Analytics or Semrush to analyze source breakdowns, trends, and engagement patterns.

How to optimize traffic sources:

  • Double down on high-converting channels
  • Reevaluate spend or messaging for low-performing campaigns
  • Ensure your local SEO is working for organic visibility

Metric #8: Average Order Value (AOV)

What it is: AOV reveals the average dollar amount a customer spends per transaction.

Why it matters: Improving this number means increasing revenue without needing more customers, making it a powerful lever for profitability.

How to calculate it:

Total revenue ÷ Number of orders
= AOV

How to increase AOV:

  • Offer bundles, upgrades, or limited-time packages
  • Use tiered pricing strategies
  • Train your team to cross-sell during the sales process

Metric #9: Return on Investment (ROI)

What it is: ROI measures the financial return on a specific investment, like ad spend, a new hire, or a software purchase.

Why it matters: High ROI means your money is working for you, while a low ROI indicates it’s time to reallocate or rethink your strategy.

How to calculate it:

(Revenue gained – Cost of investment) ÷ Cost of investment x 100
= ROI (%)

How to improve it:

  • Set clear campaign goals and attribution systems
  • Regularly review ad and tool performance
  • Trim waste and focus on proven acquisition strategies

Metric #10: Employee Turnover Rate

What it is: This KPI tracks how often team members leave your business, voluntarily or involuntarily, over a specific period.

Why it matters: High turnover drains productivity, damages culture, and costs more than you might think. Low retention often signals deeper operational or leadership gaps.

How to calculate it:

Employees who left ÷ Average number of employees x 100
= Turnover Rate (%)

How to reduce turnover:

  • Use tools like Gusto to track team engagement and payroll trends
  • Offer career progression pathways and ongoing training
  • Foster a strong internal culture rooted in clarity, recognition, and trust

The Best Tools to Track Local Business Metrics

You don’t need a custom dashboard or enterprise suite to track what matters. Here are five powerful, easy-to-integrate tools that local business owners can use to stay on top of their most important data:

1. GoHighLevel: Best All-In-One CRM & Automation Suite

A robust CRM and automation platform tailored for service-based businesses. GoHighLevel helps you track leads, automate follow-ups, manage sales pipelines, and monitor conversion rates — all in one place.

2. Gusto: Best for Payroll, HR, and Employee Retention Metrics

An intuitive payroll, HR, and benefits tool built for small businesses. Gusto allows you to monitor headcount trends, manage employee engagement, and analyze turnover rates.

3. Semrush: Best SEO & Website Traffic Tracking Tool

Semrush is an industry-leading SEO and marketing insights platform. Evaluate your website traffic, keyword rankings, local search performance, and competitor benchmarks with precision.

4. Google Analytics 4 (GA4): Best for Traffic Insights and Funnel Performance

GA4 is Google’s free analytics platform that provides insight on where your website visitors come from, what actions they take, and which channels drive the most engagement.

5. QuickBooks: Best for Financial Visibility

QuickBooks can help you track gross profit margins, monitor expenses, and gain clarity on your financial health. However, you may want to consider hiring a CPA to gain a deeper understanding of your books as you enter a growth phase.

Final Thoughts on Analyzing Local Business Metrics That Help You Scale

If you want to scale with intention, these local business metrics are non-negotiable. They tell the story of your business, highlight bottlenecks, and provide the clarity to make bold, confident moves.

Tracking metrics isn’t about adding more complexity. It’s about creating more simplicity through insight. It’s how you go from operating reactively to growing strategically.

Want help building a growth dashboard tailored to your business? 

AVINTIV works with elite local brands to create scalable systems that measure, manage, and multiply growth.

Contact us today to start leveraging your data effectively.

Why Local SEO Is Important for Your Marketing Strategy

Posted on by avintivmstg

March and April 2020 have been a whirlwind of uncertainty, confusion, fear, confidence, and a mixture of everything in-between. Every person and business in the world has been affected by COVID-19. It’s how we allow COVID-19 to affect our business that dictates our future journey. We’re writing an article on why local SEO is important for your 2020 marketing strategy because we chose to be the positive light helping businesses get through this difficult time.

You have a choice as a business owner. You can fold your arms, play the victim, and wonder why this has happened to your business and you. Or, you can take a step back, breathe, and plan how you’re not just going to survive, but figure out how your business can thrive. What can you do right now to bounce back 10x stronger than before?

We work with a variety of different industries, both online and local businesses, and thankfully they’re all doing well. We’ve helped every one of our clients pivot their business during these uncertain times, and it’s paying off for them. We’ve also had an influx of companies reach out to us to rebuild their branding, websites, and SEO as before COVID-19, they didn’t have the time to start these types of projects.

We have great sympathy for the entire world right now, especially business owners as this is not an easy time. If you haven’t already optimized your business for COVID-19, start with this article on What Your Business Should be Doing to Fight the Impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Businesses Affected by COVID-19

Businesses all over have been drastically affected by COVID-19. Right now is the time for smaller companies to go head to head against their much larger competitor. If you own a local medspa with 3-4 employees and a 3,000sq ft office space, you have an amazing chance of surviving COVID-19 as you may not have the same challenges as the medspa with 20 employees, 10,000 sq ft office space and a $30,000 per month marketing expense.

We can speak on this topic as we have medical clients in that space right now who are planning on even financially helping or buying the other medspas that can’t weather the storm as it’s a smart play right now.

Now, before we go too far off track, we wanted to give you an example of businesses that are getting hurt from being closed, yet still keeping a positive outlook on life and doing whatever they can to grow their business during COVID-19.

