The CMO's data checklist
Marketing is measured on the part of the funnel it can see, which is rarely the part that decides revenue. Joining spend to what customers actually did next is the whole job.
01 The numbers you own
Five you should be able to defend
Not the longest list — the shortest one that covers the job. Each links to its full definition, including where the number lives and how it gets read wrong.
Customer acquisition cost
What growth costs, fully loaded.
(sales_cost + marketing_cost) ÷ new_customers_wonLTV:CACLifetime value to CAC
Whether that growth creates value or buys it.
(average_gross_profit_per_year × expected_years) ÷ cacNRRNet revenue retention
What last year's customers are worth this year.
(starting_revenue + expansion − contraction − churn) ÷ starting_revenueMQL→SQLLead to opportunity conversion
The handover where most funnels leak.
leads_accepted_as_opportunities ÷ qualified_leadsACActive customers
The base everything else divides by.
count(distinct customers with at least one purchase in the window)02 Questions to ask
Six questions for your next review
Ask them of your own team before anyone asks them of you. The uncomfortable answers are the useful ones.
- Can we follow one campaign through to closed revenue, or does the trail stop at the lead?
- Do marketing and sales use the same definition of a qualified lead? Where is it written?
- What is our cost per won customer by channel — not cost per lead?
- Is the same customer one record across CRM, billing and support, or three?
- How much of this year's growth came from new customers versus existing ones?
- Which of our attribution assumptions would change the answer if we changed them?
03 First 90 days
A plan that finishes something
Narrow and finished beats broad and half-built. Each stage produces evidence that funds the next one.
04 Where the data lives
The systems behind your numbers
| System | What it holds | Key records |
|---|---|---|
| CRM | Opportunities, stages and outcomes — where a lead becomes revenue or does not. | Lead, Opportunity, Account, Activity |
| Marketing automation and ad platforms | Spend, reach and response, at campaign and channel level. | Campaign, Audience, Send, Conversion |
| Billing and subscription | What customers actually paid, renewed and expanded — the only real outcome. | Invoice line, Subscription, Renewal, Cancellation |
05 Questions
Frequently asked
Why does customer resolution come before attribution?
Because attribution divides by customers. If the same buyer appears three times, every rate you calculate is wrong in a direction nobody can predict.
Which marketing metric is most often gamed?
Cost per lead. Lowering the qualification bar improves it instantly and damages everything downstream, which is why it should never be reported on its own.
Bring your hardest number
We will trace one of your own figures back to source, live, on your data.