The 7 Most Important Marketing KPIs for Startups
If you’re starting a new business, chances are you’ve already spent some time on crafting a strategy. (If not, start with this post.)
However, your strategy is only as good as your metrics. Sound like an overstatement? Here’s why it’s not:
You’re working on executing your strategy, but how will you know if it works? The only way to know if your marketing strategy is working is by tracking your progress, or metrics, toward your goals. From now on, I’ll refer to these metrics as KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators.
Without tracking your progress using metrics, your strategy is just a working hypothesis, an educated guess.
Just as important, you need to be tracking the right metrics. This part is a little more challenging.
Learn the 7 most important marketing KPIs for growth-focused startups here.
It can be really difficult to define the most important KPIs for your business, because every marketing goal will have different metrics. For example, if your goal is to improve your SEO and search visibility, your metrics could be anything from domain authority to traffic volume.
Read also: 5 Growth Marketing Key Terms Every Startup Founder Needs to Know
That said, there are a few KPIs that are always valuable for all new businesses to track, because they are directly connected to your sales.
These are basic KPIs that you need to know in order to have a healthy marketing and sales funnel. However, know that you will likely need to track other metrics in addition to these, depending on your marketing goals.
Startup marketing is focused on “moving the needle,” so you won’t be surprised that these KPIs are all directly related to your funnel.
1. Visitors
Visitors are the people who visit your site. Your site is your digital storefront; you want to track how many people are stopping by your “store.” Measuring visitors is a great way to tracking your reach and exposure in the industry.
I recommend, if you can, to find a way to track new versus returning visitors. This will help you figure out how “sticky” your website is. If most or all of your site visitors don’t buy anything, leave, and don’t come back, that’s not a good sign. There are a few potential causes: either your website isn’t well-designed or your visitors aren’t aligned with your ideal customers.
If you don’t have a website, but just have a social media profile, this one might be harder to track. Sound like you? Do a little digging; most platforms will provide a way to track views, which is a good alternative. (It’s probably also time to start thinking about a website.)
2. Subscribers
Subscribers are people who have opted in to learning more about you by subscribing to your blog and updates.
Some people will define subscribers as a type of lead, but I recommend against that. Leads are people who are interested in buying your product or service, while subscribers are simply interested in hearing more from you. (We’ll talk more about leads next.)
I view subscribers as kind of outside your funnel, because there is no guarantee a subscriber will become a customer. (Some will!)
However, tracking subscribers will help you understand how appealing and trustworthy your site is, and give you a sense of general interest in what you’re doing.
If you run a blog, subscribers are also a valuable metric to track because advertisers and media partners will really care. When they’re deciding who to collaborate with or invest in, they’ll ask how many subscribers you have, and how many of those are regular readers.
Don’t have a way to collect subscribers on your site yet? It’s time to make one. There are lots of good options, and most websites will have a built-in tool, too. Get in touch if you have questions.
Again, if you only have a social media profile, this is a little tougher. A good alternative is to track followers.
3. Leads
Ah, leads. In marketing, you’ve got to love your leads. This is the part of the funnel where your traction really starts to matter.
Said simply, leads are people who are interested in buying your product or service. Every company or organization will define a lead differently, depending on their products/services and their sales process.
I’ve worked with companies who define all form submissions as leads, and with others who only consider an individual a lead when they’ve been able to actually connect with the person via phone or email.
It’s really important to have a clear definition for what is considered a lead, and an easy way to track it.
If you haven’t yet crystallized your definition of a lead, for your unique company, products, and sales team, start now. You truly can’t build a growth-focused marketing strategy without one.
4. Opportunities
When you’re building a business, you’re going to really be focused on getting new customers. For many businesses, particularly B2B businesses, that will require an opportunity stage.
An opportunity is essentially a person or company who is seriously interested in buying from you. Every company will define an opportunity slightly differently, but your definition for an “opportunity” should be aligned with your sales process.
Here are a few examples:
If your company allows people to sign up for a trial before buying, they are probably going to be considered opportunities.
If proposals are a part of your sales process, companies and/or individuals with an outstanding proposal are likely to be considered opportunities.
If potential customers submit an online request for a quote or consultation, those people are likely to be considered opportunities.
It can be a little trickier to track opportunities in a B2C sales environment. If you’re an online retailer, for example, you may have a hard time defining an “opportunity.” An alternative metric you can track is people with items in their cart. If they purchase something, that opportunity is now “closed-won.” If they abandon their cart, it can be considered a “closed-lost” opportunity.
FYI I discuss these concepts a lot more in the Beginner’s Guide to Startup Marketing. You can get it for free here.
5. Customers
Customers are people or companies who have purchased your product or service.
Your definition of a customer will be unique to your company, depending on many factors in your sales process.When you’re defining your customer, think about:
Your product or service
How customers will use your product or service.
Your sales cycle.
Whether you consider the individual or the account your true customer.
If you’re selling annual subscriptions to a software, a person will remain a customer for as long as they have an active subscription. If you’re a retailer, you may consider a person a customer for the duration of the return period, or some other reasonable timeline based on your buyer behavior.
Customers are one of the easiest things to track, in a way, because they are directly related to revenue. In the simplest sense, when you’ve made a sale, you’ve gained a customer.
6. Evangelists
Evangelists are a sub-category of customer, and are essential for your growth. Evangelists are people who love your product or service, and are willing to tell others about it.
In the ideal scenario, all of your customers would also be evangelists, but this is not realistic. Some people, no matter how much they love a solution, will not feel comfortable recommending it to others without a lot of information.
Tracking evangelists is a great way to measure your growth potential. Viral growth is dependent upon your customers being willing to share their positive experience with others.
Your first customer is a great potential evangelist.
You want to do everything right with that person or company, so that they will tell others about your good work and help you grow your business.
7. Lost Customers/Complaints
Just as it’s important to track new customers, it’s also important to track customers lost. This is a great way to keep an eye on the overall health and potential success of your company. Unfortunately, it’s also a metric that plenty of companies fail to track until it’s too late.
If you’re losing more customers than you’re gaining, you know you have a problem. Trying to acquire new customers is an expensive waste of time; it’s much more important to focus on figuring out how to retain the customers you do have.
Likewise, complaints are one of the most valuable forms of feedback you can get.
Complaints will tell you where you can do better. Customer complaints are an opportunity in disguise. These people liked your product and service enough to buy from you, but somehow, you let them down. It’s entirely possible to turn a complaining customer into an evangelist, provided that you listen to their concerns and take every effort to address it.
Track both lost customers and complaints to maintain a really holistic (and healthy) understanding of your marketing and sales funnel.
So that’s it! Those are 7 essential metrics that every startup should be tracking.
And here’s a pro tip: measure the conversion rate between each stage to take your marketing metrics a step further. (I explain more about how to do that in this Beginner’s Guide to Startup Marketing.)
Remember, at the end of the day, marketing is all about generating leads. Sales is all about converting customers. If you’re in business and want to stay that way, you need to be focused on how to attract, convert, and delight the people to whom you sell.
Clearly tracking these metrics will get you one step closer to have a high-converting marketing strategy.
Want help tracking these (and more) marketing metrics? That’s what I’m here for! Schedule a free 30-minute consultation today.
