Early stage startup: Hacks for tracking KPIs in marketing
Mark Pavlyukovskyy
18 replies
Hey makers,
Marketing manager forcing me to implement KPIs, but I don't get along with metrics and staff.
At this stage we can't even have this metrics. Are there any hacks we can set up for setting and tracking KPIs for early stage startup?
Replies
Aphelia T.@technufllc
Hi Mark,
Usually a marketing manager is a person who sets up the metrics. If you are a product owner and developer and you know where you want your product to be on the market, you communicate this message to a marketer and they create a plan accordingly.
But if you are managed by a marketing manager, then it should be their responsibility to communicate you the goals.
What type of product are you talking about? The most basic metrics to track can be website visits or product installs, or product name mentions and so on.
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@technufllc Hi Aphelia!
Thank you for your input. Really appreciate your interest.
Let me explain things, I'm a co-founder (who is more into tech, not the business, or marketing), so I don't really good with metrics as conversion and so.
Our product is a web app, but we are still crafting it. So, website visits won't work here. At this stage the only channels we have - communities. How can we track metrics in there?
@mark_pavlyukovskyy hi Mark, even if you are crafting the app, you can and I'd say should start developing the communities on different social media channels (depending on the target audience for your product). And the initial metrics there are followers and engagement rate, can also focus on the brand mentions through # or tagging.
Also if you are interested in getting funds in the future, it is best to start activities in different startup related programs and accelerators. The more recognition you get, the more resources and results you will have for the successful product launch.
I could probably assist more if I know more about your product, so if you are interested to go a bit more in-depth, welcome to share your email or Linkedin profile :)
I think the best and the most simple marketing KPI's for startups are:
1. Conversion Rate
2. Customer Acquisition Cost
3. Return on Investment
4. Customer Retention Rate
@realvladgolub Perfect! These are the best KPIs for an early stage startup
Slightly different opinion here, not hacks but some mindset:
Reed Hastings when starting Netflix (he's the CEO) wanted to award bonuses to their marketing/ user team for achieving high customer acquisition. Until the marketing/ user team leader told him the key now is to increase the user retention rate rather than focusing on acquisition.
Gotta focus on the right metric rather than the vanity metric that is good for funding.
@everest_ng oh, wow, thanks for sharing. Right mindset and visionary is a must from the very beginning.
Create a metric that will lead to a conversion in the future.
If you are just starting out, don't even look at the conversion rate, because it will low.
Look at the metrics like the Number of Impressions, and the Bounce rate of your website, and try to improve those.
ā” Create your own Top-7 (metrics-based) KPIs in a simple spreadsheet, and regularly update your metrics twice a week. Just create it for yourself, and share it with others if you think it will help you, or help them.
Here's a couple templates:
š” https://www.mad.co/insights/kpi-...
š” https://databox.com/kpi-report-g...
Hi Mark!
Myself a marketing manager and usually I like to guide my founders on it.
Here's my two cents.
First of all..why are KPIs important for an early stage startup?
My opinion, the best answer is resource allocation and data driven decision making.
They are crucial to make progress and prioritize tasks, especially important in your early stages.
Here are some tips to get better at it:
1. Focus on the essentials: As an early-stage startup, it's essential to concentrate on a few vital KPIs that directly relate to your business objectives. Focus on KPIs that measure growth, user engagement, and revenue generation. Examples include Monthly Active Users (MAUs), Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), and Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR).
2. Keep KPIs SMART: Make sure your KPIs are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. This will help you create realistic and actionable targets.
3. Use the right software. My personal favourites Google analytics, Mix panel, ChartMogul. Your marketing manager can help you with these. A 11 min YouTube tutorial on google analytics should do well when getting started.
4. Set up a dashboard: Create a centralized dashboard to display your KPIs and make them easily accessible to your team. We try to gamify this experience too. This helps keep everyone on the same page.
5. Communicate KPIs to your team: Make sure your team understands the importance of your chosen KPIs, their definitions, and how they contribute to the success of the startup.
6. Your KPI's should evolve as your company evolves. Your kpi goal should allign with your companies long term goals and should not just be focussed on short term boosts.
Hope this was of help. Sure was a long read, but hope I could be of help.
Best of Luck!!
KPIs are very important as these metrics are providing you an insight in quality of your marketing strategies and approaches in communication.
Following metrics regularly will show if you have to change something, what is it (content, timing, etc.), and what is generating the most of the traffic, so where you should unvest more and where less efforts.
Eg. I saw in my previous campaign a lot of traffic generated through Facebook, and very few on Slack groups, so now I know that for my niche the main platform is FB and Slack is a side kick..
I agree on the above listed points, basic KPIs, and tools, I have great experience with Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager.
Besides, social networks are also providing insights that can help you with the tracking.
But here's the thing: you can have KPIs for every marketing activity. I think that you should communicate your goals depending on your product (what are your expectations according to audience and sales, leads and conversations). Referring to that goals, your marketing manager will pull out the most relevant KPIs, whose tracking will help you to improve and reach your targets..
I would say that for a startup is enough to follow it once per month, and note them in simple excel or any relevant tool. Some startups even start with a quarter. Anyway, how your business grows, your marketing manager will have a need to track it more often, until it reaches weekly check outs (what frankly can be a case from the very beginning with some tasks in marketing)..
Hope it was at least a bit helpful! Good luck! ššš¤āØ