KPIs for Measuring the Impact of Your CRM Efforts

Every brand needs to measure certain key metrics to understand the health of their business and their customer database. However, knowing where to begin can be a challenge.

Here are five essential KPIs that can help you assess the effectiveness of your CRM efforts and guide your strategy:

1. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is a critical metric that helps you determine how much revenue a customer generates over their entire relationship with your brand. Comparing individual CLV against the average value of your customer base gives you insight into the long-term value of your most loyal customers. This metric becomes even more valuable when combined with marketing channel data, such as comparing the value of email subscribers to non-subscribers.

By understanding CLV, you can optimise your marketing efforts to focus on high-value customers and tailor your strategy accordingly.

2. Purchase Frequency

The frequency with which a customer purchases varies across industries, but understanding this data is crucial. Knowing how often a customer typically buys can help you pinpoint when they are likely due for another purchase. This allows you to time your marketing efforts to encourage an additional conversion before they churn. By tracking purchase frequency, you can identify the right moment to target customers with personalised campaigns that drive repeat business and build long-term loyalty. This emphasises how crucial it is to also establish a unified customer view to accurately measure the true frequency of interactions across all channels.

3. True Database Growth

Focusing solely on the number of new subscribers can be misleading. True database growth also involves tracking unsubscribes and ensuring that your customer database grows and remains engaged. By regularly monitoring both new sign-ups and unsubscribes, you can avoid losing sight of the bigger picture. If your unsubscribe rate is high (generally an unsubscribe rate over 0.1% is considered “high”), it might indicate that your messaging frequency is too high or your content isn't resonating with your audience. Addressing this issue early helps prevent future churn and supports sustainable growth over time.

4. Revenue per Email/SMS Delivered

Revenue per email or SMS delivered is an excellent metric to evaluate the performance of individual campaigns. It's easy to get caught up in total revenue numbers, but this doesn't always give you an accurate picture of how each campaign performed, especially when considering fluctuating database sizes or changes in send volume. By tracking revenue per send, you can assess the effectiveness of each campaign and determine whether your emails or SMS messages are directly driving sales. This focused metric provides a clearer view of campaign-specific performance, allowing you to fine-tune your messaging and improve results.

5. Click Through Rate (CTR)

Click-through rates (CTR) offer valuable insight into how well your communications resonate with your audience. A high CTR indicates that your customers are interested in your messages, while a low CTR could signal a disconnect between your content and what your audience wants. Engagement metrics such as this allow you to evaluate the effectiveness of your messaging, content, and offers, helping you optimise future campaigns. Remember, engagement is just as important as sales—it reflects the relevance of your communications and how well they drive interest in your brand.

For insight on what is considered a “low” click through rate, feel free to reach out to amelia.clarkson@thisisnovos.com as this varies by industry.

Conclusion

KPIs are essential tools that provide businesses with valuable insights into the effectiveness of their CRM initiatives. By measuring key metrics, you can better understand customer behaviour and optimise your marketing strategy. Regularly tracking these KPIs helps you gauge the health of your CRM efforts and enables you to make data-driven decisions that improve customer retention, drive sales, and promote sustainable growth.