Struggling to track performance across multiple marketing channels? Multi-channel KPI dashboards simplify this by consolidating data from platforms like social media, email, and paid ads into one place. Here’s what you need to know:
- Why it matters: Consumers interact with brands across 20+ channels before purchasing. Dashboards help track and optimize these touchpoints.
- Key benefits: Instant insights, better decisions, and streamlined reporting. Businesses using dashboards see up to a 24% revenue growth.
- How to build one:
- Define its purpose and align it with business goals.
- Choose actionable KPIs (like ROI, CAC, or conversion rates).
- Use clean design, tailored views, and interactive features.
- Automate updates and regularly refine based on feedback.
Start by focusing on the metrics that drive results and design dashboards that are easy for teams to use. Keep them updated and relevant to ensure they remain a powerful decision-making tool.
Building a Multi-Channel Dashboard in Looker Studio: The Dos and the Don’ts
Define Your Dashboard Purpose and Target Users
To create a truly effective dashboard, start by clarifying its main purpose and identifying the target users. This step is crucial because it shapes everything – from which KPIs to include to how data is displayed on the screen.
According to The KPI Institute, 68% of respondents reported noticeable improvements in business performance after implementing a performance strategy focused on KPIs. However, dashboards only succeed when they align with specific business goals.
Match Dashboard Goals with Business Goals
A dashboard should do more than just display raw data – it must provide answers to critical business questions. Start by pinpointing key objectives like ROI, customer acquisition costs, or channel performance metrics.
- Strategic dashboards emphasize growth and long-term goals.
- Operational dashboards focus on daily tasks, such as tracking sales team activity.
- Analytics dashboards dig into trends and deeper investigations.
Understanding the type of dashboard you need will help you focus on the metrics that matter most. For example, if your goal is to evaluate which marketing channels drive the most qualified leads, you might track social media engagement, email open rates, and paid ad performance. This approach ensures you’re aligning KPIs with broader business objectives rather than drowning in unnecessary data.
Interestingly, 78% of leaders admit to making decisions before consulting data. A well-designed dashboard can reverse this trend by presenting actionable insights upfront, enabling better decision-making.
To define success, involve relevant departments. For instance, bridge marketing’s focus on generating leads with sales’ focus on closing deals and improving conversion rates. This collaboration ensures the dashboard serves multiple perspectives effectively.
Know What Each User Type Needs
Different users have different expectations from a dashboard. Tailoring the information to their roles is essential for creating a tool that delivers real value.
"Effective identification of dashboard requirements is essential for creating a valuable and impactful tool. Without a clear understanding of what is needed, it is easy to get lost in the sea of data and lose sight of the big picture."
- Will Yang, Instrumentl
Organizations with well-designed dashboards are twice as likely to improve decision-making capabilities and see a 24% increase in revenue growth. This success hinges on customizing dashboards to meet specific user needs rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all approach.
Here’s how different roles interact with dashboards:
- Executives need high-level summaries. They want answers to questions like "Are we meeting growth targets?" or "Which channels provide the best ROI?" Their dashboards should highlight revenue trends, customer acquisition costs, and overall campaign performance in a visually straightforward way.
- Marketing managers require more granular insights. They focus on campaign performance, such as which ads, email subject lines, or social media posts drive engagement. Their dashboards should include conversion funnels, channel comparisons, and budget effectiveness metrics.
- Specialists and analysts need detailed data for in-depth analysis. Their tools should allow for drill-downs, historical comparisons, and trend identification to troubleshoot issues or discover new opportunities.
Tailoring dashboards to these specific needs avoids common mistakes, like overwhelming executives with too much detail or leaving analysts without sufficient data. In fact, 70% of top-performing companies say effective data visualization is critical for sharing insights internally. But the key is ensuring those visualizations are designed for the right audience.
Before finalizing your KPIs, consult your team to ensure clarity and relevance. If a KPI doesn’t directly support decision-making, it’s better to replace it with one that does. Aligning the dashboard’s purpose with the needs of its users lays the groundwork for meaningful insights and better outcomes.
Choose the Right Cross-Channel KPIs
Selecting the right KPIs can make or break the effectiveness of your dashboard. With consumers engaging across multiple channels before making a purchase, tracking every single interaction can quickly become overwhelming. The best dashboards focus on a handful of metrics that directly inform business decisions.
