What are the marketing KPIs that really matter?

What are the marketing KPIs that really matter?

Marketers aren't short on numbers, and marketing dashboards often tend to overflow with indicators, to the point where they become difficult to use—when they're not downright unreadable.

By trying to measure everything, we often end up losing sight of what's essential:

• What do your marketing KPIs actually tell you?
• What insights can you draw from them?
• Which ones truly reflect marketing performance?

The real challenge today isn't to "track KPIs," but to track the right marketing KPIs, at the right level of analysis, and know how to interpret them.

In this article, we present the marketing KPIs that matter. We've organized them into 3 categories:

• Business KPIs.
• Engagement KPIs.
• Satisfaction KPIs.

What is a marketing KPI (and why tracking a lot of them isn't enough)

Definition and role of marketing KPIs

A KPI, or Key Performance Indicator, is literally a key performance indicator.

It's not just a simple statistic, but a measure directly tied to a strategic objective. A KPI doesn't describe an activity or an entity (the number of employees in a company isn't a KPI, for example), it evaluates a result.

Where there's a KPI, there are objectives, and the choice of KPIs is always dictated by the goals you set.

A relevant indicator always meets three criteria:

• It's specific, in that it measures the level of achievement of a precise objective (for example, "increase the repurchase rate by 10%").
• It's measurable: it's based on reliable, quantifiable data.
• It's actionable (or "operational"), in that it enables you to make decisions, adjust, or correct a strategy.

The limits of an "endless dashboard" approach

The temptation to pile on indicators is strong. Each channel, each campaign, each team wants to track "their" numbers. But the more your dashboard grows, the more unreadable it becomes and the less useful it is for steering.

That's the risk you can easily fall into: you measure a lot, but you understand little.

The key is to limit the number of KPIs you track. This means understanding and prioritizing the different available KPIs.

In this article, we suggest clearly distinguishing between:

• Business KPIs (revenue, ROI, CLV), which measure the value created.
• Engagement KPIs (open rate, click rate, conversion rate), which measure the quality of the relationship.
• Satisfaction KPIs (NPS, CSAT, CES), which measure your customers' perception and loyalty.

Business KPIs, to measure the value and profitability of your marketing actions

Business KPIs are the ones management looks at first. They answer a simple but essential question: does marketing create value? In other words, your marketing actions aren't just measured in engagement, but in economic impact.

Business KPIs connect campaigns to tangible results. Here are the main business KPIs to track.

1 - Revenue generated by marketing

This is the first indicator of value creation. It measures the portion of revenue directly attributable to your marketing actions.

Two approaches coexist:

• A macro view, which evaluates marketing's overall contribution to total revenue (useful for management).
• A micro view, which analyzes the effectiveness of each campaign, channel, or segment (especially useful for the marketing team).

Measuring this KPI can rely on attribution models: first touch (first contact), last touch (last contact), or multi-touch, which distribute the "credit" among the different touchpoints in a customer journey.

The most important thing is to avoid a simplistic reading: an email didn't always "make the sale," but it may have nurtured the final conversion. It's your ability to connect journey data (and not just transactions) that gives depth to this KPI.

2 - ROI (Return on Investment)

Marketing ROI measures the overall profitability of your investments.

Its calculation formula is as follows:

ROI = (Revenue generated – Marketing costs) / Marketing costs

A positive ROI means your campaigns bring in more than they cost. The main difficulty lies in calculating the revenue generated. A brand awareness campaign, for example, may have a low immediate ROI but generate strong long-term returns. In some cases, ROI is "estimated" rather than "calculated."

ROI should be read over time and supplemented with customer lifecycle KPIs to appreciate delayed effects.

3 - ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)

ROAS focuses on pure advertising profitability.

It measures how much each dollar invested in media (Google Ads, Meta Ads, etc.) generates in revenue.

Its calculation formula:

ROAS = Revenue generated by advertising / Advertising spend

But be careful, "revenue generated" can be calculated in two ways:

• ROAS based on revenue. This is the most common version. For example: $1 spent generates $4 in revenue.
• ROAS based on margin (sometimes called mROAS).

