Perhaps you’ve taken courses, watched videos, and/or listened to podcasts talking about the importance of tracking your numbers in business. And you’ve nodded along and then… done nothing.

I know I have.

Part of the reason for this is that at my core I’m much more of an alphabet kind of person than a numbers kind of person. I don’t naturally think about something by making a calculation about it. Instead, I think about the words I might use to describe it.

However, that’s not the only limitation. Something that’s been equally off putting over the years is the sheer amount of numbers I’ve been told to track.

When you’re starting from nothing, and you’re not super keen to jump into the world of data, it’s best to just track one or two numbers rather than ten. Ten sounds overwhelming and often creates enough of a barrier to have you stepping away from the notion of tracking data altogether.

Identifying two or three numbers, that you actually understand the significance of, is a much more realistic and accessible approach. 

So that’s what we’re discussing today; the two basic numbers you need to support your visibility efforts. 

It’s very easy to become disappointed with a launch or the success of something in your business because of unrealistic expectations of how things are going to unfold. I see this ALL. THE. TIME. Specifically amongst female entrepreneurs.

Knowing your visibility numbers helps to overcome this emotional roller coaster and allows you to gain much more clarity around the next best steps to take in your business.

So let’s get clear on exactly which visibility related numbers you want to start with.

Video transcript

Have you clarified your visibility numbers?

One of the problems people come up against when it comes to visibility in business, is they haven’t clarified the numbers they need in order to achieve the results they want to see. Let’s start with two core numbers.

First you need to know why you want to be visible in the first place.

It’s very difficult to track your numbers if you don’t know WHY you want to be visible in the first place. Start with the most immediate and tangible thing you need to realise. Do you want more customers, clients or students in your courses? More people buying and reading your books? More people watching your YouTube channel so you can increase your advertising revenue?

Each industry has different numbers so you need to have a good sense of what’s average for your industry. When it comes to selling online courses, a 2% conversion rate is a comfortable metric to get started with. That means, for every new person to come into your community, approximately 2% will buy something from you.

You can get very specific about what you track from there, but the first thing to know is this; how many people need to join your community each month?

Think about your sales goals for the month then work backwards. If you want to make 10 sales, you’ll need 750 leads (people in your community). I like to base my calculations on new people, as opposed to existing, to give myself a good buffer to work with.

In order to get 750 new people into your community, you need to know a second figure; your opt in/freebie conversion rate. They can range from 5-30%. Which means you want to play with your opt in to get it close to, or ideally higher than, 30%.

From there, you’ll be able to calculate your simple visibility numbers.

Let’s say that your current opt in conversion rate is 15%. To get 750 new people into your community and make those 10 sales, you’ll need to show your opt in to 5,000 people.

Just tracking these two numbers – your sales conversion rate and your opt in rate – is a great place to get started with your visibility numbers. You can make things more complex later, if you wish, but start by developing a simple tracking habit around these two numbers first.