Interestingly, only 23% of marketers feel confident they’re tracking the right KPIs. This lack of confidence often stems from monitoring too many metrics or relying on vanity numbers that may look impressive but fail to guide strategy. To avoid this pitfall, it’s essential to establish strict criteria for your KPIs so they remain actionable and relevant.
Pick Quality Metrics Over Quantity
Keep your dashboard focused by limiting it to 4–5 key metrics per individual or team. Each metric should be quantifiable, easy to interpret, and actionable. This approach forces you to prioritize the data that truly matters, avoiding the kind of information overload that can stall decision-making.
For example, while "brand awareness" might sound like a useful metric, it’s often too vague to measure or act upon effectively. If a metric doesn’t meet all three criteria, it doesn’t deserve a spot on your dashboard.
Harvard Business School Professor Sunil Gupta highlights the importance of tracking more than just the final result:
"It isn’t enough to measure the final outcome alone. You also need to track these intermediate metrics to understand where consumers might be getting stuck – essentially bottlenecks in the marketing funnel."
This advice underscores the need to cover the entire customer journey with your KPIs, not just the end results. A mid-sized B2B software company provides a great example of this. They implemented a KPI framework that focused on Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs), Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs), Marketing-Attributed Revenue, and Customer Acquisition Cost. Within six months, they saw a 43% rise in MQLs, a 28% boost in MQL-to-SQL conversion rates, a 35% drop in acquisition costs, and a 22% increase in marketing-attributed revenue.
Your KPIs should also reflect the bulk of your team’s responsibilities – covering at least 80% of their work. Avoid overlapping metrics between teams to ensure clarity in performance tracking.
To make your KPIs effective, follow the SMART framework: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. This helps shift from vague goals like "improve customer satisfaction" to more actionable targets, such as "increase Net Promoter Score from 7.2 to 8.0 by Q4 2025."
Core Metrics to Track
Once you’ve narrowed down your KPIs, focus on a balanced mix of metrics that reflect volume, quality, value, and cost – often referred to as the VQVC framework. This ensures you’re assessing both the effectiveness and efficiency of your marketing efforts.
Conversion metrics are essential for any multi-channel dashboard. Track conversion rates at various stages of the funnel, from initial engagement to final purchase. Include micro-conversions, like email sign-ups or demo requests, to capture the full customer journey.
Attribution data is another must. It helps you identify which channels are driving conversions, which is crucial when customers interact with multiple touchpoints before completing a purchase. For example, the industry-standard ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) for paid search ads is 2.87:1, providing a solid benchmark for evaluating performance.
Engagement metrics reveal how well your content resonates across channels. Be mindful of the difference between vanity metrics and meaningful engagement. For instance, impressions show how many times users see your content (including repeat views), while reach measures the number of unique users who see it. Choose the metric that aligns best with your campaign goals.
Cost efficiency metrics help you allocate your budget wisely. Metrics like Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) work together to gauge profitability. While CLV represents the total revenue a customer generates over their lifetime, Average Customer Value focuses on revenue within a specific timeframe.
Lastly, cross-channel comparison metrics allow for fair evaluation of different marketing channels. Since each channel plays a unique role in the customer journey, create normalized metrics to account for these differences. For example, social media might excel at building awareness, while email marketing drives direct conversions.
Your KPIs should always tie back to your broader business strategy. Take Microsoft as an example: during its digital transformation, the company set KPIs for its sales teams focused on cloud service adoption and customer satisfaction with digital tools. This alignment directly contributed to the growth of Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform.
Choose metrics that can be consistently pulled from your existing data systems and ensure they align with your long-term business goals. Set benchmarks for each KPI to define success and identify areas for improvement. Regularly review and adjust these metrics based on data analysis to keep them aligned with your evolving business needs. Once your KPIs are in place, the next step is designing a dashboard that clearly presents these insights.
Dashboard Design Best Practices
Once you’ve selected your KPIs, the next step is crafting a dashboard that transforms raw data into insights people can actually use. The way you design your dashboard can either empower decision-making or leave users feeling lost. A clean, intuitive layout ensures your data drives action, while a cluttered one risks being ignored. Thoughtful design choices – like what to highlight and how to arrange it – are key to creating a tool that works.
