Effective Dashboards Are More than a Collection of Metrics

Dashboards are easy; effective dashboards are hard.  The challenge isn’t populating the dashboard with data and measures.  Effective dashboards are more than a collection of metrics. Yet, one of the most common questions we’re asked is, “What are the most important metrics that should be on our Marketing dashboard?” We understand that many Marketing organizations are stretched thin, elevating the desire for something simple – a template or a click of a button.  A quick and easy answer so you can move on to the next challenge. Unfortunately, there is no easy way out.

If you start building a dashboard for your leadership team with the individual metrics, you’re starting at the wrong place.  More than likely, you’ll end up with a useless dashboard, one that does NOT prove the value of Marketing.

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Effective Dashboards Begin with the End in Mind

Instead of starting with metrics, every dashboard should begin with the end in mind, i.e., by answering these three simple (OK, not that simple) questions:

1. What outcomes does the business need to achieve in order to meet its goals?
2. What does senior management expect marketing to contribute towards these outcomes?
3. How will senior management know that marketing has made a positive contribution?

Only when you have the answers to these questions can you begin to build an effective dashboard that shows how

• Marketing generates value for the organization
• The impact Marketing has on the business
• what actions or course adjustments are required

Engage in a Conversation With Your C-Suite

Effective dashboards begin with a conversation with your senior management. Start from the top and work down. Effective dashboards connect the work of Marketing to the business. This means Marketing must understand the business and the role it plays in helping the organization achieve success. You can’t even begin to think about metrics until you’ve done this work.

Effective Dashboards are Stakeholder-Centric

Once you figure out what senior management wants to see, take the next step. The dashboard needs to be more than just a reporting tool; it has to be a multi-tiered decision-making tool that contains not only metrics for senior management but also the data that Marketing managers need to run the Marketing function and marketers need to manage their programs.

Often, this means that there needs to be at least three dashboard levels:

1. Executive leadership team – to communicate marketing’s value, impact, and contribution,
2. Marketing leadership – to help run the function
3. Marketing functional members – to be used by individual members of the team

Each of these views needs to facilitate action and help Marketing stay on track (in line with the business). Each level contains a set of metrics derived from aligning Marketing activities with business outcomes.

As a result of business outcome alignment, the metrics on each of the three levels don’t stand alone; they are linked to create what we call data-metrics chains that explicitly link Marketing activities and investments to business results.  The links reveal the relationship among the metrics. This relationship is not accidental—it’s all carefully planned.

Check to see if your dashboards contain the metrics and data chains that illustrate the relationship between what the business is trying to accomplish and what Marketing is doing. Not sure, purchase a dashboard assessment.

Put Your Dashboard to the Test

How do you know if you have a good dashboard? A good dashboard guides decisions. It should help you determine whether the activities and investments are producing the desired results, the degree of risk, and what, if any, course adjustments are necessary. It should also provide insight into strategic decisions and investments, and the impact and value Marketing is having on the business. Remember, a well-designed dashboard is a decision-making tool, not a report.

For example, if business outcomes are achieved and Marketing hits its targets, then we can conclude that Marketing is making a contribution. If the expected results are not there, we should be able to see why by looking down the data chains. Which marketing programs are not producing the objectives that contribute to those business outcomes? If those programs aren’t working, perhaps we need to stop what we are doing and reallocate the budget to something else.

Ready to start creating a dashboard that will help you improve and prove the value of Marketing? If this is a strategic initiative, time is of the essence, or you need an objective third party, let’s discuss your goals and timeline.

FAQ:

1. What outcomes does the business need to achieve to meet its goals?
2. What does senior management expect Marketing to contribute toward these outcomes?
3. How will senior management know Marketing has made a positive contribution?

• How Marketing generates value for the organization
• The impact Marketing has on the business
• What actions or course adjustments are required

• Executive leadership team: Communicate Marketing’s value, impact, and contribution
• Marketing leadership: Run the function and manage performance
• Marketing functional members: Manage programs and execution
  Each level must facilitate action and keep Marketing aligned to business outcomes.

• Whether activities and investments are producing desired results
• The degree of risk
• What course adjustments are needed
• Which strategic decisions and investments to make next
  If it does not enable decisions and course correction, it is a report—not a dashboard.

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