The three numbers that tell you if your distribution is working before traffic proves it

Most founders wait for traffic to validate their distribution efforts. That is the wrong feedback loop. Traffic is a lagging indicator. By the time it moves, you have already spent weeks doing the wrong things or the right things in the wrong order.
There are three numbers you can track from week one that tell you whether your distribution is building momentum or just producing activity.
The first is reply rate on community content. If you are posting in forums, subreddits, or spaces like this one, track what percentage of your posts generate at least one genuine reply. Not upvotes. Replies. A reply means someone read it carefully enough to have a thought. If your reply rate is below 20%, the content is not landing. The topic, the framing, or the platform is wrong.
The second is return visitor rate. Before you have meaningful traffic volume, look at what percentage of your visitors come back a second time. A site with 80 visitors and 25% return rate has something working. A site with 80 visitors and 4% return rate has a content or relevance problem that more traffic will not fix.
The third is the time between your content going live and the first organic engagement. This one is harder to track but worth paying attention to. Content that gets a reaction within 24 hours is hitting the right audience. Content that sits silent for a week and then gets a spike from somewhere random is not yet predictable enough to scale.
None of these replace traffic as the ultimate signal. But they tell you whether you are building toward something real or just staying busy.
What early signals do you track before traffic becomes meaningful?