What Should Your Marketing Dashboard Display?
Marketing dashboards are essential tools for businesses looking to track the performance of their campaigns, understand the ROI of their efforts, and make data-driven decisions. But not all dashboards are created equal. The most effective marketing dashboards are those that display metrics that are aligned with your business goals and marketing strategy.
So, what exactly should your marketing dashboard display to provide maximum value? Let’s break it down.
1. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Your dashboard should start with the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that matter most to your business. These are the metrics that directly reflect the success of your marketing efforts. KPIs may vary depending on your goals, but they generally fall into a few categories:
Lead Generation: New leads, conversion rates, cost per lead (CPL)
Sales: Sales volume, revenue generated, customer acquisition cost (CAC)
Customer Engagement: Click-through rates (CTR), engagement on social media, email open rates
Return on Investment (ROI): Marketing spend versus revenue gained from campaigns
Why it matters: By focusing on KPIs, you ensure that your dashboard shows data that is directly tied to your marketing objectives, helping you keep your eye on the metrics that drive growth.
2. Channel Performance
Knowing which marketing channels are delivering results is critical for optimizing your budget and resources. Your dashboard should display performance data from each marketing channel you're using, including:
Organic Search (SEO): Website traffic, organic rankings, bounce rate
Paid Ads: Impressions, clicks, conversions, cost per click (CPC)
Social Media: Followers, likes, shares, comments, engagement rates
Email Marketing: Open rates, click rates, unsubscribe rates
Why it matters: Tracking individual channel performance helps you determine where to focus your efforts and budget, allowing you to scale the most effective channels while reducing investment in underperforming ones.
3. Funnel Metrics
Understanding how your audience moves through the marketing funnel is key to improving conversion rates and sales. Your dashboard should provide insights into each stage of the funnel, such as:
Top of the Funnel (Awareness): Impressions, website visits, social reach
Middle of the Funnel (Consideration): Lead generation, time on site, content downloads
Bottom of the Funnel (Conversion): Sales qualified leads (SQLs), completed purchases, customer lifetime value (CLV)
Why it matters: By monitoring funnel metrics, you can pinpoint any gaps or drop-off points, allowing you to refine your messaging and engagement strategies at different stages.
4. Customer Acquisition and Retention Metrics
It’s essential to track not only how you acquire new customers but also how well you’re retaining them. Your dashboard should include:
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): The total cost of acquiring a new customer.
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): The total value a customer brings to your business over time.
Churn Rate: The percentage of customers who stop doing business with you over a given period.
Retention Rate: The percentage of customers who continue to engage with your brand.
Why it matters: Understanding both acquisition and retention metrics helps you balance efforts between gaining new customers and keeping the ones you already have, ensuring long-term business growth.
5. ROI and Budget Efficiency
At the end of the day, the goal of any marketing initiative is to deliver a strong return on investment. Your dashboard should display:
ROI by Campaign: The return on investment for each marketing campaign, showing how much revenue you generated versus how much you spent.
Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): How much it costs to acquire a new customer across different campaigns or channels.
Marketing Spend: A breakdown of your budget allocation across all channels and campaigns.
Why it matters: These metrics allow you to clearly see which efforts are producing the most value for your budget, helping you allocate resources more efficiently.
6. Website Performance Metrics
Your website is often the first point of interaction for potential customers, so tracking its performance is essential. Your dashboard should display:
Website Traffic: Total visitors, page views, and sessions.
Bounce Rate: The percentage of visitors who leave your site after viewing only one page.
Average Session Duration: How long visitors are staying on your site.
Conversion Rate: The percentage of visitors who take a desired action (e.g., making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter).
Why it matters: Website performance metrics show how effective your site is at engaging visitors and turning them into leads or customers. Low bounce rates and high conversion rates signal that your website is doing its job.
7. Campaign-Specific Data
If you’re running specific campaigns—whether it’s a product launch, holiday promotion, or event—your marketing dashboard should also include metrics tailored to these initiatives, such as:
Campaign Reach: The total number of people who have seen your campaign.
Engagement: Clicks, shares, and other interactions with your campaign.
Conversion Rate by Campaign: How many people completed the desired action as a result of the campaign.
Why it matters: Tracking campaign-specific metrics allows you to see the real-time impact of each initiative and pivot as necessary to improve results.
Building a marketing dashboard isn’t just about visualizing data—it’s about displaying the right data that aligns with your business goals and helps you make informed decisions. By including KPIs, funnel metrics, channel performance, and ROI tracking, your dashboard can become a powerful tool for driving growth.
At BRDGE Insights, we specialize in creating customized marketing dashboards that are aligned with your unique funnel and business objectives. If you’re ready to transform how you track and measure your marketing performance, let’s chat about building a dashboard that works for you.
