Council Post: 15 Essential Business Metrics To Track

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3. Customer Acquisition Cost

I believe this is one of the most important metrics. If a customer costs you more than you spend on acquisition, your business never will be profitable. – Julia Ponomareva, eMop Ltd

4. Lead And Lag Measures

Different businesses should measure different things. Successful businesses track lead measures and crosscheck back to lag measures. This feedback loop allows for faster adjustments. For some it may be transaction size, the number of client visits or a production metric. When selecting what to measure ask, “Is it predictive?” and “Is it measurable?” Do this and you’ll be on the right track! – Denny LaVe, Precision Precast Erectors

5. On-Time Project Delivery

Track the rate of on-time project delivery. It’s one thing to say that you deliver projects on-time or ahead of schedule, but it’s another to really know how long it takes to get work done. Tracking this metric allows you to have honest discussions with clients about how long a project will take. It also allows you to understand and improve your own processes. – Jacob Ehrlich, Pure Health Consulting

6. Retention

People drive our businesses and retaining the best people is a top priority for every business. When organizations begin to track retention, they are able to understand what makes their business a great place, and areas for improvement come from open and honest conversation. Over time, measuring and tracking this metric will help keep an organization growing and thriving. – Raazi Imam, Sia Partners

7. Profitability

This quote has always resonated with me: “Revenue feeds ego. Profit feeds families.” I’ve seen too much emphasis on top-line revenue without a strong understanding of the costs that impact profitability. – Gina Boedeker, The Boedeker Group

8. Order Fulfillment

An extremely important metric is order fulfillment. If you do not deliver reliable results on a consistent basis, it’s unlikely that you’ll retain any customers at all and you can forget about referral business and positive feedback. It’s not enough to just “deliver” either. You must deliver better than your competitors and always keep your clients involved along the way with routine updates. – S.W. Miliano, Terrazel, Inc./The Stone Register

9. Website Traffic

One metric that every business should track is website traffic. If you are an e-commerce brand this is especially important as it will also help you understand your sales trends. I use Google Analytics to track this throughout the day. – Kelley Higney, Bug Bite Thing

10. Return On Investment

I consider the return on investment (ROI) to be one of the most indispensable metrics from the beginning of the activities. It allows you to measure profits in relation to a determined investment. In the end, this will give a perspective of what is happening and where we are going. I think it is very useful. This way we can have a reference and make decisions based on it. – Kevin Leyes, Leyes Media

11. Customer Lifetime Value

Cross-selling and upselling current customers are the most cost-effective ways to sell your product. If this drops, you need to take a look at where the holes are in the customer experience you are providing. This metric can also be used as inspiration to continually upgrade your customer-brand relationship and product or services. – Caitlin Strempel, Rising Ranks Digital

12. Percentage Of Repeat Customers

One of the most telling and important metrics is the percentage of current business that is repeat customers. If the customers continue to buy from you, that is a great indicator that they find value in your product and services. – Carrie Schochet, Purple Squirrel Advisors

13. Revenue Growth

I believe that revenue growth is 100% the most important metric that every single business, small or large, should track. Why? Revenue is the total amount of sales that you rake in by selling your products to customers with the cost of returned or undeliverable items deducted from the bottom line. To my knowledge, it’s the key metric every business uses to properly calculate its performance. – Sabeer Nelliparamban, Tyler Petroleum Inc

14. Employee Well-Being

The key metric that every business needs to track, beyond the traditional financial KPIs of performance, is employee well-being. If your employees do not have the energy to be creative and resilient when facing specific business challenges that may arise, your business will be at risk and your key strategies will not get executed. By measuring employee well-being, you can also improve it. – Andreea Vanacker, SPARKX5

15. Cash Flow

Cash flow will allow you to adapt quickly to unexpected changes out of your control. It can prepare you for supply chain delays along with a multitude of other issues that can come from not having your cash flow intact. Having a good financial partner helps and cash (or access to it when needed) can assure your company can weather the up and downs. – Paul L. Gunn, KUOG Corporation