Organize Information in a Logical Way
How you arrange data on your dashboard directly affects how quickly users can find what they need. Start by placing the most critical metrics in the top-left corner – this is where users’ eyes naturally go first. Use visual elements like spacing and borders to group related data points together. This makes it easier for users to see connections between metrics and navigate the dashboard seamlessly.
Consider tailoring separate views for different needs – strategic, operational, or analytical. Each type of dashboard serves a unique purpose and should reflect that in its design.
Adding customizable filters is another way to keep things organized. Allow users to filter data by date ranges, teams, regions, or channels. This personalization ensures every user gets a view that aligns with their role and priorities.
Consistency is key. Stick to uniform formatting for fonts, colors, and layouts. A consistent design reduces mental effort and makes information easier to digest.
A well-organized layout isn’t just visually appealing – it lays the foundation for a dashboard that’s practical and user-friendly.
Keep the Design Clean and Easy to Use
Clutter is the enemy of usability. Strip away any unnecessary elements and use plenty of whitespace to make the dashboard more readable. Choose a simple color palette that complements the data rather than competing with it. Save bright colors for things that need attention, like alerts or calls-to-action.
Typography plays a big role in usability. Choose fonts that are easy to read and use size and weight variations to establish hierarchy. For instance, headers should stand out clearly from body text, and all text should be legible across different screen sizes.
Your dashboard should also function smoothly across devices. Use flexible grid systems and relative units so elements can resize and rearrange dynamically. Set breakpoints to ensure the layout adapts to various screen widths, whether users are on desktops, tablets, or smartphones.
Add Interactive Features
Once your static layout is polished, interactivity can take your dashboard to the next level. Static dashboards are great for reporting, but interactive ones turn data into a powerful tool for analysis. Add features like drill-down paths so users can explore data in greater detail without overwhelming the main view.
For example, a user might click on a conversion rate metric to see a breakdown by channel, time period, or customer segment. This type of interactivity is especially useful for multi-channel dashboards, where users need to dive deeper into specific data points.
YouTube Studio is a great example of this approach. It shows basic stats upfront while offering detailed breakdowns through an interactive sidebar.
Interactive filters and controls let users focus on the data that matters most to them. Add hover states, tooltips, and expandable sections to provide extra context without cluttering the main interface. For instance, hovering over a data point could reveal comparisons to previous periods or benchmarks.
Finally, include comparison tools that allow users to view data side-by-side – whether it’s across time periods, channels, or segments. This feature is particularly helpful for analyzing performance in multi-channel environments, where understanding relative trends is crucial for making informed decisions.
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Use Effective Data Visualizations
A clean, interactive design is just the beginning – effective visualizations are what truly deliver quick and meaningful insights. The way data is presented can make or break a dashboard. Here’s why: people process visual information 60,000 times faster than text, and 90% of the information processed by the brain is visual. This means that your choice of charts and visual elements plays a huge role in how quickly users can understand and act on multi-channel performance data.
The starting point for effective visualizations is simple: ask yourself, What do I need to show?
"When deciding which chart to use, you should always start with the most important question: What do I want to show to my users?"
Answering this question helps transform complex data into clear, actionable insights that lead to smarter decisions. Once you’ve nailed down the key takeaway, the next step is selecting the right chart types and color schemes to make those insights pop.
Match Each Metric to the Right Chart Type
Did you know that seven use cases cover nearly all data visualization needs? The key is matching your metrics to the right type of chart:
- Bar or column charts: Perfect for comparing performance across channels. For example, use them to see which social platform drives the most conversions or to compare email open rates against SMS engagement. The bar lengths make differences easy to spot.
- Line charts: Ideal for tracking changes over time, like fluctuations in website traffic over a month or cost-per-acquisition trends across quarters. If you want to emphasize cumulative effects, area charts are a great alternative.
- Pie or donut charts: Great for showing how different channels contribute to total results, but keep it simple – stick to two or three categories. Donut charts are often easier to read than pie charts, making them a better choice for breaking down channel contributions.
- Scatter plots and bubble charts: Use these to explore relationships between metrics. For instance, they can reveal how ad spend correlates with revenue or how engagement rates align with conversion rates.
