Your Data is Lying to You (And It’s Costing You Customers)
I’ve sat down with hundreds of business owners across Brisbane—from landscapers in Samford to law firms in the CBD—and almost all of them have the same problem. They show me a report full of big numbers, but their bank account doesn’t reflect the 'success' on the page.
They see thousands of 'hits' or 'sessions', but the phone isn't ringing.
If you are looking at your website data and feeling like it’s a foreign language that doesn't result in more jobs booked, you aren't alone. Most small business owners are being fed 'vanity metrics'—numbers that look good on a screen but don't pay the bills.
In this guide, I’m going to show you the most common data mistakes I see local businesses make, and more importantly, how to fix them so you know exactly where your next customer is coming from.
1. Counting 'Hits' Instead of Phone Calls
The biggest mistake you can make is caring about how many people visited your website. I don’t care if 10,000 people looked at your site last month. If none of them called you to book a quote, those 10,000 people were a waste of your hosting fees.
Marketing agencies love to talk about 'traffic' because it’s an easy number to grow. But traffic doesn't buy things; people do. When we look at data for a client, we ignore the 'hits' and look at 'conversions'. In plain English: did they click the 'Call Now' button? Did they fill out your 'Request a Quote' form?
If your tracking isn't set up to show you exactly which ad or search result led to a phone call, you are flying blind. You might be spending $1,000 a month on Facebook ads that bring in 'traffic' but $0 in sales, while your Google listing is bringing in all your work for free. Without proper tracking, you might accidentally turn off the Google listing and double down on the ads that aren't working.
2. Trusting the 'Default' Settings
If you or your web guy just 'installed Google Analytics' and left it at that, your data is almost certainly wrong. Out of the box, Google’s tracking tools are built for massive global corporations, not a local mechanic in Coorparoo.
The default setup often counts you visiting your own site, your staff checking the price list, and even 'bot' traffic from overseas as legitimate interest. I've seen businesses think they are killing it, only to realise 40% of their 'visitors' were actually just robots from Russia crawling their site.
This is why I often tell people that GA4 is junk if you haven't customised it. You need to filter out the noise so you only see real, local humans who are actually in a position to hire you. If your data includes your own office IP address, every time you check your site, you're skewing your own results and making your marketing look more effective than it actually is.
3. The 'Last Click' Trap
Imagine a customer needs a new roof. 1. They see your ute driving through Chermside (Awareness). 2. They search 'roofing Brisbane' on Google a week later and see your name (Validation). 3. They see a Facebook ad for your business two days later (Reminder). 4. Finally, they type your website address directly into their phone and call you (Action).
Most basic tracking software will give 100% of the credit to that final direct visit. It tells you 'Direct traffic is your best source!' So, you stop paying for ads and stop worrying about your SEO. Then, suddenly, the phone stops ringing entirely.
This is because attribution is lying to you. You need to understand the 'path' a customer takes. Very few people buy the first time they see you. If you only look at the last thing they did before calling, you’ll end up cutting the very marketing activities that introduced them to you in the first place.
4. Ignoring the 'Real' Cost of a Customer
I see business owners get excited because they spent $500 on ads and got 10 leads. 'That’s only $50 a lead!' they say.
But we need to dig deeper into the data. - Out of those 10 leads, how many were actually in your service area? - How many were 'tyre kickers' looking for the cheapest price? - How many actually booked a job?
If only one of those leads turned into a $500 job, you’ve spent $500 to make $500. Once you factor in your materials and labour, you’ve actually lost money.
Stop looking at 'Cost per Lead' and start looking at 'Cost per Customer'. This requires connecting your website data to your actual sales. It’s not enough to know the phone rang; you need to know if that phone call put money in the bank. Many businesses fall into the marketing budget trap by following industry averages instead of looking at their own profit margins.
5. Not Tracking the 'Where' and 'When'
For a local Brisbane business, geography is everything. If you’re a plumber based in Morningside, a lead from Ipswich might not be worth the drive time.
If your data shows you’re getting heaps of enquiries from outside your service area, your marketing is targeting the wrong people. You are paying for clicks that you can't even service.
Similarly, look at the 'When'. I worked with a local cafe that was spending big on social media ads all day. When we looked at the data, we saw that ads shown after 2 PM resulted in zero customers. People weren't looking for brunch at 3 PM on a Tuesday. By simply shifting that budget to the 6 AM - 10 AM window, we doubled their foot traffic without spending an extra cent.
How to Fix This (Without Becoming a Math Genius)
You don't need to spend 10 hours a week looking at spreadsheets. You just need to set up a system that tells you three things:
1. Where did the lead come from? (Google, Facebook, Word of Mouth, etc.) 2. What did it cost to get them to call? (Total spend divided by total calls) 3. Did they actually buy something? (The most important part)
If you have these three numbers, you can make informed decisions. You can say, 'Right, Google Ads is costing me $80 per customer, but Facebook is costing me $150. Let’s move the money.' That is how you grow a business profitably.
What Should You Do First?
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, start here:
Set up 'Event Tracking': Make sure your website is specifically tracking clicks on your phone number and form submissions. If you don't know how, ask your web person to do it today. It takes 15 minutes. Filter your own office: Make sure your own visits aren't being counted in your data. Review your 'Service Area' data: Look at where your website visitors are located. If they aren't in the suburbs you service, your ads or SEO are off-target.
The Bottom Line
Marketing isn't an expense; it's an investment. But you wouldn't invest in the stock market without checking if the share price was going up or down. Your business data is the same. Stop guessing which of your marketing efforts are working and start using real numbers to drive more phone calls and sales.
Most of what you hear about 'big data' is rubbish for a small business. You don't need big data; you need the right* data.
Ready to stop guessing and start growing?
At Local Marketing Group, we help Brisbane businesses cut through the jargon and focus on the numbers that actually grow their bank accounts. If you want to know exactly which of your marketing dollars are working and which are being wasted, we can help.
Contact Local Marketing Group today for a no-bullshit chat about your business growth.