Welcome to Business of Craft, a show designed to help entrepreneurs with fabric or fiber businesses become more successful.
This is our 8th season of BOC and today we have another solocast to cover one of the topics in our new book, Marketing Magic for Savvy Craft Businesses. I’m super proud of this book which my whole team wrote in 2025. The book is available for sale in Kindle and print version (and soon to be audio) on our website or Amazon.
Listen to it on Spotify, iHeartRadio, iTunes, and PlayerFM, or catch the video version on YouTube.
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Let’s jump into today’s topic: using your analytics to set your future SMART goals.
In 2023, we surveyed over 900 retail business owners in the craft space. One of the most shocking data points was that only 14% were collecting marketing data — and even more shocking, only 4% were using that data to inform strategy.
If you don’t know what’s performing well or underperforming, you’ll find yourself stuck on the marketing treadmill — doing everything, all the time, because you don’t know what’s actually working.
Imagine if I waved a magic wand and discovered that short‑form video is the only thing driving 90% of your sales. You’d suddenly be liberated from posting three times a week on Facebook. That’s the power of analytics.
Pareto’s Rule — the 80/20 rule — tells us that:
Your job is to figure out what that 20% is.
Ideally, you should set KPIs aligned with your SMART goals. You’re not measuring everything — just the metrics tied to your goals for the next 1–5 years.
Examples might include:
Keep it simple: 3–5 KPIs. Check them quarterly at first, then monthly once you’re comfortable.
With a dashboard, it should take 30–40 minutes to review your analytics and make optimizations.
A client recently asked, “What’s a good open rate?”
The answer: It depends.
If last year you had a 40% open rate and now it’s 15%, something’s wrong. But if you’re a new business with a small list, 15% might be great. Context matters.
Many of you use Shopify, Lightspeed, or other POS systems. These platforms contain incredibly valuable data — but many business owners overlook it.
Stitchcraft offers a custom POS analytics dashboard that pulls your data into a beautiful, easy‑to‑read interface. Screenshots are available on our website.
From POS data, you can analyze:
This data helps you make smarter buying decisions at trade shows, identify trends, and target customers with personalized marketing.
If you’re a Bernina retailer, you might:
If you’re a fiber shop selling spinning wheels:
Segmentation prevents blanket discounting and increases margins.
You can track your data using:
At minimum, set up Google Analytics (GA4) and review your Meta Business Suite insights.
These tools help you:
My hope is that you’ll get to a place where you feel confident in your SMART goals and KPIs — and stop “slapping mud on the wall” with your marketing.
This is especially important if you’re spending money on digital ads. You want to ensure every dollar is converting effectively.