The two numbers that tell you whether any of this worked

Why is reply rate the number to lead on?

Reply rate cannot be improved by doing more of the same. Sends go up with work. Impressions go up with spend. A reply is a human deciding you were worth answering.

It survives channel changes. A reply is a reply whether it came over iMessage, RCS or SMS.

Why does stage conversion beat overall conversion?

Stage conversion tells you where to work; overall conversion only tells you how you did. A 2% end-to-end funnel could have a healthy top and broken middle, or reverse; one number hides which.

Measure the rate out of each stage. Lead to reply. Reply to booked. Booked to attended. Attended to closed. The smallest fraction is your next project.

• Lead to reply: is the channel getting answered at all?
• Reply to booked: is the conversation converting into time on a calendar?
• Booked to attended: is the reminder sequence doing its job?
• Attended to closed: is this a sales problem rather than a funnel problem?

What should you stop measuring?

Open rates deserve less attention because an open is not a decision. On a channel with 98% opens, a 98% open rate tells you the channel worked, nothing about your message.

Messages sent, contacts touched, and sequences launched are activity metrics. Busy is not a result; activity is how broken stages survive three quarters unnoticed.

What should you do with the map now?

The map is now priced. The two numbers above tell you which line to fix first. Count stages, price leaks, fix in price order, watch two rates.