What makes a good KPI
A good KPI answers a question someone actually asks: “Are we hitting our target?” “Is quality slipping?” “Where should we invest next?”
It should be measurable with a reliable data source, comparable over time, and owned by a team that can act on the result.
Name KPIs in plain language on the dashboard — “Monthly active beneficiaries” beats “MAB_v2” for every audience outside engineering.
- Tied to a goal or decision, not vanity
- Updated on a defined cadence (daily, weekly, monthly)
- Includes target, baseline, or trend for context
- Documented definition shared across teams
Examples by category
Below are starter KPIs by function. Swap in your organization’s targets and data fields when you connect a dataset in DashBoardly AI.
- Sales: Monthly recurring revenue, win rate, average deal size, pipeline coverage ratio
- Marketing: Cost per lead, conversion rate by channel, email engagement rate, campaign ROI
- Product: Weekly active users, feature adoption rate, time-to-value, support tickets per release
- Support: First response time, resolution time, customer satisfaction (CSAT), ticket backlog trend
How to choose KPIs for your dashboard
List the top three decisions your dashboard should inform — grant reporting, weekly ops review, board updates — then pick one to two KPIs per decision.
Validate each KPI with stakeholders before building charts. A metric nobody trusts will be ignored regardless of design quality.
Start small: ship a focused dashboard, gather feedback, then add metrics only when users request them or when goals change.