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14.3: Objectives, Goals, and KPIs

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    Objectives, Goals, and KPIs

    Objectives, goals, and KPIs are the next set of concepts. Objectives represent what you want to achieve for your company. Ideally, objectives should be SMART (Wikipedia, 2024b):

    • Specific
    • Measurable
    • Attainable
    • Realistic
    • Time-bounded

    Goals are actions that you want users to take. We use the vocabulary of goal to designate user’s actions since this is typically how goals are positioned in web analytics (e.g., Google Analytics) (Google, 2024). Distinguishing between objectives (what you want to achieve) and goals (what you want your users to achieve) just makes things clearer.

    KPIs—key performance indicators—are metrics used to evaluate your company's performance based on a particular objective or activity. KPIs typically have targets—specific values that your company aims to achieve within a given period.

    These concepts work together to help you plan campaigns, as exemplified in the figure below: Objectives can be used to identify goals for users to achieve, which can be measured using KPIs.

    Image of Objectives, Goals, and KPIs.
    Figure 14.1 Objective / Goal / KPI

    For example, an objective for your company might be to increase product awareness. To achieve this objective, you might set up goals for your users, such as subscribing to email updates and engaging in key features you believe will help raise product awareness. It is then possible to identify KPIs to measure your success for these user goals, such as ‘number of contact forms submitted’ or ‘use of the key feature of the virtual mirror.’ The figure below exemplifies this.

    Image of KPIs examples.
    Figure 14.2 KPIs Examples

    14.3: Objectives, Goals, and KPIs is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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