The marketing scorecard: twelve numbers, their definitions and where each comes from
Twelve numbers a CEO and a board can read every quarter, each with its formula, the system it comes from and how often it moves. Pick the eight to twelve that match how your company sells, agree the definitions with finance and sales once, and keep them the same from quarter to quarter. Download the table as CSV.
How to use it
Agree each definition in writing with the CFO and the head of sales before the first report. A number that changes definition between quarters cannot show a trend.
Drop a metric rather than reporting it badly. A scorecard with eight trusted numbers is more use than one with twelve disputed ones.
The twelve numbers
| Number | Formula | Comes from | Cadence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketing-sourced pipeline | Value of opportunities whose first recorded touch was a marketing program, created in the period | CRM | Monthly |
| Marketing-influenced pipeline | Value of opportunities with at least one marketing touch before creation, created in the period | CRM | Quarterly |
| Pipeline to closed-won rate | Value won ÷ value of opportunities that closed (won or lost) in the period | CRM | Quarterly |
| Customer acquisition cost (CAC) | Sales and marketing cost of acquiring customers ÷ new customers in the period | Finance and CRM | Quarterly |
| CAC payback | CAC ÷ (new monthly recurring revenue per customer × gross margin), in months | Finance | Quarterly |
| Cost per qualified opportunity | Marketing program spend ÷ qualified opportunities created | Finance and CRM | Monthly |
| Marketing spend as a share of revenue | Total marketing budget ÷ revenue for the same period | Finance | Quarterly |
| Spend against plan | Actual spend ÷ planned spend, by budget line | Finance | Monthly |
| Share of search | Searches for your brand ÷ searches for your brand and named competitors | Search trend data | Monthly |
| Aided awareness in the target segment | Share of surveyed buyers in the segment who recognize the brand when shown it | Brand tracker | Quarterly or twice a year |
| Website visit to qualified lead rate | Qualified leads ÷ visits, for the pages you count | Web analytics and CRM | Monthly |
| Net revenue retention | Revenue this period from customers who existed a year ago ÷ their revenue a year ago | Finance | Quarterly |
Owner and status columns to add
- Owner
- One named person per number, who answers for it in the review.
- Target and actual
- This period's target, the actual, and the variance.
- Trend
- The last four periods, so a director can see direction without a chart.
Written by the CMO Tribune Desk. A template holds no figures of ours: every bracket is for your own number. See how we work, or report an error on the corrections page.