How to Tell If a Change to Your Marketing Worked

You post a new photo, rewrite your Google profile and add a page to your website, all in the same week. Then the phone rings more. Which one did it? You cannot tell, and neither can anyone else. This guide shows a simple habit that fixes that: change one thing at a time, write down when, wait, and compare. Setting it up takes about 15 minutes.

Why one change at a time

When you change several things at once, any result could belong to any of them. One change gives you a clean question: did the numbers move after this? It is slower than doing everything at once, and it is the only way to learn what helps your business.

Step 1. Pick one change

Choose something small and specific. Some examples:

• Add a page for one service you do not have a page for yet.
• Rewrite the first paragraph of your Google profile description.
• Write one article that answers a question customers ask you often.
• Fix a page where your hours or phone number are wrong.

If you cannot say what you changed in one sentence, it is too big. Split it.

Step 2. Write down what you counted before

Before you make the change, write down the numbers you already track. Calls, messages, bookings, quote requests and visits to your website are good ones. If you are not tracking anything yet, Check Your Own Marketing in 30 Minutes a Week shows how to start. Two or three weeks of numbers is enough to give you a starting point.

Where to find your numbers

• Your Google profile. Go to business.google.com while signed in and select Performance. Pick a time period and select Apply. You will see calls, website clicks and requests for directions. Calls only show if you have a phone number on your profile. Google says the searches number updates at the start of each month and that data can take up to 5 days to appear.
• Your own count. Calls, messages and bookings you write down yourself. Ask each new customer how they found you and write the answer next to the number.
• Your posts. Likes, comments and shares on Facebook and Instagram.

A simple page works. Write the date down the left side and a few numbers across the top.

Step 3. Write down the date

Put the date you made the change next to your numbers, with one line about what it was. This takes ten seconds and saves you from guessing later.

Step 4. Give it time

Changes in search often take weeks to show up, and a change to a social post can show up in a day. Match your patience to the kind of change. A new page or article needs several weeks. A fix to your hours should show up faster, because customers stop finding the wrong information.

Do not make a second change in the same area while you wait. If you do, you are back to not knowing.

Step 5. Compare before and after

When enough time has passed, put the numbers from before next to the numbers from after. Ask three questions:

1. Did the number you expected to move actually move? A new service page should bring more questions about that service. A fixed phone number should bring more calls.
2. Is it more than a normal week? Every business has good weeks and slow ones. A small bump may be nothing. A change that holds for several weeks means more.
3. Did anything else change? A holiday, a closed day, a new competitor, bad weather or a sale can all move your numbers. Look for these before you give the credit to your change.

Step 6. Decide what to do

You have three honest answers:

• It worked. Keep it, and try the same kind of change somewhere else.
• It did not work. Drop it or change it. Not working is useful to know, and it is cheaper to find out with a small change than a big one.
• You cannot tell yet. Wait another few weeks. Not enough time is a common reason for an unclear answer.

Then pick the next one change and start again.

Keep it simple

You do not need software for this. A page of notes with dates and a few numbers is enough. The habit matters more than the tool. For the bigger look back, see How to Review Your Own Marketing Every 90 Days.

If you would rather hand this off

Doing this yourself works, and many owners do it well. If you would rather not, it is how we work. Each week we check how your pages are doing in search and make one change at a time, so we can tell what helped, and every 90 days we plan the next quarter with you. Nothing goes live without a person reviewing it first. See our 90-Day Plan FAQ, or get started with a setup call.