How to determine KPIs for Hubspot

Wave goodbye to spreadsheets!

As a business leader, you’ve got to be on top of your organization's existing projects and initiatives, as well as creating space for smart new strategies. But with so many other responsibilities fighting for your attention, it can sometimes be challenging to stay up to date and ensure your projects are on track. That’s where KPI dashboards come in. 

With HubSpot, you can seamlessly connect your data, teams, and customers on one CRM platform that grows with your business. Let's take a closer look at what their KPI dashboards are and what they can do to help your marketing team succeed. 

What is a KPI dashboard?

According to HubSpot, “A KPI dashboard is a document that visually depicts the performance of a business. This visualization shows you, at a glance, how your department or organization is performing against key performance indicators (KPIs).”

The main goals of your KPI dashboard are to:

• Help marketers and business executives identify what is happening with the elements of your marketing strategy that matter most.
• Pinpoint where to make changes if things start to go awry.
• Identify opportunities for new initiatives that can spur even greater success.

What does an effective KPI dashboard include?

Getting your dashboard exactly right and tailored to your needs will take time, but the pay-off is huge. The KPIs you choose should be directly related to your business goals and include a mix of forward-looking and backward-looking variables.

While it's tempting to throw every metric you can think of at these reports, don’t! When your dashboard comes back to you with a mountain of data, you’ll find it nearly impossible to give the most critical numbers the level of scrutiny they deserve. 

The example dashboard above focuses on lead generation KPIs, giving insight into which sources the leads have come from. Plus, it provides an overview of conversion rates over time.

How to choose the right KPIs for your business

Step 1: Directly relate your KPIs to your business goals

It’s time to ask yourself exactly what you are trying to achieve. For instance, a KPI could be related to your goal of increasing sales, improving the return on investment of your marketing efforts, or improving customer service.

Step 2: Consider where your company is at

Startup or enterprise—certain metrics will be more critical depending on the stage of your company. As a general rule, companies in the early-stages focus on data related to business model validation, while more established organizations focus on metrics like cost per acquisition and customer lifetime value.

Step 3: Understand the value of both lagging and leading performance indicators

Neither indicator is necessarily better, but it’s worth being aware of the differences between the two.

Lagging indicators: these measure the output of something that has already happened and are great for purely measuring results. For example, your total sales last month, or the number of new customers or hours of professional services delivered. 

Leading indicators: these serve as predictors of what's to come, measuring your likelihood of achieving a goal in the future. For example, conversion rates, sales opportunity age, and sales rep activity. 

As with every business, your goal will be to grow. Using lagging and leading indicators will help you measure your success and identify whether or not you are on track to scale progressively.

Step 4: Focus on only a select few metrics

Tracking too many KPis inevitably leads to a lack of focus. A good number to aim for is somewhere between two to four KPIs per goal. 

B2B SaaS KPI examples

Here are a few examples of some industry-standard KPIs:

• Monthly recurring revenue (MRR)
• Churn
• Cost per acquisition (CPA)
• Average revenue per retainer
• Lifetime value (LV)

Give your business a strategic advantage 

Not sure where to start? Your business has unique needs, and with HubSpot’s comprehensive list of settings to choose from, you need an experienced team who can customize your KPI dashboard to work for you. We can help!