If your products have a low margin, you can show a high ROAS calculated on revenue while having a negative net return. For example, a product sold for $4 with only $0.50 margin, for $1 spent on advertising, shows a ROAS of 4...but actually corresponds to a net loss of $0.50.

This is one of the main pitfalls of this marketing KPI.

4 - Customer acquisition cost (CAC)

CAC indicates how much it costs you to acquire a new customer. It includes all marketing and sales costs incurred to convert a prospect.

Here's the calculation formula:

CAC = (Marketing budget + sales budget) / Number of new customers acquired

It's the go-to indicator for managing an acquisition strategy. CAC also allows you to compare performance between channels: one channel may be more expensive, but generate more profitable customers over time.

5 - Customer lifetime value (CLV)

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) measures the total value a customer generates throughout their relationship with your brand. It's one of the most strategic KPIs because it puts long-term profitability into perspective.

It's most often calculated using the following formula:

CLV = Average purchase value × Purchase frequency × Customer relationship duration

For subscription business models, CLV calculation follows a different logic: you estimate a customer's value by dividing the average monthly margin by the churn rate. This allows you to anticipate the value generated as long as the customer remains subscribed.

Combined with CAC, CLV allows you to determine the CLV/CAC ratio. A ratio below 3 (meaning a CLV less than three times the CAC) often signals an acquisition model that's too expensive.

Taken in isolation, these KPIs don't tell the whole story. Revenue reflects immediate performance, ROI profitability, CAC acquisition efficiency, and CLV retention. It's their correlation that truly illuminates strategy.

A company can indeed have a good short-term ROI while destroying long-term value (if its customers leave quickly). Conversely, a retention strategy may seem costly but prove very profitable over time.

That's why it's essential to link these indicators together to manage overall marketing performance.

Discover the main indicators and methods for measuring customer loyalty.

Engagement KPIs, to measure the quality of the relationship and experience

Not all KPIs reflect immediate economic performance. Some measure the quality of the relationship between the brand and its customers—that is, the ability to capture attention, maintain the connection, and generate interactions that ultimately fuel retention and growth.

Engagement KPIs are at the heart of day-to-day marketing management. They show whether your messages resonate, whether your journeys are smooth, and whether your customers remain active over time. In our view, they should always be associated, ultimately, with business KPIs.

Marketing engagement KPIs are numerous; we've chosen to group them into several categories.

6 - Interaction KPIs

Interaction KPIs measure your audiences' responsiveness to your communications.

These are the most well-known, those used daily in email marketing in particular:

• Open rate, which measures the proportion of recipients who opened your email.
• Click rate, which indicates the share of recipients who clicked on at least one link.
• Click-to-open rate, which corresponds to the number of clicks relative to the number of opens. This KPI, probably the most important in this category, measures your message's ability to engage those who read it.
• Unsubscribe rate, which measures the share of contacts who unsubscribed after your send.

These marketing KPIs allow you to monitor the "health" of your channels: a dropping open rate, declining engagement, or rising unsubscribes signal a misalignment between content and expectations.

Note: the deliverability rate, which is often associated with the KPIs just presented, isn't a customer engagement indicator. It's a technical indicator that measures a message's technical ability to reach its recipient's inbox.

7 - Journey and conversion KPIs

Behind every click lies a journey. Conversion KPIs allow you to measure the fluidity of that journey and identify friction points that hinder transformation.

They cover the entire funnel:

• Conversion rate at each stage, which measures the proportion of customers who move from one stage of the journey to the next (open > click > add to cart > purchase > repurchase). This is the key indicator for pinpointing exactly where the journey gets stuck.
• Abandonment rate, which indicates the share of visitors or prospects who interrupt their action before completing it (cart, form, quote, etc.).
• Average conversion cycle duration, which measures the time needed for a prospect to become a customer. This indicator helps identify stages that unnecessarily lengthen the journey and potential friction points.

8 - Retention KPIs

Engagement doesn't stop at the purchase; it's maintained over time through repeated interactions and customer satisfaction.

Two indicators are particularly useful for measuring customer retention:

• Churn rate or attrition rate, which measures the proportion of customers lost over a given period.
• Purchase frequency, which shows the rate at which your customers return. As we saw earlier, combined with average purchase value, purchase frequency helps anticipate Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).

