How to set marketing KPIs: goals that work

KPIs (key performance indicators) define what counts as success. Set the wrong ones and the team will chase likes instead of sales. Let's break down how to set KPIs that move the business.

The main principle: a KPI is tied to a business goal

Marketing exists for a business result (sales, customers, growth), not for reach in itself. A KPI should reflect that. Reach is a means, not a goal.

Vanity metrics vs working KPIs

• Vanity — likes, followers, impressions by themselves. Pleasant, but not equal to money.
• Working — requests, sales, CAC, conversion, LTV, ROMI. The things tied to a result.

Likes can grow while sales fall — that's why they're a bad KPI.

KPIs at different funnel levels

One KPI doesn't cover everything. Build a system by stage:

• Top (reach) — reach of new audiences, awareness, growth in branded searches.
• Middle — leads, cost per lead (CPL), engagement.
• Bottom — sales, CAC, conversion, ROAS/ROMI.
• After — retention, repeats, LTV.

Judging a reach channel by sales head-on is as wrong as judging performance by reach (see attribution).

Criteria of a good KPI

• Measurable — it can be counted.
• Tied to the business — it affects the result.
• Influenceable — the team can affect it.
• With a benchmark — there's a plan/norm to compare against.
• Not a single one — a system, not one number (but see North Star as a focus).

Common mistakes

• KPI = likes/followers.
• One KPI for everything (sales) with no top-of-funnel metrics → reach gets cut.
• Goals "off the top of the head" with no link to economics.
• KPIs the team can't influence.

Takeaway

Marketing KPIs are a system of indicators for the funnel stages, tied to a business result, not to vanity metrics. We help build goals and analytics so marketing works for money, not for pretty numbers.