Marketing OKR Examples: Metrics and Sample OKR Sets to Start From
OKR examples by department
Marketing OKR Examples: Metrics and Sample OKR Sets to Start From
These marketing OKR examples give you two things to work from: a full list of the metrics marketing teams track, and nine complete OKR sets built from them. Every Key Result follows the same formula, with an action verb, the metric, a starting value, a target and a deadline. The values are written as X and Y, because a target that suits a ten-person startup would mislead a marketing team of fifty. Fill them in from your own data.
The short answer
What makes a good marketing OKR?
A good marketing OKR names a change the business needs, such as more sales conversations with the right buyers, and measures it with outcomes. “Publish 12 blog posts” counts the work. “Increase new subscribers from the blog from X to Y per week by the end of Q4” measures what the work was meant to cause.
Every Key Result is written the same way:
- Start with an action verb, such as increase, reduce, raise, grow or achieve.
- Name the metric you’re moving.
- Give the starting value and the target, written as from X to Y.
- Set the deadline, such as the end of the quarter.
Step 1: pick your numbers
Marketing metrics to build your Key Results from
These are the numbers marketing teams track, and the raw material for every one of the marketing OKR examples further down. They’re grouped by the part of the funnel they measure. None of them is a Key Result yet. Choose the few that show the change your Objective is about, then write each one with the formula above.
Demand and pipeline
- Marketing-qualified leads
- Sales-accepted leads
- Sales-qualified leads
- Inbound demo or meeting requests
- Pipeline value sourced by marketing
- Share of new pipeline from marketing
- Marketing-sourced revenue
Conversion
- Website visitor to lead rate
- Landing page conversion rate
- Lead to opportunity rate
- Win rate on marketing-sourced deals
- Demo request to meeting held rate
- Trial sign-up to activated user rate
- Time from lead to first reply
Brand and reach
- Branded search volume
- Direct website visits
- Share of voice against named competitors
- Unaided brand recall among target buyers
- Visitors from target accounts
- Earned media mentions
Content and search
- Organic visits
- Organic visits to product and pricing pages
- New subscribers from the blog
- Returning readers
- Rankings for target topics
- Pages cited in AI search answers
- Conversions that started with content
Social (organic)
- Followers in target job roles
- Comments and replies
- Saves and shares
- Clicks to the website
- Sales that started on social
- Share of positive reactions
Email and lifecycle
- Subscriber growth after unsubscribes
- Open rate
- Click-through rate
- Customers who activate after onboarding emails
- Repeat purchase rate
- Referral sign-ups
Paid media
- Cost per click
- Cost per lead
- Cost per qualified lead
- Ad click-through rate
- Return on ad spend
- Conversion rate from paid traffic
Efficiency and revenue
- Customer acquisition cost
- Payback period on acquisition cost
- Revenue sourced per marketing dollar
- Customer lifetime value to acquisition cost
- Marketing spend as a share of revenue
Some of these are health metrics you protect and hold steady, such as unsubscribe rate, spam complaints, email deliverability and the cost per lead your budget can bear. Keep them inside a set range while the OKRs push elsewhere. If one starts slipping, it becomes a candidate for its own OKR.
Step 2: write the Key Result
How to turn a marketing metric into a Key Result
The standard form covers almost every Key Result. There are two more for the moments when a number isn’t available yet. Here’s one of each, written for a marketing team:
- Standard Key Result. Increase new subscribers from the blog from X to Y per week by the end of Q4.
- Baseline Key Result, for a metric you’ve never measured. Determine the current visitor to demo request rate by the end of Q1. Next cycle, it becomes “Increase the visitor to demo request rate from X% to Y% by the end of Q2.”
- Milestone Key Result, used sparingly when there’s no metric to track yet. Complete conversion tracking on every paid channel by the end of week six.
Then run the outcome test: if the team could finish all the work and the number might still not move, the Key Result measures activity. Rewrite it around what the work was meant to cause. The OKR examples hub walks through the full method, from brainstorming Objectives to prioritizing them, and Google’s guide to tracking conversions in Analytics helps you find your starting values.
Step 3: start from a sample
Nine marketing OKR examples to adapt
Each of these marketing OKR examples has a qualitative Objective and three Key Results written in full. Several pair numbers so one can’t be hit by breaking another. Treat them as patterns, and swap in your own product, buyers and starting values.
