The demand gen dashboard: Fifteen metrics, their definitions, their sources and the weekly review
Fifteen metrics in four rows, from spend to revenue, each with its formula, where it comes from and how often to look at it. The dashboard is built for one weekly meeting: what moved, why, and what changes this week. Download the definitions as CSV to build it in your own reporting tool.
- Document
- Template
- Written by
- Take the Market Desk
- Explained in
- Demand Generation Dashboard Template
Template
How to use it
Agree every definition with sales operations and finance before you build anything. The dashboard is only as useful as the trust in its definitions.
Show each metric against its target and its trend over the last eight weeks. A number without a target or a trend cannot start a decision.
The fifteen metrics
| Row | Metric | Formula | Source | Cadence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spend | Program spend | Spend in the period, by channel | Finance or ad platforms | Weekly |
| Spend | Cost per lead | Spend ÷ leads, by channel | Ad platforms and CRM | Weekly |
| Spend | Cost per opportunity | Spend ÷ opportunities created, by channel | CRM | Monthly |
| Volume | Leads | New leads created | CRM | Weekly |
| Volume | MQLs | Leads that crossed the scoring threshold or raised a hand | CRM | Weekly |
| Volume | SQLs | MQLs sales qualified | CRM | Weekly |
| Volume | Opportunities created | New opportunities, by source | CRM | Weekly |
| Conversion | MQL to SQL | SQLs ÷ MQLs from the same cohort | CRM | Monthly |
| Conversion | SQL to opportunity | Opportunities ÷ SQLs from the same cohort | CRM | Monthly |
| Conversion | Win rate | Won value ÷ closed value | CRM | Monthly |
| Conversion | MQL response time | Median hours from MQL to first sales touch | CRM | Weekly |
| Outcome | Pipeline created | Value of opportunities created, by source | CRM | Weekly |
| Outcome | Pipeline coverage | Open pipeline ÷ remaining target | CRM and plan | Weekly |
| Outcome | Pipeline velocity | Opportunities × win rate × deal value ÷ cycle days | CRM | Monthly |
| Outcome | CAC payback | CAC ÷ (contract value ÷ 12 × gross margin) | Finance and CRM | Quarterly |
The weekly review
- Five minutes: what moved
- The metrics more than threshold off target or off trend, read top to bottom.
- Fifteen minutes: why
- For each one, the owner's explanation and the evidence for it.
- Ten minutes: what changes
- Budget moves, tests to start or stop, and the follow-ups each needs, with owners and dates.