Without strong KPIs in place, you’ll be left guessing about your product’s performance. Choosing the right KPIs starts with making sure you’ve optimized the goals you have set for your product. The best KPIs are tied to a goal that is measurable, and keeping track of them won’t take up too much time and energy — otherwise, you’ll end up taking two steps back in order to take one step forward.

Particularly if your product or brand is young, it can be difficult to set goals that are measurable but also realistic. Using ratios and ranges can help with that. Instead of saying you want your product to bring in x amount of revenue per a year, say you want your new product to increase the company’s revenue by 3%–5% by the end of the year. As you gather more data, you may need to adjust this goal up or down, but looking at KPIs that view each product as an individual tool within your businesses’ integrated toolkit can help you keep things in perspective.

It may be tempting to make your KPI’s about those easily measured key items that every business is concerned with — things like revenue and profit — these only indicate part of the picture. It’s also essential to track the things that lead to high sales and profits — things like team motivation and product quality. That way, you are always out ahead of impending issues and can proactively work on issues before they become problems.

If you’re working on choosing the right KPIs, make sure to check out the membership benefits at AFE USA. Our members enjoy a broad range of discounts on services that can help with setting and tracking the most optimized KPIs. For example, AFE USA members get 10% off their monthly membership fees with our partner First American, which offers analytics and reporting, marketing and sales growth coaching sessions, and payment processing. To learn more, visit First American.