Seasonal Business Analytics & KPI Guide

Key Takeaways

What This Guide Will Help You Do:

• Set up simple tracking to see where your customers come from

• Figure out which marketing efforts actually make you money

• Know exactly how much it costs to get each new customer

• Make smart decisions based on real numbers, not guesswork

• Stop wasting money on marketing that doesn't work

You Don't Need to Be Tech-Savvy:

• We'll walk through everything step by step

• Start with just 2-3 simple metrics

• Use free tools like Google Analytics

• Most tracking takes 10 minutes to set up

• Focus on what makes you money, ignore the fancy stuff

Why Your Seasonal Business Needs Simple Tracking

You can't fix what you can't see. Running a seasonal business is hard enough without flying blind. Whether you manage vacation rentals, run a restaurant, fix homes, or sell real estate, you need to know what's working and what's wasting your money.

Think of it like checking your car's gas gauge. You wouldn't drive cross-country without knowing how much fuel you have. Same goes for your business – you need to check your "gauges" regularly to avoid running out of customers or cash.

The Basics: What Every Business Should Track

Understanding Your Customer Journey

Picture how customers find and buy from you. First, they discover your business online. Then they check you out, maybe look at reviews or your menu. Finally, they decide to book, call, or buy. You need to track each step to see where you're losing people.

For example, if 100 people visit your website but only 2 book a room, something's wrong. Maybe your website is confusing. Maybe your prices aren't clear. Without tracking, you're just guessing. With tracking, you know exactly what to fix.

How Much Does Each Customer Cost You?

This is the most important number in your business. If you spend $500 on ads and get 10 customers, each customer cost you $50. Is that good or bad? It depends on how much money each customer brings in.

Here's a simple way to think about it. If you run a vacation rental and each booking brings in $300 profit, spending $50 to get that booking makes sense. But if you're a restaurant where the average meal is $30, spending $50 per customer will put you out of business fast.

Different ways to get customers cost different amounts. Maybe Facebook ads cost you $20 per customer while Google costs $40. But don't just look at the price tag. Those Google customers might spend twice as much or come back more often. Track everything to see the full picture.

Setting Up Google Analytics (The Easy Way)

Google Analytics sounds scary but it's just a free tool that counts your website visitors. Think of it like a security camera for your website – it shows you who comes in, what they look at, and whether they buy anything.

Setting it up takes about 10 minutes. Google gives you a small piece of code. You paste it on your website. Done. Now you can see how many people visit, where they come from, and what pages they look at most. If you're not comfortable doing this yourself, any web person can do it for you in minutes.

The main things to watch are how many people visit your site each month, how many of those visitors actually contact you or book something, and which pages people leave from without doing anything. These three numbers tell you most of what you need to know.

Making Your Numbers Work for You

Numbers are useless if you don't do anything with them. Check your tracking every week – pick a specific day and stick to it. Look for patterns. Are bookings up or down? Did that Facebook post bring in customers? Is your new website actually helping or hurting?

When you spot problems, fix them fast. If mobile visitors never book, maybe your booking button is too small on phones. If people visit your menu page but don't order, maybe your prices aren't visible enough. Small fixes based on real data can double your business.

Industry Guide: What to Track for Your Business Type

Hotels, B&Bs, and Vacation Rentals

Your business lives and dies by bookings, so that's what you track. Start with these simple numbers that actually matter for your bottom line.

Track what percentage of bookings come directly through your website versus booking sites like Expedia. Direct bookings keep more money in your pocket since you don't pay commissions. If only 20% book direct, you've got work to do. Aim for at least 40% direct bookings within a year.

Watch your average room rate like a hawk. Are you leaving money on the table during busy seasons? Are you dropping prices too much during slow times? Compare your rates to similar properties nearby. Small rate adjustments can mean thousands in extra profit.

