8 Must-Know Metrics to Evaluate and Refine Your GTM Strategy
This is the final in a three-part series about mastering your Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy. Subscribe to Growth, Accelerated today to be notified when the new articles are posted.
Crafting a go-to-market (GTM) strategy is just the beginning. As a founder, CEO, or GTM executive, the real challenge lies in evaluating its effectiveness: Is it driving growth, acquiring the right customers, and scaling revenue sustainably? For B2B organizations—where acquisition costs can be high, and sales cycles generally are more complex—metrics are your compass. They not only guide your strategy but also ensure that teams stay focused on meaningful outcomes.
But which metrics matter most?
At one point in my career, we tracked hundreds of metrics monthly, attempting to piece together a holistic view of performance. It quickly became overwhelming, creating analysis paralysis for the C-Suite. Each executive had their own key metrics, but identifying which pointed to the success of the GTM strategy (beyond revenue) was a challenge. That experience taught me the importance of focusing on the essentials.
In today’s article, I’ll share the eight GTM metrics I rely on to assess strategy effectiveness. These metrics are what I refer to as “table stakes” and represent the bare minimum needed to evaluate how well your GTM strategy performs.
Why Metrics Matter for GTM Strategy
Metrics are essential because they foster accountability, transparency, and data-driven decision-making across teams. Without them, change often stalls. How many times have you seen a solid idea fail because no one could present the data to support it—or predict the outcome?
The right metrics allow you to:
Align sales, marketing, and customer success efforts.
Course-correct when things go off track.
Allocate resources for maximum impact.
Communicate effectively with stakeholders and board members by quantifying growth efforts.
In B2B, where the customer journey is multifaceted, metrics create a shared language between departments, reinforcing alignment and a unified focus on strategic growth.
Curious how your GTM stacks up? Get a personalized strategy assessment to identify growth opportunities and accelerate your success today
8 Metrics for Evaluating GTM Strategy Effectiveness in Software
To evaluate a GTM strategy comprehensively, I break the key metrics into four categories: acquisition, revenue, engagement, and retention. Here are the 8 metrics that matter.
1. Customer Acquisition Metrics
a. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
CAC measures the total marketing, sales, and onboarding expenses (including salaries, commissions, bonuses, and overhead) incurred to acquire each new customer. In the software industry, where customer acquisition costs can be high, CAC is particularly important to track and optimize. CAC is often used in conjunction with Lifetime Value (LTV). A higher CAC means it is more expensive to acquire new customers, which can lead to lower profits.
Example: Suppose a SaaS company spends $500,000 per month on marketing and sales, acquiring 50 new customers in that period. Their CAC would be $10,000 per customer. If the average revenue from these customers over a year (Annual Contract Value or ACV) is only $8,000, the company is spending more to acquire customers than it’s earning in the short term, signaling a need to optimize acquisition channels or improve the sales cycle’s efficiency.
CAC is usually used in conjunction with Customer Lifetime Value (see below) to produce a ratio. A good CAC ratio depends on the industry and business strategy, but a common benchmark is 3:1 of customer lifetime value to CAC. A 3:1 ratio means that businesses make three times as much as they spend on acquiring a new customer.
How to Evaluate CAC
A lower CAC indicates more efficient customer acquisition strategies. Based on what you find, you can:
Reduce inefficient spend: Analyze which marketing channels are most effective at generating pipeline and closed business, focusing efforts on those with the highest ROI. We all know prospects don’t purchase based on one single touch or action, so ensure you have an attribution model that accounts for this. If one source brings in lower-quality opportunities (close at a much lower rate or a lower ACV) compared to another, prioritize the latter to decrease CAC.
Optimize sales efficiency: Ensure your sales process is efficient and designed to reduce the time and effort it takes to close a deal. Identify areas that are potential bottlenecks and work to find solutions to remove those bottlenecks. For example, one company I worked with had one person in the organization that could demo the solution and as a result, there was a significant wait for a prospect to get a demo. This leads to a lower win rate (and thus fewer customers), increasing CAC. Rather than hiring another resource, the company redeployed a resource and taught sales reps to do their own demos. This helped them reduce CAC because the win rate went up, driving more net new customers.
Prioritize retention: It takes considerable time and effort to get your customers. Don’t let the relationship you foster during the sales process end with the closing of a deal. Understand how to effectively onboard, engage, and drive customer loyalty without increasing costs. Leverage the technology you already own to build nurture and engagement streams, thoughtful touchpoints, and interactions, turning customers into lifelong partners.
b. Conversion Rates Across the Funnel/Bowtie
Conversion rates show how effectively prospects and customers progress through each stage of the funnel (or bowtie, for post-sales engagement). These metrics highlight bottlenecks and areas for improvement. While many might believe only marketing needs to care about these conversion rates, I strongly disagree. Full funnel metrics are critical for marketing and sales teams to understand where things are getting stuck, and why, and pinpoint solutions to address any challenges. Metrics on the right side of the bowtie tell success, marketing, and sales if customers are receiving the value they expected in purchasing the solution. Drop-offs or conversion rates that differ from the benchmark can signal slow onboarding, and ineffective engagement tactics, and predict both churn and lower-than-expected renewal rates. For software companies with free trial or freemium models, tracking conversions from free users to paid customers is particularly insightful.
Example: A SaaS company sees only 5% of free trial users converting to paid plans. After analyzing conversion rates at each step (e.g., sign-ups, onboarding, trial engagement), they find targeted onboarding emails drive conversions up to 15%.
