Subject areaMetrics and measurement
Also known asmarketing metric
A metric is a numerical measure of a phenomenon: page visits, email opens, leads generated, contracts signed.
Every KPI is a metric, while a metric becomes a KPI (key performance indicator) only when it is tied to a business goal and someone is accountable for it.
The articles on the site stress one point: a metric that cannot be compared, with the previous period or with a target, is a vanity metric, a number that feels good and leaves open the question of what to do. The question to ask every metric is which decision would change if that number went up or down; if the answer is none, the metric leaves the dashboard.
Choosing a single metric as a guide carries a risk: making operational efficiency your only metric almost always leads to a loss of differentiation.
An example
A manufacturer of industrial coatings measures website visits, sample requests and orders every month. These are three metrics. Only orders are tied to the yearly revenue goal, so only that metric enters the management KPIs.
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Enrico Giubertoni. Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0: you may quote, translate and adapt this entry with the author’s name and a link, stating any changes. For commercial use, write to info@enricogiubertoni.com
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