Know your booking sources inside and out. That pretty Instagram account might get lots of likes, but does it bring bookings? That expensive ad in the local magazine might feel good, but track how many people actually mention it when they call. You might find that boring Google searches bring in 80% of your money while that flashy social media brings in 2%.

Connect your booking system to Google Analytics if possible. Most modern booking systems can do this. Now you can see the exact path people take from finding you online to booking a room. This shows you exactly where people give up and why.

Restaurants and Food Service

Restaurants need different numbers than hotels. You're not just tracking one big purchase – you're tracking lots of small ones that hopefully add up to a profitable business.

Start with the basics. How many people eat at your restaurant each day? Where did they hear about you? Track whether they're walk-ins, found you on Google, or came from that Groupon deal. Use your POS system if it tracks sources, or just ask customers and keep a simple tally sheet by the register.

Your Google Business Profile is like a 24/7 salesperson. Google tells you how many people look at your profile, click for directions, or call. If 1,000 people look but only 10 visit, your photos might be turning people off. If lots click for directions but don't show up, maybe your parking situation needs to be clearer on your profile.

Phone calls matter more than you think. That's how people order takeout, book parties, or ask about gluten-free options. Use a special phone number just for your Google listing so you know which calls come from there. Count how many calls turn into actual orders or reservations.

Online ordering and reservations need their own tracking. Your ordering system should tell you how many people start an order but don't finish. If half give up, your menu might be too complicated or your prices might be shocking people. For reservations, track no-shows by source. Maybe OpenTable customers are reliable but Instagram contest winners never show up.

Home Service Businesses

Service businesses are all about the phone ringing with good leads. Not every call is a good lead – some are just tire kickers or people wanting free advice. Track the calls that turn into real paying jobs.

Set up call tracking with different numbers for different ads. Use one number on your website, another in your Google Ads, and another on your trucks. Now you know exactly which marketing brings in jobs. Free services like Google Voice can get you started.

Count your leads properly. If 50 people call but only 30 want actual service and only 20 book jobs, focus on the 20. Track what those 20 have in common. Maybe they all found you through Google, or they all needed emergency service. Do more of what brings in the 20, not the 50.

Know your average job value by source. Maybe Facebook brings lots of small jobs while Google brings fewer but bigger ones. If Facebook jobs average $100 but cost $50 to get, while Google jobs average $500 and cost $100 to get, Google wins even though it seems more expensive.

Watch your review count and rating like your business depends on it – because it does. Count new reviews each month. If you're not getting at least 2-3 new reviews monthly, you're falling behind competitors. Set up a simple system to ask happy customers for reviews before they leave.

Real Estate and Property Management

Real estate is a long game. Someone might look at your website today but not buy for six months. You need tracking that captures this whole journey, not just the final sale.

For property management, track "cost per door" – how much money and time it takes to get one new property to manage. Add up all your marketing costs for a month, then divide by new properties signed. If it costs $500 to get a property that pays you $100 per month, you break even in five months. That's good if owners typically stay for years.

For real estate sales, track cost per closed deal, not just cost per lead. You might get 100 leads to close one deal. If that deal makes you $6,000 in commission, you can afford to spend quite a bit on those 100 leads. But track which lead sources actually close. Maybe Facebook gives you 80 chatty leads who never buy, while Google gives you 20 serious buyers.

Set up your phone system to know why people call. Are they calling about buying, selling, or renting? Are they current clients with problems or new prospects? A simple phone menu ("Press 1 to buy, 2 to sell, 3 for current clients") tells you everything. Now you know if your "We Buy Houses" campaign is working or if it's just bringing confused renters.

Create separate landing pages for different services and track them individually. Your property management page might get fewer visitors but better quality leads than your home buying page. Without separate tracking, you'd never know this and might waste money advertising the wrong service.

Making Sense of Seasonal Patterns

Your business has busy and slow seasons. Tracking helps you prepare for both and make more money year-round.