- Tables: Sometimes, precision matters more than visuals. Tables are perfect for detailed breakdowns, like campaign performance metrics, where users need exact numbers or side-by-side comparisons.
A practical example? Multi-channel PPC dashboards often combine several visualization types: scorecards for key performance indicators, single-line charts for spend trends, multiple-line charts for impressions and clicks, donut charts for clicks by source, and heatmaps to summarize channel performance.
Use Color Codes to Show Performance Status
Once you’ve chosen the right visuals, color codes can help users instantly grasp performance levels. Consistency is key – colors should mean the same thing across your entire dashboard.
- Red: Signals critical issues that need immediate attention.
- Orange and yellow: Indicate tasks nearing deadlines, projects approaching budget limits, or rising risks.
- Green: Represents good performance or metrics that are on track.
- Blue: Conveys trust and stability, making it ideal for neutral or steady metrics.
To make critical data stand out, use saturated colors, creating a natural hierarchy that draws the eye to urgent issues first.
Accessibility is another crucial factor. Around four percent of the population experiences color blindness, so avoid problematic combinations like red and green. Also, ensure high contrast between text and background colors to improve readability.
Ultimately, your color choices should support the story your data tells. By making it clear which metrics need attention and which are performing well, you’ll help users make faster, more accurate decisions across all channels.
Automate and Keep Improving Your Dashboard
Creating a visually appealing and well-structured dashboard is just the beginning. To keep it useful and relevant, you’ll need to focus on automation, benchmarking, and incorporating user feedback. Without these steps, even the most carefully designed dashboards can quickly lose their value.
Set Up Automatic Data Updates
Relying on manual data entry can lead to costly errors – up to $15 million annually. That’s why automating data updates is so crucial. Real-time or scheduled updates ensure your dashboard remains accurate and up-to-date . When your team knows the data is reliable, they can make faster, more informed decisions. Plus, automation saves time by reducing the need for manual input, which minimizes errors.
Tools like Power BI and Google Data Studio are excellent choices for integrating data from multiple sources. Once you’ve chosen a platform, set up automation scripts or schedules to ensure your data flows smoothly and updates regularly.
"Real-time dashboards are great for those more savvy business owners or decision-makers who understand the need to look longitudinally at their marketing investment. The transparency always helps to strengthen long-term relationships."
– Bodie Czeladka, Creative & Managing Director at Dilate Digital
To maintain accuracy, regularly review your data connections and set alerts for anomalies. For example, a hospital group in Northwest England uses an Executive KPI dashboard with real-time data to track progress on key goals and enhance both clinical and operational outcomes. Similarly, a police force relies on an Operational KPI dashboard to monitor crime, track reports, and review incidents daily.
Once your dashboard is running with automated updates, the next step is adding benchmarks to provide context.
Include Benchmarks for Context
Automated data updates are essential, but raw numbers alone don’t tell the full story. Benchmarks provide the context needed to interpret those numbers. Whether it’s comparing performance against targets, historical data, or industry standards, these comparisons turn data into actionable insights.
Historical data, for instance, helps identify the reasons behind fluctuations and track long-term trends. By including comparisons to goals or past performance, you allow users to see whether things are on track.
Dashboards that include benchmarks don’t just show where you are – they help illustrate where you’re heading. Trend indicators can highlight directional changes, while visualizations like relationship graphs can show how different metrics influence one another. Hierarchical views also enable users to drill down into specific details from high-level summaries.
In May 2024, Rittman Analytics delivered a detailed report for senior management, using Looker Studio Pro to integrate KPIs from across the business. Their dashboard compared 36 months of historical data against targets, month-over-month performance, quarter-to-date stats, and even year-over-year trends. It also analyzed related KPIs, identifying trends and correlations among metrics.
Make Changes Based on User Feedback
Your dashboard users interact with the data regularly, making them the best resource for identifying improvements. The key is to collect their feedback systematically and act on it.
"Ask the right questions at the right stage of the user journey to make unsolicited customer feedback purposeful and actionable."
– Emilia Korczynska, VP of Marketing at Userpilot
Clearly define the purpose of your dashboard and seek specific feedback on things like data presentation or design choices. Centralize and tag this feedback to identify patterns and prioritize updates that align with your business goals.
