The big idea: Measure what matters to the goal, not what’s easy to count. A good dashboard answers one question: is it working, and what should we do next?
See it in action
Vanity or Valuable Lab
Pick a business goal, then sort each metric: does it matter for this goal, or is it vanity here? Your dashboard builds from the metrics you keep.
Dashboard
Sort the metrics
Key concepts
- Goals, KPIs and metrics: The goal is the outcome, a KPI is the few numbers that show progress toward it, and metrics are everything else you can count.
- Vanity vs. actionable: Likes and impressions feel good. Actionable metrics, like conversion rate or repeat purchase, tell you what to change.
- Leading and lagging: Leading indicators (sign-ups, engagement) predict results; lagging indicators (sales, retention) confirm them.
- Trends over snapshots: One number means little. Compare over time and against a benchmark.
- Design for decisions: Keep dashboards to a handful of numbers, label them plainly, and say what action each one should trigger.
Frameworks from class
Traditional and human-centered metrics
Traditional KPIs show how a campaign is performing right now. Human-centered metrics show the strength of customer relationships and predict long-term success. A strong dashboard includes some of each.
- Traditional: CTR, conversion rate, cost per acquisition, reach, revenue and ROI
- Human-centered: customer lifetime value, Net Promoter Score, share of conversation, word-of-mouth reach, customer effort score
Know what each relationship metric means
These metrics measure loyalty and advocacy, not just clicks. Learn what each one answers so you can pick the right one for the goal.
- Customer lifetime value: total revenue you can expect from one customer over the relationship
- Net Promoter Score: how likely customers are to recommend you
- Share of conversation: how much people talk about you compared with competitors, and in what tone
- Customer effort score: how hard customers have to work to get help or finish a task
- Community engagement depth: the quality and frequency of interactions, beyond likes
Tie KPIs to the campaign’s real goal
List the KPIs that prove the goal, not the ones that are easy to pull. For Spotify’s student campaign aimed at Premium sign-ups, the KPIs were new Premium Student sign-ups, playlist streams and saves, event QR scans, video views and shares, and sales from influencer promo codes. Each number connects to the goal.
Try it
Write your client’s main goal, then choose three KPIs that show progress and one leading indicator you can watch weekly. Sketch a one-screen dashboard and note what you’d do if each number went up or down.
Tips and best practices
- Start from the goal, not the platform. Write the business goal first, then pick the three to five numbers that show progress toward it. Let the platform’s default report wait.
- Ask the “so what” question. For every metric, ask: if this went up or down, what would I do differently? If the answer is nothing, leave it off the dashboard.
- Pair a leading and a lagging indicator. Sales and retention confirm results late. Add an early signal, like landing page conversion or sign-ups, so you can fix problems before the quarter ends.
- Show trends and benchmarks, not snapshots. A single number means little. Show it against last month, last year or a target so the reader knows if it’s good.
- Write the action next to the number. Note what the team will do if each KPI rises or falls. A dashboard that drives decisions gets read; one that just reports gets ignored.
- Label everything in plain language. Spell out abbreviations and date ranges. Your client or boss should understand the dashboard without you in the room.
Quick check
Think through your answer, then select a question to reveal one.
What makes a metric a vanity metric?
It looks good but doesn’t tell you what to change or connect to the business goal.
Give an example of a leading indicator.
Email sign-ups or engagement rate, which often predict later sales.
Go deeper
- Looker Studio (free dashboards that connect to GA4)