The marketing KPIs that belong on a dashboard are the ones tied to revenue: for lead-gen, cost per qualified lead, lead-to-sale rate, cost per sale, customer acquisition cost (CAC) and pipeline or revenue by channel; for ecommerce, revenue, blended ROAS or MER, new-customer CAC, conversion rate and average order value. Clicks, impressions and followers can sit on a channel tab, but they should not be the headline. A good dashboard shows 6 to 10 KPIs at the top, each with a formula everyone agrees on and a target.
Below you will find the KPI list with formulas for lead-gen and ecommerce, a tiered layout for what goes where, a worked example with real math, and the steps to build the dashboard.
What is a marketing KPI, and how is it different from a metric?
A metric is any number you can measure. A KPI (key performance indicator) is a metric you have chosen to judge success against a target. "Clicks" is a metric. "Cost per qualified lead under $40 this quarter" is a KPI. Google Analytics uses similar language: a key event is an event that measures an action particularly important to your business.
A useful test: if the number moves 20% and nobody changes a decision, it is not a KPI. Our post on vanity metrics vs revenue metrics goes deeper on that line.
Which KPIs should a lead-gen or B2B team track?
| KPI | Formula | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per lead (CPL) | Ad spend ÷ leads | Top-of-funnel efficiency; easy to game |
| Qualified lead rate | Qualified leads ÷ leads | Whether ads bring the right people |
| Cost per qualified lead | Ad spend ÷ qualified leads | The CPL you should optimize |
| Lead-to-sale rate | Sales ÷ leads | Combined quality of leads and sales follow-up |
| Cost per sale | Ad spend ÷ sales | True paid acquisition cost per deal |
| CAC | (Marketing + sales cost) ÷ new customers | Full cost to win a customer |
| Pipeline by channel | Sum of open deal value by source | Which channels create future revenue |
| Revenue by channel | Closed-won value by source | Which channels create actual revenue |
| Marketing ROI | (Attributed gross profit − marketing cost) ÷ marketing cost | Whether marketing pays back |
| Speed to lead | Median minutes from lead to first contact | Sales follow-up, a big driver of conversion |
| Sales cycle length | Median days from lead to closed-won | When to expect revenue from today's spend |
For the detailed math behind two of these, see how to calculate CAC by channel and the marketing ROI formula.
Which KPIs should an ecommerce team track?
| KPI | Formula | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | Sum of order value (net of refunds) | The outcome |
| MER (blended ROAS) | Total revenue ÷ total ad spend | Overall efficiency, platform-neutral |
| Platform ROAS | Platform-attributed revenue ÷ platform spend | In-platform view; tends to overcount |
| New-customer CAC | Ad spend ÷ new customers | Cost to grow the customer base |
| Conversion rate | Orders ÷ sessions | Site and offer performance |
| Average order value (AOV) | Revenue ÷ orders | Basket size |
| POAS | Gross profit from ads ÷ ad spend | Profit, not revenue, per ad dollar |
| Repeat purchase rate | Customers with 2+ orders ÷ customers | Retention and lifetime value signal |
Why the gap between platform ROAS and MER matters is covered in MER and blended ROAS.
Which marketing KPIs go on the dashboard, and where?
Put KPIs in three tiers so each audience reads only what it needs.
- Executive tier (top row, 4 to 6 KPIs). Revenue or pipeline from marketing, CAC or cost per sale, marketing ROI or MER, and new customers. Each with target and month-to-date pace.
- Weekly management tier (4 to 6 KPIs). Cost per qualified lead, lead-to-sale rate, speed to lead, spend versus budget, and revenue by channel.
- Channel tier (one tab per channel). Spend, CPL, CTR, conversion rate, frequency and creative results. This is where the operational metrics live.
Each KPI needs four things written next to it: the formula, the data source, the attribution rule (for example, first touch or a multi-touch model), and the owner. Without the attribution rule, two people will read the same "revenue by channel" and disagree. See marketing dashboards executives actually read for layout ideas.
Example: building the top row for a lead-gen company
Example (hypothetical numbers): a B2B services company spends $20,000 a month on ads across Meta and Google. It gets 800 leads, 240 of them qualified, and closes 24 sales at an average gross profit of $3,500. The sales team costs $16,000 a month.
| KPI | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| CPL | $20,000 ÷ 800 | $25 |
| Qualified lead rate | 240 ÷ 800 | 30% |
| Cost per qualified lead | $20,000 ÷ 240 | $83.33 |
| Lead-to-sale rate | 24 ÷ 800 | 3% |
| Cost per sale (ads only) | $20,000 ÷ 24 | $833.33 |
| CAC (ads + sales) | ($20,000 + $16,000) ÷ 24 | $1,500 |
| Marketing ROI | (24 × $3,500 − $36,000) ÷ $36,000 | 133% |
Now split by channel. Suppose Meta brings 500 leads at a $20 CPL and Google brings 300 at about $33. On CPL alone, Meta looks better. But if Meta's 500 leads produce 9 sales and Google's 300 produce 15, the cost per sale is about $1,111 on Meta ($10,000 ÷ 9) and $667 on Google ($10,000 ÷ 15). The dashboard should show cost per sale by channel in the weekly tier, or the team will keep moving budget toward cheap leads.
How do you build a marketing KPI dashboard, step by step?
- Pick the business question. "Which channels produce profitable customers?" is better than "show all our data".
- Choose 6 to 10 KPIs from the tables above and write the formula for each.
- Connect sources: ad platforms for spend, your CRM for qualified leads and sales, your store or billing system for revenue.
- Make sure leads carry their source. Pass UTMs and click IDs into the CRM, as in how to pass UTM parameters into your CRM.
- Set targets and pace for each KPI, monthly and month to date.
- Agree the attribution rule and show it on the dashboard.
- Review weekly with the same agenda, and remove any KPI nobody used for a decision in a month.
You can build this in a spreadsheet or Looker Studio if your data is clean. The hard part is step 3 and 4, joining ad spend to CRM outcomes. Admira does that join: it ties Meta, Google Ads, TikTok and Click-to-WhatsApp leads to CRM revenue and provides a report builder, unlimited dashboards and ROAS, ROI and CAC reporting on the Growth plan. See the marketing dashboard page for what it shows. Admira is not a BI tool for every company metric; finance and product KPIs usually live elsewhere.
When a KPI dashboard doesn't help
- Tracking is broken. If leads arrive in the CRM without a source, every channel KPI is a guess. Fix capture first.
- Volume is tiny. With five sales a month, rates swing wildly. Look at quarterly numbers and individual deals.
- Nobody owns the numbers. A dashboard without a weekly review becomes wallpaper.
FAQ
How many KPIs should a marketing dashboard have?
About 4 to 6 at the executive level and 4 to 6 more for weekly management. Channel metrics go on separate tabs.
What is the most important marketing KPI for lead-gen?
Cost per sale or CAC by channel, because it links spend to closed revenue. Cost per lead alone rewards cheap, low-quality leads.
Is ROAS a good KPI?
Platform ROAS is useful inside a channel but tends to overcount. For the top row, use MER, marketing ROI or cost per sale from your own data.
What is the difference between CAC and cost per sale?
Cost per sale usually counts ad spend only. CAC adds the other costs of winning a customer, such as sales salaries and tools.
How often should I review marketing KPIs?
Weekly for management KPIs, monthly for executive KPIs. Long sales cycles need cohort views by lead month.
Can I build a KPI dashboard in Looker Studio?
Yes, if spend and CRM data are already joined. Most teams struggle with that join, not with the charts.
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