Local SEO and Why It’s Important During and After COVID-19

We are going to go over why local SEO is so important now more than ever for businesses in the following industries: salons, spas, health and wellness, plastic surgery, medical, restaurants, massage, and cleaning services. It’s April 14th, 2020, as we write this article, and the State of Arizona, along with the rest of the country, is in complete lockdown.

Right now, most cities and shopping centers look like ghost towns, and that’s okay. Do you know how busy it’s going to be when everyone can leave the house and resume their normal lifestyle? We’re afraid most businesses won’t even know how to deal with the increase in demand for their restaurant, salon, spa, or shopping center.

Think about it. Everyone has been cooped up at home for two to three months with their spouse, pets, kids, etc. They want out, and they want to get back to their normal life of eating out, going to the gym, watching a movie, etc.

This exact reason is why local SEO is so essential for your business. You should want your business popping up on the first page of Google and #1 in the local 3-pack Google map when searching for your type of business. We are going to go over what local SEO is and five reasons why local SEO is important for your business right now.

What is Local SEO?

Local SEO (search engine optimization) is a way to optimize your business and its website to be visible and populate for location-based searches on Google. Local SEO is a strategy that can be incorporated into your marketing campaign to drive more organic traffic to your website, to give the user directions, and for the ability to call your phone number to visit you or set an appointment.

When a user is searching for specific keywords with the city, state, zip code, or near me searches added, your business should populate. Local search optimization is one of the best marketing tactics and strategies to grow your local business.

Below is an example of searches 

  • Restaurants near me
  • Bars near me
  • Scottsdale Medspas
  • Medical clinics in Phoenix

Avintiv Media has our proprietary process on how we get our local clients ranking on the first page of Google and in the 3-pack map. Some standard strategies can include content creation, on-page optimization, and off-page optimization with an emphasis on local directory listings.

5 Reasons Why Local SEO Is Important and Should be Your Main Marketing Focus for 2020

 

1. When COVID-19 is over, traveling, eating out, and shopping will be busier than ever.

One of the biggest misconceptions when wanting to grow your business is building your marketing around current events. That is slightly true but mostly false. True SEO campaigns and strategies take 60-90 days before Google fully processes all of the changes and starts sending you more organic traffic. If you started local SEO today, you would start to see results around June 14th, 2020. June 14th, 2020, which would be weeks after the U.S. has lifted its lockdown policies, and people would slowly going back out and looking at places to eat and shop.

Not only that, I can attest to this, but most of us do not look like our best selves right now, whether it’s from nails or hair not being done or gyms being closed down. Gyms, medspas, hair salons, and any type of medical or health enhancement company are going to be booming with customers wanting to enhance their look. Is your medspa going to pop up #1 on Google when a user searches, or will your competitor take that spot?

A lot of your competitors are probably doing worse than you due to their company being larger with much more expenses. They are more than likely taking their foot off the gas, which is the perfect time to catch up to them before they even notice. We love working with the Davids of the world as we take down the Goliaths of the world. We genuinely want everyone to win, so we say that half kidding, but the other half being dead serious.

2. Local SEO stats you should know.

We can sit here and tell you why local SEO is so important for your business right now and in the near future, but we’d much rather you see real research and data. 

These stats can be found on our recent blog 5 Need to Know SEO Tips for Dentists and Periodontists for 2020.

3. Getting Your Business Listed on the Google 3-Pack Map

You, along with everyone else, have searched for something on Google and have clicked a business listed in Google’s 3-pack map. Most people never even go past the 3-pack map since Google launched it. 

Ironically, Moz completed a study where over 44% of the people who performed a local search, then clicked on the 3-pack listing. Only 8% of those people chose to press “load more” to see the rest of the results. Do you want to be a part of the 8% group of businesses?

The Google 3-pack map has made it extremely easy for people to find a business’s website, address, or phone number with just a few clicks. If you’re using a new smartphone, which is highly likely, your phone will give you turn-by-turn directions to that business within seconds.

Below is an example of one of our clients, who is a local dentist and periodontist. We’ve been grateful to have been working with them for almost two years now. We rebuilt their brand, website, and completed local SEO with ongoing SEO support. Within just a few short months, her business was on page one of Google and the Google 3-pack map for competitive keywords within her industry.

Local SEO, SEO, Dental SEO, Search results

4. Tourists and people that are traveling are going to use Google to find businesses near them.

Although it’s hard to imagine people traveling right now with everything going on with COVID-19, there will be a time in the near future when the world resumes back to how it was. When tourists travel to different places, they search Google for what’s around them. Odds are if you haven’t invested in optimizing your business for local SEO, they will not be finding your business.

As you can see in the image below, search engines (SEO) is the number one online used source for travel planning by leisure travelers and the second source for business travelers.

Make sure that you have a nicely designed website that will give your visitors a phenomenal experience; otherwise, Google won’t want to rank you towards the top.

 

Local SEO, SEO, Travel and vacation search results

5. Local SEO has the highest conversion rates out of all local advertising channels.

This reason is probably one of the most important because as a fellow business owner, we all understand ROI and revenue is much more important than analytics in a monthly report. There are many parts of SEO, but the two most significant elements are: getting your website more organic traffic and then having that organic traffic convert into paying customers.

There was a recent study done that showed an astounding 78% conversion of offline sales through local SEO, with almost 90% of those purchases being a physical store or location. Out of those local searches, 76% of the offline sales happened the same day, and 63% within just a few hours. I don’t know about you, but those are some pretty fantastic conversion rates.

When people are searching on Google through their mobile devices, chances are they are ready to buy something or come to your business within the next 24 hours. 

In Conclusion

With the addition of Local SEO, you’ll also be one of those businesses that can proudly say we not only survived COVID-19, but we also set our business up for future success and it’s now doing better than ever. Are you going to be that person? If so, schedule a FREE SEO audit with us today to see how well your local SEO is performing.