Cheat sheet · Marketing KPIs
Most marketing dashboards measure motion, not progress.
Which marketing metrics actually decide anything — and which are vanity you should stop reporting — organised by the question each one answers.
The problem with marketing metrics isn’t too few — it’s too many, most of them decorative. This cheat sheet sorts them by the decision they inform, so your dashboard answers questions instead of just filling a screen.
Business metrics (report these up)
Revenue influenced, customer acquisition cost, lifetime value, payback period, market share. The numbers a CFO recognises — the only ones that defend a budget.
Diagnostic metrics (use these to steer)
Conversion by stage, cost per stage, channel efficiency, retention curves. Not for the board deck, but the numbers that tell you where to act.
Leading indicators (watch these early)
Brand search volume, share of voice, engagement quality, pipeline velocity. They move before revenue does — early warning and early proof.
Vanity metrics (stop reporting these)
Impressions, follower counts, likes, raw traffic — in isolation. Not useless as texture, dangerous as headlines. If it only ever goes up, it’s decoration.
For every metric on your dashboard, ask what decision it would change. If the answer is ‘none’, move it out of the headline — it’s costing you attention it doesn’t earn.
Common questions
What marketing KPIs actually matter?
The business metrics that defend a budget — revenue influenced, CAC, LTV, payback, market share — supported by diagnostic metrics to steer and leading indicators to see change early.
What are vanity metrics?
Numbers like impressions, followers and likes reported in isolation. Useful as texture, misleading as headlines — if a metric only ever rises, it rarely informs a decision.
Related: the audit framework · measure what matters.