What Do You Fix, Improve & Increase v vanity metrics

What Do You FIX FOR ME?

Vanity Metrics: What Do You IMPROVE FOR ME? What Do You INCREASE FOR ME Anything Else Is Vanity.

Have you ever landed on a website and immediately thought, “Cool colours… but what the hell did they actually do for my business?”

Welcome to the existential crisis of branding: vanity metrics masquerading as value. Every agency headline screams about “innovative design”, “jaw-dropping visuals” and “brand storytelling that resonates”… but ask the right question and suddenly the words turn to dust.

So let’s cut through the jargon, shall we?

This is not another blog about how pretty your website could be. None of that matters unless your digital presence fixes, improves and increases things that actually impact your bottom line.

In the next few thousand words you’re about to enjoy (or endure), we’ll explore what clients actually want from a website and digital agency — with real metrics, outcomes and business impact behind it. We’re talking revenue growth, higher conversions, improved operational efficiency, better search ranking, measurable ROI and actual business traction… not just fancy animations or “brand vibes”.

Because — spoiler alert — no executive ever wrote a cheque for “brand vibes”.

This article takes you through a practical breakdown of what you should really demand from your web design and digital partner. And just to sweeten the pot, we’ve got examples from industry insights and ROI case evidence. By the end, you’ll be able to:

Define what a real value proposition looks like (beyond buzzwords).
Recognise the difference between aesthetics and outcomes. LinkedIn
Understand how agencies turn improvements into quantifiable business gains.

So let’s fire up the engine, strip away the vanity, and get into the guts of what a website — and the right digital partner — should actually deliver for you.

Vanity Versus Value

We live in an era obsessed with looking successful rather than being successful.

Scroll through any agency homepage and you’ll see language like:

“Strategic, disruptive design for visionary brands.”

Cool. But hold up — what does that mean?

What you need isn’t strategic, disruptive design…

You need results.

You want to know:

What did they fix?
Was the site broken, confusing, or costing you leads? We’ll get into how proper analytics and diagnostics solve real problems drivers can see in conversion rates and engagement metrics. Wikipedia
What did they improve?
Did they turn low traffic into engaged visitors? Zero conversions into measurable revenue growth? We’ll explain what measurable UX and SEO improvements look like.
What did they increase?
Are leads up? Are conversions up? Revenue? Lifetime customer value? We’ll break down the metrics that matter — not the ones that look pretty on a deck.

This article is for people who are done with fluffy marketing and want action.

Because here’s the truth:

A beautiful website that doesn’t perform is just a brochure that costs you money. A productive website increases revenue, reduces friction, builds trust and pays for itself.

So let’s be ruthless. If your digital partner can’t answer those three questions — “fix”, “improve”, “increase” — then everything else is vanity.

**What Your Agency Should Actually Deliver**

The First Job: FIX What’s Broken

Before you improve or increase anything, you fix problems that are literally losing you money.

Website Brokenness Is Real — And It Costs You.
Slow loading pages, confusing navigation, poor mobile responsiveness and unclear calls-to-action are not “design quirks” — they’re revenue leakages. Web analytics tells us why people leave, where they drop off, and what confuses them. Wikipedia

An example:

If your homepage takes longer than three seconds to load, bounce rates skyrocket and search rankings fall… which means fewer people even get to see your shiny logo.

That’s not aesthetic — that’s a funnel problem.

So the first deliverable from a serious agency isn’t pretty colours.

It’s a diagnosis:

Usability issues
Mobile friendliness
Conversion barriers
Technical SEO blockers
Broken forms and tracking

Every one of these can be quantified, tracked and fixed. If your partner can’t tell you what’s broken and how they’ll measure its repair, they’re selling you lipstick, not performance.

IMPROVE What Actually Matters

Once the basics are fixed, you improve the site so it starts working for you.

Improvement ≠ Decoration.
Improving is about enhancing funnels, boosting engagement, helping users get what they want, and making it easier to convert.

Here’s the breakdown:

1. User Experience Improvements
Better UX means visitors stay longer, interact more, and convert more often. This includes:

Simplified navigation
Streamlined user journeys
Clear, actionable calls-to-action
Accessibility compliance
Faster load times

Better UX isn’t subjective — analytics will show you engagement increases.

2. Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO)
This is where most agencies fail to deliver: connecting design changes to actual conversion lifts.

Every change must be measurable:

A/B testing landing page layouts.
Simplifying forms.
Rewriting headlines.
Reorganising sales funnels.

This is the difference between pretty design and design that earns you money. Real CRO is backed by numbers — not opinions.

3. Search Visibility Improvements (SEO)
SEO isn’t a one-time “tweak this tag” job. Good agencies audit, fix and optimise:

Site architecture
Keyword relevance
Metadata & content structure
Technical performance

This drives actual organic traffic — which is measurable visibility improvement. WebFX

INCREASE Your Business Outcomes

Now we’re talking growth.

Good web design should increase:

1. Leads & Revenue
Your site must feed your sales machine. Real increases manifest as:

More qualified leads from forms
More bookings, calls or enquiries
Higher eCommerce transactions
Better customer acquisition rates

These metrics feed directly into revenue growth.

2. Conversion Rate & Lifetime Value
By improving conversion paths, you reduce acquisition costs and boost long-term revenue.

Look at it this way: a 20% increase in conversion rate often far outweighs a 20% increase in traffic. Because conversion is what turns visitors into money.

3. Brand Trust & Authority
Narrative, credibility signals, testimonials and proof all influence conversions. But this is not “brand fluff” — it’s measurable with trust metrics like reduced bounce rates, increased page depth and repeat visits.

Why Vanity Metrics Fail Business Owners

Agencies love talking about:

“Pretty”
“Brand identity”
“Excellent visuals”

But aesthetics without strategy don’t show up in analytics.

Your CEO doesn’t care about how many colours you used. They care about:

% increase in leads
% increase in revenue
% improvement in conversion

Nothing else shows ROI.

Case Study — REAL Business Impact

Client: LuxB2B — Website Overhaul That Transformed Sales

Before:
LuxB2B’s website looked polished but delivered almost no leads. Traffic was average, bounce rates were high, and the internal team had no idea what visitors did after arrival.

Agency Approach:

Fix: Web analytics set up (Goal tracking, behaviour analytics). Identified key drop-off points on pricing and contact pages. Wikipedia
Improve:
- Simplified navigation
- Faster page loads
- Rewrote conversion copy
- Added clear call-to-actions
- Mobile optimisation
Increase:
- Launched SEO content strategy targeting transactional keywords.
- Added structured data and metadata stamps.