Using vanity metrics
They report on vanity metrics like CTR, bounce rate, time on site, pages per visit, etc.. These metrics are not leading indicators of success by any means. Any of these metrics going up or down could either be explained as a good or a bad thing. Reporting on these is usually done as a way to guide the conversation away from the key metrics (ROI) that actually matter. Usually because they are bad and they don’t want you to ask the hard questions.
Guesstimate data
They use 3rd party ‘guesstimated’ data when there’s first-party data available. e.g. evaluate SEO ‘success’ through ahrefs/semrush traffic estimates or artificial ‘SEO optimization scores’ instead of using Google Analytics traffic/conversion data. Or better: using CRM reporting on SEO leads/pipeline/ARR.
No deep segmentation
They don’t use segmentation. Just throwing all metrics on 1 pile won’t teach you a lot. You need to slice & dice data in different dimensions: per acquisition channel, per lead type, per company size, per industry, per region, per USP, ..
They can’t pull their own data
They blame (not having) revops. A truly data-driven VP of Marketing is able to generate ad-hoc reports in your CRM or BI tool without problems.
If any of this sounds like your current VP marketing, you probably need to have a chat. 🙂