Last updated: February 2026 | Originally published: September 2023
Most marketing teams choose KPIs based on what they can already measure. That's the wrong starting point.
Start with your business goal, not your available data. Your KPIs should track progress toward a specific organizational goal—then you figure out how to measure them.
The right KPIs focus your team on activities that drive real business results. The wrong ones create distraction and waste effort on metrics that don't matter.
We've audited measurement systems for dozens of companies. The same patterns show up every time.
Most CMOs inherit KPI dashboards built around what was easy to measure, not what actually matters. Someone set up Google Analytics five years ago. Someone else built a HubSpot dashboard. Now you're tracking 12 metrics because they're already in the report.
That's not measurement. That's noise.
The other pattern: marketing measures engagement, finance measures revenue. Nobody's speaking the same language. Your CFO doesn't care about email open rates. They care about pipeline. If your KPIs don't connect to numbers finance already tracks, you're fighting an uphill battle.
Here's the question that exposes the problem: If your CEO asked you right now to explain your top 3 KPIs and exactly how they connect to revenue, could you answer in 30 seconds?
If not, your KPI system needs rebuilding.
Your starting point isn't selecting KPIs. It's articulating the specific organizational goal your department needs to support.
Make it a SMART goal: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Vague goals produce vague KPIs.
Example: A retail company wants to “Increase online sales from $5 million to $6 million by December 31.” That's specific enough to work with.
Look at your existing KPIs. Ask one question: Does this actually measure progress toward our business goal?
Keep the ones that do. Replace the ones that don't.
Be honest here. Website traffic might feel important, but if your goal is sales growth, conversion rate matters more. Traffic is an indicator. Conversions are the outcome.
Focus only on KPIs your department can realistically control and impact. You can't hold your team accountable for metrics they can't influence.
Example: Using the same retail company that wants to increase their online sales from $5 million to $6 million by December 31. The marketing department looks into their current KPIs from prior years and finds that they have been primarily measuring Website Traffic.
While web traffic is, indeed, an indicator, it does not directly measure sales conversions (which is the ultimate business goal). To address this, they modify their KPI to focus on measuring Conversion Rate, which is a more direct indicator of sales performance.
What does your department need to consistently do to deliver the business goal? Those activities become your KPIs.
For that retail company aiming for $6 million in online sales, marketing might identify:
Their KPIs would track Website Conversion Rate, Ad Click-Through Rate, and Average Order Value. Each one ties directly to activities marketing controls.
If you don't have data to track these KPIs, work with finance or analytics to develop measurement models. Don't default to what's easy to measure.
Example: For the retail company to reach their online sales goal of $6 million by the end of the year, Marketing identifies three main paths: a) optimize website for conversions, b) run targeted ad campaigns, and c) expand their product range to cater to a broader online audience.
The Marketing department then selects KPIs such as Website Conversion Rate, Click-Through Rate for Ads, and Average Order Value, all of which are within the capabilities of their department.
KPIs only work if you can measure them regularly. You need data at established checkpoint intervals—monthly, at a minimum.
Annual brand trackers won't cut it. By the time you see that data, it's too late to course-correct.
Build systems that collect KPI data in real time. An automotive company tracking defect reduction needs daily defect logs, not an annual report.
Example: An automotive company that aims to reduce production deficits by 15% over the course of the year might have a KPI that looks at monthly defect rates. If they only collect this data once a year, they would be blind to fluctuations and patterns throughout the year.
Instead, they ensure that there is a system in place to log and measure defects daily, providing the ability to conduct a monthly review.
People support what they help build. Your team doesn't need to vote on KPIs, but they do need to understand how their work contributes to achieving them.
Share KPI performance consistently. Display it where team members can see progress. This could be a dashboard in the office, regular milestone meetings, or both.
When people see movement toward the goal, it motivates them. When they see vulnerabilities, they can take quick action.
Example: A software development company aims to reduce software bugs by 25% before the next product launch.
To create buy-in, they establish a live dashboard and prominently display it in the office, showing the current number of reported bugs as measured against the target.
As team members address and fix these bugs, the numbers decrease, fostering a sense of accomplishment and shared achievement towards the goal.
Your marketing KPIs don't exist in isolation. They should work together with other departmental KPIs to deliver on the company's promise to customers.
Think about a hotel aiming to increase guest satisfaction by 10%. Each department owns specific KPIs:
All three contribute to the organizational goal. But if one department underperforms, overall guest satisfaction suffers. That's why inter-departmental collaboration matters.
And all these measures need ongoing data collection—not an annual survey published six months later.
You can't manage what you can't measure. But measurement only works when you're tracking the right things.
Start with your business goal. Work backward to identify the activities your department controls. Build KPIs around those activities. Make the data visible and accessible.
Your department isn't operating alone. Neither are your KPIs. When everyone understands how their metrics connect to the larger goal, you speed up progress and catch problems early.
That's what good KPIs do.
A metric is any data point you can measure. A KPI is a specific metric that tracks progress toward a business goal. Website traffic is a metric. Conversion rate tied to a sales goal is a KPI.
Two to three per major business goal. More than that and you lose focus. Each KPI should track a critical activity your team controls that directly impacts the goal.
Work with finance or analytics to develop measurement models. If the KPI matters, invest in building the measurement system. Don't settle for easy-to-track metrics that don't drive results.
At a minimum, monthly. You need frequent checkpoints to spot trends and make course corrections. Annual reviews are too late to fix problems.
SMART means Specific (clearly defined), Measurable (you can track progress), Attainable (ambitious but possible), Relevant (aligned with strategy), and Time-bound (has a deadline). "Increase sales" isn't SMART. "Increase online sales from $5M to $6M by December 31" is.
They don't need to vote, but they need to understand how their work connects to the KPIs. Involvement creates buy-in. Visibility creates accountability. Both speed up progress.
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