Getting the Most Benefit from a KPI Dashboard

We believe that understanding key business information is a driver for business grow, and that is why all TMD Clients are set up with their own KPI dashboard.

Basic Indicators

The first step to selecting the right indicators is to start with the ones that will measure the core components, the things that keep the business going.

Every business must monitor its revenue closely. Revenue is the first basic indicator to choose for determining ways to track improving business performance.

If attracting new customers is a goal for the business website, the conversion rate is another helpful indicator. It is just as important to understand what proportion of business is being secured, proportionately against total enquiries, as it is to singularly know that the right amount of business has occurred.

Selecting indicators that will provide information on measurable and realistic goals

It is easy to start by selecting everything, resulting in too many indicators and an impractical level of information to process. The idea is to use only those metrics that will provide information of real value. It may be interesting to learn how many visitors came to a website or spent at least five minutes or more browsing the pages, but that will not be of any benefit if there is no correlation between time spent browsing and people who make a purchase.

KPI's should prompt you to interrogate the data, to ask questions and drive your understanding deeper - whilst presenting opportunities to make changes.

Once the core business KPIs have been set, you may wish to set KPIs that relate to other areas of your business, including:

• Financial KPIs e.g. Debtor days
• Sales KPIs e.g. Value of proposals
• Marketing KPIs e.g. Leads generated by source
• Customer Service KPIs e.g. Feedback

Using Both Quantitative and Qualitative Indicators

An even mix of indicators will provide a well-rounded understanding of how the business is performing and where changes need to be implemented.

The quantitative indicators include hard facts, such as numbers of customers, which product was a best seller and what amount is representative of the average transaction value.

The qualitative indicators are directly related to customer feedback, comments regarding products, testimonials and the nature of any complaints. These are more subjective in nature, but they can be hugely informative and powerful if the insights are acted upon promptly.