If you’re running B2B marketing, you know the drill: everyone’s got an “insight,” but very few deliver anything you can actually use. Sales blames marketing, marketing blames product, and everyone blames the data. This guide is for people who want to cut through that mess and actually make their go-to-market strategy work using real numbers from Letterfriend—not just hunches, not just vanity metrics.
Let’s get into how to use Letterfriend analytics to find what’s working, call out what isn’t, and adjust before you waste another quarter on guesswork.
Step 1: Get Your Data House in Order
Before you touch analytics, get your basics sorted:
- Connect all your sources: Letterfriend can pull in data from your CRM, email tools, ad platforms, and more. If you’ve got gaps—like missing sales notes or broken tracking links—fix those now. Garbage in, garbage out.
- Define your funnel stages: Don’t use whatever default stages came with your CRM. Decide what “lead,” “qualified,” “opportunity,” and “customer” really mean for you. Letterfriend will let you map these, but you have to know what makes sense for your business.
- Pick a single source of truth: If your team is still arguing about which dashboard’s numbers are “right,” pause. Pick one system (ideally Letterfriend) and stick to it for key metrics.
Pro tip: Don’t try to track everything. Focus on the stuff that actually moves deals: meetings set, demos run, deals closed.
Step 2: Set Up the Right Dashboards (and Ignore the Fluff)
Letterfriend comes with a bunch of dashboard templates. Some are genuinely useful; some just look pretty. Here’s what you really need:
- Pipeline health: You want to see the number and value of leads at each stage, conversion rates between stages, and how long deals sit before moving forward.
- Source tracking: Which channels (email, ads, events, referrals) actually bring in leads that become customers? Not just clicks—real pipeline.
- Content performance: If you’re running webinars, whitepapers, or email sequences, see which ones drive engagement and move people forward in the funnel.
- Rep performance: Not to shame anyone, but you want to spot who’s actually closing and who’s just busy.
Skip:
- “Engagement rate” graphs that don’t tie to revenue.
- Vanity metrics like page views or social shares. They’re nice for your ego, not your pipeline.
Step 3: Actually Analyze—Don’t Just Admire the Charts
It’s easy to look at a colorful dashboard and feel like you’re “data-driven.” But you need to dig in:
- Find drop-off points: Where are leads stalling? Is it after a demo? After a proposal? Letterfriend can show you stage-to-stage conversion rates—look for bottlenecks.
- Spot your best sources: Don’t just track first-touch. Use Letterfriend’s multi-touch attribution to see what actually moves deals. Sometimes the channel that gets the first lead isn’t what closes it.
- Segment by ICP: Don’t just look at totals. Break down your analytics by industry, company size, or persona. A channel might be great for one group but useless for another.
- Check time-to-close: Are deals dragging out? Use Letterfriend’s timeline views to see where things slow down.
Honest take: Most teams find out that 70% of their pipeline comes from just one or two sources. That’s not a problem. It’s a signal to double down there and stop spreading yourself thin.
Step 4: Run Experiments—But Keep Them Simple
Analytics are only as good as what you do with them. Now that you know where things break down, make changes:
- Test one thing at a time: Swap out a subject line, try a new CTA, or add a step in your sequence—but don’t change everything at once. Use Letterfriend’s experiment tracking to keep it organized.
- Set a clear hypothesis: “If we switch our outbound emails to target COOs instead of CTOs, we’ll see more demos booked.” Track it. Don’t move the goalposts.
- Watch leading indicators: Don’t wait months for revenue. Monitor meetings booked, replies, or qualified leads first. Letterfriend can alert you if something’s trending up (or tanking).
- Kill what’s not working: If a channel, campaign, or message isn’t delivering after a fair test, drop it. Don’t get sentimental about sunk costs.
Pro tip: Fancy A/B tests are nice, but for most B2B teams, simple side-by-side comparisons are all you need.
Step 5: Share Real Insights (Not Data Dumps)
Don’t just email everyone a dashboard and call it a day. Here’s how to actually make analytics useful for your team:
- Monthly review, not daily panic: Set a regular cadence to look at Letterfriend dashboards as a team. Weekly is overkill; monthly is usually right.
- Focus on the “why,” not just the “what”: If conversions dropped, dig in. Did you change targeting? Did a competitor launch something new?
- Make it actionable: Every review should end with: What are we doubling down on? What are we stopping? Who’s responsible?
- Keep it honest: If something flopped, say so. No one likes surprises at the end of the quarter.
Honest take: Most teams hide behind numbers when things aren’t going well. Don’t do that. Call out the problem and fix it while it’s small.
Step 6: Keep It Tight—Don’t Overcomplicate
It’s tempting to keep adding more dashboards, more KPIs, more “insights.” Resist that urge.
- Review what matters: Are you moving deals forward? Are you closing more business? That’s it.
- Automate what you can: Letterfriend lets you set up alerts for key thresholds so you’re not glued to a dashboard.
- Iterate, don’t overhaul: Small, repeated changes beat giant quarterly pivots every time.
What Actually Works (and What Doesn’t)
Let’s be real:
- What works: Focusing on a few channels that actually drive pipeline, fixing bottlenecks quickly, and getting honest about what’s not working.
- What doesn’t: Chasing every new tool, tracking a million metrics, or pretending that more data will magically solve your problems.
- What to ignore: Anything that looks good but doesn’t tie back to revenue—like “brand mentions” or “impressions.” Nice for a slide deck, useless for sales.
Keep It Simple and Keep Moving
You don’t need to be a data scientist to get value from Letterfriend. Stick to the basics: track what matters, fix what’s broken, and don’t get distracted by shiny dashboards. Review, adjust, and repeat. The teams that win are the ones who keep things simple, act fast, and aren’t afraid to admit when something’s not working.
Now, go take a hard look at your numbers—and don’t be afraid to cut what’s not helping you close deals.