How Do You Measure KPIs?

You know that old saying - what gets measured gets done?

Well, professional athletes measure how fast they can run, how much weight they can lift, and how successful their strategies are, so it makes sense for your business, too.

If you set goals, make an actionable plan to reach them, and determine a time frame in which you want to reach them, that’s an excellent start. Having well-defined KPIs will help you know exactly what to do at any moment given.

But how do you measure the KPIs once you start working towards your goals?

If you’re not sure, check out this article for useful tips.

1. Identify and Define Your KPIs

The first step is to identify and define your KPIs as precisely as possible.

To do so, you need to know what your business goals are. You can set smaller, more specific goals for your teams or departments, and each of these smaller goals will contribute to the general business goal.

When you’ve set goals, you’re ready to define the key performance indicators that’ll show you’ve made progress.

2. Set a Timeframe for Your KPIs

When you set a goal, you also need to set a timeframe in which you want to achieve it. Your KPIs should also have specific timeframes.

That allows you to monitor your progress regularly and adjust your plan if your current strategy isn’t bringing you the results you wanted.

3. Define the Metrics Based on KPIs

If you define your KPIs clearly, you won’t have a hard time understanding what metrics you should track.

For example: 

Your KPIs are “Increase organic search traffic by 15% by the end of September”. To measure this KPI, you need to track the number of new users and website sessions coming from organic searches.

4. Choose a Suitable Tool

Tracking and measuring your KPIs can be a simple process if you choose the right tool. Most websites rely on Google Analytics since it provides you with complete information about your website users’ behavior, offers excellent integrations with other tools, and helps you improve your marketing efforts.

On the other hand, sales teams may opt for different CRM tools, while your customer support team may choose to track desk reports and so on.

5. Compare Your Results Against the High-Level KPIs

Ask yourself if your activities have helped you achieve your individual or department goals and how these results have contributed to the overall business goals. If you haven’t made satisfactory progress towards your defined KPIs, you may need to revisit your strategy and readjust it to get better results.

Also, ensure that your goals are realistic. If you want to publish at least two blog posts a week, you may need to ask yourself if it’s possible with as many people on the team. To accomplish the goal, you could hire new writers, for instance.

Rinse and Repeat

Have you achieved your goals?

If you’re happy with your KPI measurements, the only thing left to do is rinse and repeat - your strategy is working and generating good results. If not, by examining the data provided by an analytics tool, you can discover what areas of your plan need to be improved.

The most important thing is to keep monitoring your KPIs regularly to ensure that you’re on the right track at all times.

Having trouble reaching your goals? We help empower and guide nonprofits to be the best that they can be. We’ve led nonprofits from the c-suite for over thirty years and continue to share these experience based insights with our clients. Learn how we can help you today