How to Evaluate Conversion Rates
Optimize drop-off points: Understand what your conversion rates are across the funnel/bowtie and how they compare to benchmarks. I’ve included some benchmark sites below. If conversion rates are off, understand what needs to change to address the conversion rate. For example, if your MQL to SAL (or Awareness to Education) conversion rates are high, your sales team is likely underfed and accepting everything coming their way, irrespective of quality. Generally, if the next conversion rate is low (SAL to SQL/Opportunity or Education to Selection) it means your sales team is working on leads that are likely never going to convert. As a result, changes up funnel need to happen. If conversion from trial to paid is low, focus on educating trial users about key features or reducing onboarding friction.
Improve alignment: If conversion rates are off, recalibrate across the teams to ensure feedback is being provided, heard, and actioned.
Benchmarks
Gainsight Benchmarks (must be Gainsight customer)
2. Revenue Metrics
a. Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)
Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) is the estimated total revenue a customer is expected to generate throughout their entire relationship with a business and is used to assess how much a customer is worth over time. Paired with CAC, LTV helps determine acquisition efficiency and guides prioritization efforts.
In software, where customer retention and recurring revenue are key, LTV helps you assess the long-term value of customers and justify acquisition investments.
Example: If your LTV is $36,000 and CAC is $10,000, a 3:1 LTV-to-CAC ratio indicates a healthy return.
How to Evaluate LTV
Monitor LTV trends across segments: For instance, if one segment of customers has an LTV twice that of another, prioritize marketing strategies and campaigns to focus on this segment.
Focus on customer retention: It’s easier to keep an existing customer than add a new one, ensure you have programs in place to proactively engage with customers to encourage repeat purchases and reduce churn.
Examine pricing initiatives: Review your overall pricing strategy to ensure you are maximizing profitability. In my career, I have seen dozens of companies set and forget their pricing strategies. Do not do this. Regularly review your pricing strategy to ensure your customers are getting value from the solution you provide at a price point that allows you to maximize profitability.
b. Average Contract Value (ACV)
ACV highlights the value of an average deal. Tracking ACV reveals whether you’re attracting high-value customers.
Example: A SaaS company’s ACV rises from $10,000 to $50,000 by shifting focus to premium plans.
How to Evaluate ACV
There isn’t one single right ACV, but instead, a range that is optimal for your business model and market conditions. When looking at your ACV, you should:
Compare ACV to industry benchmarks: See how your ACV stacks up relative to others in your industry.
Analyze ACV against CAC: Analyze the cost of acquiring a customer against ACV to ensure you are generating enough revenue to cover the cost of bringing them on board.
Review your pricing strategy: Evaluate if your pricing tiers and packages are structured to encourage customers to choose higher-value options, potentially increasing ACV.
Review contract length: Understand what length of contract customers are signing up for. Are your sales teams closing one-year deals or three-year deals? Longer contacts generally lead to a higher ACV.
c. Revenue Growth Rate
Tracking revenue growth is essential for assessing whether your GTM strategy is translating into real-world results.
Example: A new feature drives a 20% quarterly revenue increase, signaling market demand alignment.
How to Evaluate Revenue Growth Rate
Link growth to GTM initiatives: Identify specific GTM campaigns or releases (e.g., product launches or promotional campaigns) that drive growth. Have specific cross-function launch strategies and metrics everyone is tracking.
Assess the sustainability of growth: Ensure growth is not reliant on one-time events but is supported by consistent customer acquisition or retention efforts.
3. Engagement Metrics
a. Account Engagement Score
Account engagement score aggregates various engagement signals, from log-ins and feature use to support interactions, providing insight into how actively customers are using your product.
Example: High engagement accounts are 40% more likely to renew. Focus on low-engagement accounts to reduce churn.
How to Evaluate Engagement Scores
Segment based on usage patterns: Identify which features are most popular among high-engagement users and prioritize these in your marketing or customer success efforts.
Identify at-risk accounts: Accounts with low engagement may be at risk of churn, making them ideal candidates for targeted outreach or educational content.
Partner with your marketing team: The marketing team has technology that can be used to drive engagement within the install base. Instead of nurturing prospects, they are nurturing customers. Segment based on product, usage, or other metrics and work through the plan for how you can get all customers to engage to drive up your engagement scores.
4. Retention and Expansion Metrics
a. Retention Rate
In software, high retention is a signal of product-market fit, brand loyalty, and ongoing value delivery, especially for subscription-based models.
Example: A company tracks monthly retention and sees a dip in the third month after onboarding. Investigation reveals that customers struggle with certain features; addressing this through additional training improves retention by 15%.
How to Evaluate Retention Rates
Use retention as a product quality signal: High retention rates imply that your product is meeting customer expectations and needs.
Watch for patterns of early churn: Early churn often indicates product adoption issues, suggesting the need for better onboarding or customer success support.
b. Net Revenue Retention (NRR)
NRR factors in upsells, cross-sells, and churn, offering a snapshot of the revenue your existing customers contribute over time. In software, where expansion within existing accounts is common, NRR is a crucial growth indicator.
Example: A project management software firm achieves 120% NRR by cross-selling integrations and premium support to existing customers. This high NRR indicates that they’re not only retaining customers but also expanding revenue within their base.
How to Evaluate NRR
Target 100%+ for sustainable growth: A high NRR suggests that your GTM strategy is creating enough customer value to justify upsells and expansions.
Identify upsell-ready accounts: Track accounts most likely to expand, allowing your team to focus on those with the highest NRR potential.
Conclusion
Evaluating your GTM strategy’s success requires more than tracking revenue. By leveraging metrics like CAC, conversion rates, LTV, and NRR, you gain actionable insights to refine your approach, drive sustainable growth, and deliver lasting value to customers. When used effectively, these metrics serve as your blueprint for optimizing efforts and achieving your growth objectives.