Internet Marketing Glossary
Definition: Key Performance Indicators (KPI)
Key Performance Indicators (KPI) refer to periodic measurements that can be taken of specific factors that indicate the health (or quality of performance) of a website, how well it is meeting its goals, and in which areas it is underperforming. Typical website KPIs include:
- number of visitors per day
- number of pageviews per visitor
- amount of time each visitor spends on the website
- bounce rate
- percentage of visitors who follow a specific path or perform a specific action (making a purchase, filling out a lead form, viewing a certain piece of content)
- percentage of returning visitors or repeat customers
Key performance indicators are always quantifiable, which means they can be used to make objective analyses and judgements. Because KPIs are measurements taken at a specific moment in time, they can also be used to chart progress over time and to make forecasts.
Additional KPIs that are specific to the exact goals of your website should also be selected and monitored. For example, if you are running a pay-per-click campaign, you will need to know how conversions match up between different traffic sources, so this must be monitored and calculated as well. If one of your website's goals is for the visitor to fill out a form, this event must also be recorded as a website-specific KPI.
By defining an extended set of KPIs, it is possible to conduct scientific traffic experiments to determine the optimal set of circumstances (both on and off your website) under which your website best meets the goals you set for it. Analyzing different sets of KPIs is something like adjusting the lenses on a microscope to zero in on specific areas of interest. This level of analysis is increasingly becoming more commonplace and necessary, especially for websites in highly competitive markets.
ClickScience provides its clients with scheduled baseline KPI reports, enabling them to watch the effects of our work. We can also help them define a custom extended set of KPIs, and make sure we collect all the information we need to calculate and interpret them to extract actionable information.
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