Key Performance Indicators - KPIs

What is KPI Meaning?

A Key Performance Indicator definition - KPI is a defined value used to show and measure the progress in realizing goals. A KPI indicates whether an organization has attained its goals in a specific time frame.

define key performance indicators definition kpis

How do you choose the right KPIs to monitor?

The measured and tracked metrics depend fully on the organization’s strategy. Dragon1 promotes creating a list of priorities, goals, or issues and, per item, breaking it down to values you can measure.

Key performance indicators meaning steps on a ladder where the end of the ladder is a realized goal. A KPI is often a percentage or part of your goal. With KPIs, you can see how far you are behind or how well you are on track.

KPI examples

Below are the lists of common key performance indicators kpis for the following areas:

Architecture Management
Project Management
Sales and Marketing Management
Financial Management

Here is the list of the KPI examples:

Monthly sales growth
Monthly sales/new clients
Monthly new leads/prospects
Number of qualified leads
Resources spent on one non-paying client
Resources spent on one paying client
Customer lifetime value/customer profitability
Lead-to-sale conversion rate
Cost per lead by each channel
Cost of a new client by each channel
Hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual sales
Average conversion time
Lead-to-close rate: all channels
Customer turnover rate
Number of monthly sales demos
Customer engagement level
Customer satisfaction index
Number of abandoned shopping carts
Shopping cart abandonment rate
Number of monthly quotes/orders
Average purchase value
Average order value
Sales per representative
Sales by lead source
Inbound calls handled per representative
Outbound calls handled per representative
Average annual sales volume per customer
Average monthly sales volume per customer
Relative market share
Product/service usage every day
Value of returned goods and warranties
Asset turnover ratio (sales to assets)
Percentage of total sales from existing customers
Sales reps per $k revenue
Monthly sales quota attainment
Sales quota attainment by a sales representative
Number of client accounts per account manager
Days sales outstanding
Net profit margin
Operating cash flow (OCF)
Current ratio
Quick ratio / Acid test
Net profit margin
Working capital
Current accounts receivable
Current accounts payable
Accounts payable turnover
Accounts receivable turnover
Accounts payable process cost
Accounts receivable turnover
Budget variance
Budget creation cycle time
Line items in the budget
Number of budget iterations
Payroll headcount ratio
Vendor expenses
Payment error rate
Internal audit cycle time
Finance error report
Debt to equity ratio
Return on equity
Cost of managing business
Resource utilization
Total cost of the finance function
Planned value (PV)
Actual cost (AC)
Earned value (EV)
Cost variance (CV) (planned budget vs actual budget)
Schedule variance (SV)
Schedule performance index (SPI)
Cost performance index (CPI)
Planned hours of work vs actual situation
Overdue project tasks / crossed deadlines
% of overdue project tasks
Missed milestones
Percentage of projects completed on time
Percentage of canceled projects
Percentage of projects on budget
Number of budget iterations
Percentage of tasks completed
Project resource utilization
Cost of managing processes
Return on investment (ROI)
Monthly new leads/prospects
Qualified leads per month
Marketing qualified leads (MQL)
Sales-accepted leads (SAL)
Sales qualified leads (SQL)
Cost per lead generated
Net promoter score
Cost per conversion
Cost per conversion by channel
Average time of conversion
Retention rate
Attrition rate
Monthly website traffic
Traffic from organic search
Returning vs new visitors
Visits per channel
Average time on page
Click-through rate on web pages
Pages per visit
Conversion rate for call-to-action content
Inbound links to a website
Traffic from organic search
New leads from organic search
New leads from organic search
Number of unique keywords that drive traffic
Keywords in top SERP
Rank increase of target keywords
Conversion rate per keyword
Page Authority
Google PageRank
Volume of traffic from video content
Leads & conversions from paid advertising
Number of monthly PPC campaigns
Cost per acquisition (CPA) & cost per conversion (CPC)
Click-through rate on PPC advertising
Traffic from social media
Number of leads from social media
Number of conversions from social media
Conversion rate for social media leads
Managed audience size
Engagement rate
Social media mentions
Social media ROI
Content quality on blog
Number of monthly blog visits
Blog articles published this month
E-books published this month
Infographics published this month
ROI per content type
Web traffic from PR campaigns
Number of clippings
Calls from PR campaigns
Media impressions from PR campaigns
PR ROI

What is Key Performance Index Meaning?

While often used interchangeably, 'key performance indicator' and 'key performance index' are technically distinct.

Key Performance Index is an aggregated measure that combines multiple KPIs to provide a holistic view of overall performance across various aspects of a business or organization.

The focus is a broader, consolidated picture of performance by combining several individual KPIs. For example, a composite score combining customer satisfaction, sales growth, and operational efficiency to reflect overall business health.

Measure Key Performance Indicator progress