Satisfaction KPIs, to hear the voice of the customer

It's not enough for your campaigns to perform or for your customers to buy; they also need to be satisfied and attached to your brand. For this reason, marketing performance isn't just measured in clicks or revenue, but also in perception, trust, and the quality of the experience your customers have.

Satisfaction KPIs give customers a voice and help you understand what's happening behind the numbers.

9 - Net Promoter Score (NPS)

This is probably the best-known satisfaction KPI. It measures customers' propensity to recommend your brand.

The principle is simple: in a survey, you ask your customers, on a scale of 0 to 10, how likely they are to recommend your company to someone they know.

This then allows you to classify your customers into 3 categories:

• Promoters (scores 9 and 10) are your ambassadors.
• Passives (scores 7 and 8) are satisfied but not very engaged.
• Detractors (scores 0 to 6) are likely to harm your image.

The NPS score is calculated by applying this formula:

NPS = % of promoters – % of detractors

To go further, check out our complete guide on Net Promoter Score (NPS).

10 - Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)

CSAT measures satisfaction in the moment, right after an interaction or transaction. It's based on a direct question: "Are you satisfied with [...]?"

This indicator allows you to track perceived quality at each key touchpoint or moment of truth: order, delivery, customer service, branch visit, etc.

Its value lies in its granularity: where NPS captures an overall impression, CSAT highlights the specific moments that generate satisfaction or frustration.

11 - Customer Effort Score (CES)

CES evaluates how easily a customer was able to achieve their goal. It measures the fluidity of your customer journey and helps identify friction points.

It's a KPI widely used in digital journeys where each friction point (a form that's too long, a response time that's too long, complex navigation) can cause a loss of trust.

The CES score is obtained by averaging the responses to a question like:

"On a scale of 1 to 5, how much effort did you have to put in to successfully reach our customer service?"

The lower the score, the better the experience.

CES usefully complements NPS and CSAT by introducing an operational dimension: it's no longer about whether the customer is satisfied, but whether the journey was smooth.

NPS, CSAT, and CES continue to be the three main quantitative indicators used by brands to take the pulse of their customers.

Qualitative analysis, to understand the "why" behind the number

Quantitative indicators provide a measurement, but to truly understand, you need to listen to what customers express: their verbatims or their responses to open-ended questions.

It's the analysis of customer verbatims that ultimately allows you to identify the root causes of a good (or bad) score:

• What was disappointing?
• What was a positive surprise?
• What could be improved?
• What was perceived as complicated or frustrating?
• What was missing to make the experience truly smooth?

The challenge isn't just to measure, but to close the loop—as Americans say: transform the voice of the customer into corrective actions, into action plans.

Customer feedback is only valuable if it's used to identify areas for improving the customer experience.

That's why we recommend systematically pairing an open-ended question with any NPS, CSAT, or CES measurement.

Key takeaways

Marketing KPIs only take on their full meaning when they're combined in your analysis.

Each one expresses part of the story:

• Business KPIs show whether your actions truly create value and contribute to company growth.
• Engagement KPIs reveal the quality of the relationship and the effectiveness of your marketing messages.
• Satisfaction KPIs express your customers' perception and trust.

Finally, here are 4 tips to guide your daily marketing KPI practice:

• Prioritize what really matters. Avoid sprawling dashboards and focus on indicators that have a direct impact on your decisions.
• Systematically connect your KPIs together. A click rate only makes sense when compared to conversion, a good NPS should be confronted with purchase frequency, a positive ROI can mask a low CLV, etc. Adopt a cross-functional reading of your marketing KPIs.
• Always ask yourself "Now what do we do?" An indicator is only valuable if it triggers action: adjust a campaign, optimize a journey, revise targeting, question a segment, simplify a process. Transform your KPIs into a continuous improvement engine rather than just a reporting tool.
• Rely on qualitative analysis to understand what the numbers don't say. Customer verbatims, feedback from field teams, and free comments explain the "why" behind indicator variations. Their analysis is the best way to spot real pain points and optimization opportunities.

Take your performance management further