What’s the Difference between KPI and Metrics?
Big data makes it impossible to measure a lot of things that were previously challenging to measure in the past. Creating KPIs forces your organization to clearly define the performance measures that outline how you’ll achieve your big strategic priorities. With actionable, data-driven business insights that can help you optimize your operations or remain competitive in increasingly competitive markets in today’s environment, key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics have become more and more critical to today’s businesses. But what exactly are KPIs and metrics, and how do they differ?
So what is KPI and metric?
The difference is that KPIs are key measures that will have the most impact in moving your organization. They give insight into what your organization needs to measure and achieve to reach your objectives. An example of KPI is to increase new client acquisition by 8% in 2022, representing a growth of YOY or MOM.
On the other hand, metrics do track and provide data on your organization’s business processes but are not the most important metrics your organization needs to measure, monitor, and perform against to make progress against your objective. An example of a metric would be CTR website traffic. It’s important to track this metric as it helps feed your strategy outcome, it’s not a clearly defined KPI related to an outcome.
KPI allow you to define your strategy and objectives. Metrics are “usual” measures that still add value to your organization but aren’t the critical measure you need to achieve to your strategy. “Every KPI is a metric, but not every metric is a KPI.”