Definitions: What are Marketing KPIs?
What are they? How are they helpful? And why should you care?
Aiming for a goal is always important, and Marketing KPIs help you reach your goal. Carefully chosen KPIs can boost your Campaign’s performance, streamline your efforts and get everyone on the same page.
But what are KPIs? How are they helpful? And why should you care?
What Are Marketing KPIs?
KPI stands for Key Performance Indicator. These are a metric, usually a number or gage, which allows you to easily see how well something is working.
In marketing, KPIs usually sit underneath your core business goals, creating a pathway that helps you achieve them.
Marketing KPI Examples
Let’s say the overall business goal of an eCommerce company is to increase revenue by 10% Year on Year.
The obvious KPI here would be revenue. But let’s take this one step back.
In order to get revenue, you need customers. Those customers need to place orders. And those orders need to generate a higher revenue than last year.
So your KPIs could be:
- Revenue
- Average Order Value (AOV)
- Number of Customers
- eCommerce Conversion Rate
- Number of Orders
If each of these Key Performance Indicators increases, the revenue will grow.
What Are The 4 Steps To Creating KPIs?
When creating KPIs, you should follow the following steps:
- What is the overall goal I want to achieve?
- What steps do I need to take to accomplish this goal?
- Can I actively improve this KPI, or does this need outside help?
- How do I track this KPI and report on my findings?
Why Are KPIs Important?
KPIs help keep you and your team on track. Whenever a shiny new marketing channel comes along, you can always ask: Will this help me hit my KPI?
For example, a new social media platform might seem like an obvious thing to jump on, but if your other KPIs are failing and your audience isn’t on the platform yet, is it really the right move? But, if your KPI is to bring in new customers, and your customers are all over this platform, it might be worth the jump to the new platform.
KPIs also help your staff too as they can help give them a clear steer. You could get your staff to report on their wins, losses and learning for the month against their marketing KPIs, giving your team valuable analytics and presentation skills in the process.
Setting good KPIs and business goals is a skill in itself. Sometimes you may need a planning session between your staff or help from a marketing consultant to find the right goals. But once those goals are set and you have a marketing plan in place, you’ll be unstoppable.
