KPI
Acronym for: Key Performance Indicator
Also known as: Performance metric, Success metric
A specific metric used to measure success against your business goals. Good KPIs are specific, measurable, and tied to business outcomes.
Context
Good KPIs are specific, measurable, and tied to business outcomes. 'Increase brand awareness' isn't a KPI—it's too vague. 'Increase organic traffic by 20% in Q2' is a KPI. Marketing teams typically track 5-10 core KPIs on dashboards: conversion rates, customer acquisition cost, lifetime value, etc. The key is focusing on metrics that actually matter, not vanity metrics like total followers.
Examples
- 1Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) for SaaS companies
- 2Conversion Rate for e-commerce sites
- 3Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) for growth teams