Do you have all of your acronyms down when it comes to measuring your business metrics? Do you know your customer lifetime value (CLV) from your average resolution time (ART)? There are dozens of key performance indicators (KPIs) to track and measure, consistently.
But it’s worth it. Focusing on the right metrics helps you understand exactly where your business stands today and where it’s going tomorrow. By identifying specific indicators for growth, you can align sales, marketing, and service teams around shared objectives. We’ll cover how to pick the most effective metrics for your growing business, and how to use analytics tools to track them.
How to choose the right KPIs to measure success
Tracking the correct data helps you understand if your business model is sustainable enough to scale. Using KPIs ensures that every person on your team knows what they’re responsible for every month, year, or quarter. Here are some examples:
- Customer acquisition cost (CAC): CAC tracks exactly how much you spend to bring in a new customer across all marketing and sales activities.
- Customer lifetime value (CLV): CLV measures the total revenue you expect to receive from a single customer over the entire time they stay with your business.
- Monthly recurring revenue (MRR): MRR represents how much money made in a month, sometimes shown as an average.
Most growing companies use customer relationship management (CRM) tools to keep these KPIs visible to everyone from the sales floor to the executive office.
Sales metrics to track
Effective sales metrics provide a look into how well your team converts leads into loyal customers. By monitoring the time it takes to close a deal, you can find bottlenecks in your process that might be slowing down your growth.
Here are some sales metrics to track for your growing business:
- Sales pipeline value: Your sales pipeline shows the total potential revenue from every active deal currently being managed by your sales team.
- Win rate: The win rate is the percentage of opportunities that turn into closed deals, which helps you assess the effectiveness of your sales pitch.
- Average deal size: The average deal size is the typical value of a successful sale, which helps you accurately forecast revenue for the coming quarters.
- Lead response time: The lead response time is how long it takes to respond to an inbound lead. Fast responses are vital for converting prospects, and tracking this helps you maintain a high level of customer satisfaction.
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Marketing metrics to track
Marketing KPIs are essential for understanding how effectively you are attracting, engaging, and converting your target audience. By measuring the success of your campaigns, you can allocate your budget more effectively and focus on the channels that deliver the best return on investment (ROI).
Here are some marketing metrics to track:
- Website traffic: The total number of visitors to your website. Tracking website traffic helps you gauge the effectiveness of your content and search engine optimization (SEO) efforts.
- Lead-to-customer ratio: The lead-to-customer ratio is the percentage of marketing leads that eventually become paying customers. This metric helps assess the quality of your leads and conversions.
- Cost per lead (CPL): The total cost of a campaign divided by the number of leads it generated is the CPL. If it’s low, it indicates efficient spending on customer acquisition.
- Conversion rate: The conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action, such as making a purchase. Monitoring this helps you refine your website experience and calls to action.
To get a complete view of your customers, integrate your marketing data with your CRM. A unified platform allows you to see how marketing touches influence sales outcomes, providing the clear picture you need for data-driven business decisions.
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Service metrics to track
Excellent customer service is non-negotiable for a growing business, and your service metrics are a direct measure of how happy your customers are and how efficiently your team is operating. Focusing on these KPIs helps you turn support into a competitive advantage by creating exceptional customer experiences.
Here are some service metrics to track:
- Customer Satisfaction (CSAT): CSAT is measured through surveys after an interaction, this tracks how satisfied customers are with the support they received. High CSAT scores often correlate with higher CLV.
- Average Resolution Time (ART): The ART is the total time from when a support case is opened until it is officially closed. A lower ART indicates efficient problem-solving.
- Net Promoter Score (NPS): The NPS is a measure of customer loyalty and willingness to recommend your product or service to others. It’s a key indicator of long-term business health.
- Customer Churn Rate (CCR): The CCR percentage of customers who stop doing business with you over a given period. Service issues are a major contributor to churn, making this a vital metric for the service team to monitor.
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Analytics technology to automate your KPIs
Automation takes the manual work out of data analytics so you can focus on high-level business. Many growing organizations now use artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze their metrics and provide suggestions for improvement.
Deploy digital labor to handle gathering valuable performance data. Automated workflows and autonomous agents can interact with customers and update records without needing constant human supervision, trained from the get-go by your team.
Modern systems pull information directly from your emails, calendars, and website to update your metrics in real time. Advanced AI can look at your historical data to forecast which customers are most likely to churn or upgrade. Having a live view of your performance allows you to react quickly to market changes or shifts in customer behavior.
When CRM tools are part of your KPI strategy, you get a more complete picture of how automation is impacting your bottom line. AI agents work alongside your teams to measure and optimize every customer interaction.
Here are some automation tools for metric tracking:
- Data 360: Provides advanced, AI-powered analytics and business intelligence capabilities across all your integrated data. Learn more about Data 360 here.
- Google Analytics: Essential for tracking website traffic, user behavior, and marketing campaign performance. Learn more about Google Analytics here.
- Tableau (by Salesforce): A powerful data visualization tool that can connect to various data sources for in-depth KPI analysis. Learn more about Tableau here.
- Semrush: Focuses on tracking user interaction for your content and behavior within web and mobile applications for product-focused KPIs. Learn more about Semrush here.
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Using the Salesforce portfolio to scale your analytics
A unified metrics management platform like Salesforce gives you a single source of truth (SSOT) for all your business data across every department. By bringing your metrics directly into your communication channels, you make KPIs a part of the daily conversation. This ensures that everyone is moving in the same direction in the CRM.
- Instant alerts: Set up notifications to let your team know when a high-value lead is captured or a major deal is closed.
- Collaborative reporting: Share dashboards and reports directly in your team channels to facilitate quick discussions and decisions.
- Simplified workflows: Use automated triggers to start new projects or tasks based on changes in your core metrics.
- Mobile access: Keep track of your business health from anywhere, with tools that work on all types of devices and tablets.
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No matter where you are on your journey as a business owner, you can get started with Starter Suite for free — the CRM made for growth.
Set up your small business metrics with CRM
Tracking the right KPIs isn’t just about reporting numbers — it’s about building a data-driven culture that fuels sustainable growth. In the fast-paced world of startups, visibility is power — and with the right CRM, your business is well-equipped to turn data into long-term success.
Start your journey with the Free or Starter Suite today. Looking for more customization? Explore Pro Suite. If you’re a venture-backed startup, join Salesforce Launchpad to access exclusive discounts, expert GTM guidance, and our founder community. Already a Salesforce customer? Activate Foundations to try out Agentforce 360 today.
AI supported the writers and editors who created this article.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Startups should focus on customer acquisition cost, lifetime value, and monthly recurring revenue to understand their financial health.
A CRM centralizes all customer data so you can see every interaction and track how leads move through your sales funnel.
Yes — automation handles repetitive tasks like data entry and lead follow-up so your team can focus on high-value work.
Accurate data ensures that your decisions are based on facts, which helps you avoid costly mistakes during the early stages of growth.
AI agents provide 24/7 support by answering common questions immediately, which frees up your human staff for complex issues and makes sure that your business is responsive even when you’re offline.