"If feedback isn’t centralized, it’s lost. And with it, you lose the opportunity to understand and solve customer problems."
– Valentin Hunag, CEO at Harvestr.io
For example, Dealfront embedded a customer feedback widget into its interface using Userpilot. This allowed users to report data inaccuracies through a quick two-question survey, helping the team address issues efficiently and build trust.
"To increase survey responses, we’ve also outlined clearly how the responses will impact product development."
– Meagan Glenn, Senior Program Manager at Lavender
Encourage ongoing feedback by providing space for comments and allowing users to share candid thoughts. Ask specific, targeted questions and follow up with "why" to get more detailed responses. Most importantly, be open to feedback without becoming defensive.
Organizations that actively involve employees in dashboard development see performance improvements of up to 30 percent.
Key Takeaways
Building an effective multi-channel KPI dashboard is about balancing technical accuracy with user-friendly design. Start by clearly defining your dashboard’s purpose. When its goals align seamlessly with your business objectives, teams can make quicker, more informed decisions that lead to measurable results.
Once the purpose is clear, focus on selecting the right metrics. Prioritize quality over quantity – stick to key performance indicators (KPIs) that truly represent progress and performance. Usability hinges on thoughtful design. A clean layout paired with interactive features can significantly boost engagement. For instance, after adding interactive dashboard elements, Asana reported a 25% increase in daily active users. Matching metrics to the right chart types and using consistent color schemes also helps users grasp performance insights at a glance.
Operational efficiency is just as important. Automating updates and benchmarking data transforms raw numbers into actionable insights, saving time and streamlining processes.
Finally, treat your dashboard as a living tool. Regular updates based on user feedback ensure it stays relevant and aligned with ever-changing business needs.
For businesses aiming to create or refine KPI dashboards, Growth-onomics offers expert support in data analytics and performance marketing. Their tailored strategies help companies design dashboards that align with growth goals and deliver insights across all marketing channels.
FAQs
How can businesses keep their multi-channel KPI dashboards aligned with changing goals?
Keeping Multi-Channel KPI Dashboards Aligned with Business Goals
To ensure your KPI dashboards stay useful and in sync with your business objectives, it’s crucial to review and adjust them regularly. As strategies and market conditions shift, your dashboards should evolve too, keeping them both relevant and actionable.
Bring together key stakeholders from various departments to pinpoint the metrics that matter most. This collaborative approach ensures that everyone is on the same page and working toward shared goals. Leveraging dynamic dashboards with real-time data makes it easier to monitor progress, respond to changes swiftly, and make well-informed decisions.
When businesses commit to frequent updates and cross-departmental collaboration, their dashboards become powerful tools for delivering accurate insights that fuel growth and success.
What should I watch out for when choosing KPIs for a multi-channel dashboard?
When picking KPIs for a multi-channel dashboard, it’s crucial to sidestep a few common pitfalls that could skew your insights. First, avoid using outdated or lagging data. Decisions based on stale information can lead to misguided strategies. Instead, aim for real-time or frequently updated data to keep your dashboard relevant and reflective of current performance.
Second, don’t rely on unclear attribution methods. If you lack a solid approach to link results back to specific channels, it becomes nearly impossible to pinpoint what’s driving changes in performance.
Lastly, make sure your KPIs are directly tied to your business goals. Tracking metrics that don’t align with your objectives can create an illusion of success without delivering real value. Always evaluate KPIs in the right context – whether it’s over specific time periods, against industry standards, or compared to competitors – to ensure you’re drawing actionable conclusions.
By avoiding these missteps, you can build a dashboard that provides clear, reliable, and actionable insights to guide smarter decisions.
What are the best ways to gather and use user feedback to improve KPI dashboards?
To make KPI dashboards more effective, it’s essential to involve users throughout the design and improvement process. Begin by collecting input from stakeholders through surveys, interviews, or workshops. This ensures the metrics displayed on the dashboard align with their priorities and objectives. Continuously seek feedback to refine and adjust the dashboard, keeping it relevant and easy to use.
You can also leverage analytics tools to monitor how users interact with the dashboard. This quantitative data complements qualitative feedback, offering a clearer picture of what works and what doesn’t. By maintaining this cycle of feedback and updates, organizations can build dashboards that provide actionable insights and evolve with shifting business needs.