Before your busy season hits, look at last year's numbers. When exactly did bookings spike? How much staff did you need? What ran out? Use real data, not memory. Set up your tracking to handle 10x your normal volume – nothing worse than your systems crashing right when business booms.

During peak season, check your numbers daily, not weekly. Things change fast when you're busy. Maybe a competitor raised prices and now you're too cheap. Maybe bad weather means cancellations you need to fill fast. Daily tracking lets you adjust immediately instead of losing a week of opportunity.

Use slow seasons to experiment and improve. Test new services, try different prices, update your website. With less risk and more time, you can find what works for next busy season. Track everything you try. That "failed" winter special might have brought in customers who return every summer. Learn more about New England nuances that may factor into this here.

Simple Tools You Can Start Using Today

You don't need expensive software or a computer science degree. Start with these free or cheap tools that any business can use.

Google Analytics is free and essential. It shows who visits your website and what they do there. Even if you only check it once a week, you'll spot problems and opportunities. Ask whoever built your website to install it – takes 10 minutes.

Call tracking can start with a free Google Voice number. Use it in one ad or on one sign. See how many calls it gets. As you grow, services like CallRail cost about $45/month and show you exactly which ads make the phone ring.

Your booking or POS system probably has reports you're not using. Spend an hour exploring what it can tell you. Most can show you booking sources, busy times, customer patterns, and more. You're probably already paying for these insights – use them.

A simple spreadsheet works fine for tracking basics. Column A is the date. Column B is where the customer came from. Column C is what they bought. Column D is how much they spent. Update it daily and you'll see patterns within a month.

Need help choosing the right tools?

Your 30-Day Quick Start Plan

Don't try to track everything at once. Start small and build from there. Here's exactly what to do in your first month.

Week 1: Pick your top 3 numbers to track. For most businesses, that's total customers, where they came from, and how much they spent. Set up Google Analytics on your website. Start asking every customer how they found you and write it down.

Week 2: Add call tracking to one marketing channel – probably your Google Business listing since it's free to track. Count how many calls turn into real business. Start noticing patterns in when people call and what they ask for.

Week 3: Do your first weekly review. Every Monday morning, spend 30 minutes looking at last week's numbers. What worked? What didn't? Make one small change based on what you learned. Maybe adjust your hours or change your voicemail message.

Week 4: Calculate what each customer costs you from your biggest marketing channel. Take what you spent divided by customers gained. Compare this to what each customer spends. If the math doesn't work, it's time to try something else.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Don't track everything just because you can. More numbers don't mean better decisions. Track what helps you make money, period. That fancy dashboard with 47 metrics might look cool but probably confuses more than it clarifies.

Don't check numbers without taking action. If you see mobile visitors don't buy, fix your mobile site. If Tuesday afternoons are dead, run a Tuesday special. Numbers without action are just decoration.

Don't compare yourself to different businesses. A downtown hotel has different patterns than an airport hotel. A plumber has different metrics than a landscaper. Compare this month to last month, this year to last year, but keep it relevant to your specific business.

Don't give up after a week. It takes at least a month to see real patterns. Seasonal businesses especially need several months of data to understand their cycles. Stick with it and the insights will come.

Making This Work for Your Business

The businesses that survive and thrive track their numbers and act on them. You don't need to become a data scientist. You just need to know what brings in customers and what it costs to get them.

Start today with one simple thing – ask your next customer how they found you. Write it down. Do this for a week and you'll already know more than most of your competitors about what marketing actually works.

Remember, the goal isn't perfect tracking. It's making more money with less waste. Every number you track should help you make a decision. If it doesn't, stop tracking it and focus on what matters.

Your seasonal business can't afford to guess anymore. With simple tracking and regular checking, you'll know exactly where to spend your time and money for maximum results. The busy season is coming – will you be ready with data or just hoping for the best?

Need step by step assistance setting this stuff up, use the SEO Trailhead. Do you want us to set up KPIs and tracking for you?