ObjectiveGive sales a steady flow of conversations with the buyers we serve best
- Increase sales-accepted leads from marketing from X to Y per month by the end of the quarter
- Raise the lead to opportunity rate from X% to Y% by the end of the quarter
- Grow the share of new pipeline sourced by marketing from X% to Y% by the end of Q4
ObjectiveMake our website turn the right visitors into sales conversations
- Increase the visitor to demo request rate from X% to Y% by the end of the quarter
- Raise the demo request to meeting held rate from X% to Y% by the end of the quarter
- Reduce the median time from demo request to first reply from X hours to Y hours by the end of the quarter
ObjectiveBuild an audience that trusts us on [topic]
- Increase new subscribers from the blog from X to Y per week by the end of Q4
- Grow returning readers from X to Y per month by the end of Q4
- Increase newsletter subscribers in target job roles from X to Y by the end of Q4
ObjectiveReduce our dependence on a single paid channel
- Increase the share of new leads from channels other than [channel] from X% to Y% by the end of the quarter
- Lower the blended cost per qualified lead from X to Y by the end of the quarter
- Hold qualified leads at or above X per month through the end of the quarter
ObjectiveMake [new product] the first name buyers in [segment] think of
- Grow monthly branded searches for [new product] from X to Y by the end of Q4
- Raise unaided recall among [segment] buyers from X% to Y% by the end of Q4
- Increase pipeline value for [new product] from X to Y by the end of Q4
ObjectiveMake our marketing spend pay for itself faster
- Reduce the payback period on acquisition cost from X to Y months by the end of the quarter
- Lower customer acquisition cost from X to Y by the end of the quarter
- Increase revenue sourced per marketing dollar from X to Y by the end of the quarter
ObjectiveHelp new customers reach their first win sooner
- Increase the share of new customers who activate within 30 days from X% to Y% by the end of the quarter
- Raise the click-through rate on onboarding emails from X% to Y% by the end of the quarter
- Reduce cancellations in the first 90 days from X% to Y% by the end of the quarter
ObjectiveTurn happy customers into our next customers
- Increase referral sign-ups from X to Y per month by the end of Q4
- Grow the share of new customers who came from a referral from X% to Y% by the end of Q4
- Raise the share of customers who would recommend us from X% to Y% by the end of Q4
ObjectiveKnow which channels bring our most valuable customers
- Determine the current revenue per customer for each acquisition channel by the end of Q1
- Complete source tracking on every paid and organic channel by the end of week six
- Increase the share of new leads with a known source from X% to Y% by the end of the quarter
The last example mixes a baseline Key Result, a milestone Key Result and a standard one. That combination suits a team measuring something for the first time. Next cycle, the baseline turns into a standard “from X to Y” Key Result.
See it in context
Where these OKRs come from
The marketing OKR examples above leave out which part of the strategy each one serves, because that depends on your company. Our sample business profile shows the full picture for one made-up company: its strategic priorities, its SWOT, and the linked OKRs for every department.
More idea banks
OKR examples for other departments
Marketing OKR examples are more useful next to the goals of the teams you work with. The sales and customer success pages are a good place to look for shared goals, and the SEO starter guide from Google explains the search metrics in the list above.
- Sales OKR examplesPipeline, win rate, deal size and sales cycle metrics and OKRs.
- Customer success OKR examplesOnboarding, adoption, retention and expansion metrics and OKRs.
- Product OKR examplesAdoption, activation, discovery and value metrics and OKRs.
- Operations OKR examplesThroughput, cost, quality and process metrics and OKRs.
Frequently asked questions
How many OKRs should a marketing team set?
One to four Objectives per cycle, each with two to five Key Results. A marketing team focused on one Objective, such as filling the pipeline with the right buyers, has room to finish it well.
How do you write a marketing Key Result?
Start with an action verb, name the metric, give the starting value and the target, and set a deadline. For example: “Increase new subscribers from the blog from X to Y per week by the end of Q4.”
Is the number of leads a good Key Result?
On its own it’s easy to inflate with low-quality leads. Pair it with a quality measure, such as the share of leads that sales accepts or the lead to opportunity rate, so the team only wins by bringing in leads that turn into business.
What is the difference between marketing KPIs and marketing OKRs?
Marketing KPIs are the numbers you watch every month to know things are healthy, such as cost per lead or unsubscribe rate. Your marketing OKRs name the few things you’re trying to change this cycle. Our guide on KPIs vs OKRs goes deeper.
Can I use these marketing OKR examples as they are?
Use them as a starting point. Keep the structure, then swap in your own product, buyers and segment, and set every X from your own data before the team agrees on Y.
Bring your marketing OKRs into one weekly rhythm
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