What is it? KPIs are critical, measurable indicators that, when reviewed together, help organizations, teams and individuals align and gauge performance against business objectives. KPIs can be set at various levels to ensure that everyone can track progress toward the agreed objectives. 

NOTE: KPI’s are a common term used in the context of business performance measurement. They focus efforts and resources to achieve specific goals at various levels from a whole organization, a team or individual level. For the purposes of UX Lexicon, we have focused on their use in the context of specific research initiatives. KPI’s often operate within, and are confused with, OKRs (aka objectives and key results) framework.

When is it best used? The KPIs you want to measure should be determined at the beginning of an initiative, and should be tied to a business goal. The KPIs should be tracked throughout and reported on at the conclusion of the initiative. Using KPIs in research allows the researcher to articulate the business value of the initiative more clearly. Example KPIs include: increase  customer conversions, decrease subscription churn, improve sales per square foot, reduce customer complaints, etc. 

What does it entail? User research KPIs can be behavioral, representing what users do and how they interact with a product, or attitudinal, representing how users feel or what they say about a product. KPIs are determined based on what the goal of the project is. Examples of KPIs that can be measured: task success rate, time-on-task, user error rate, System Usability Scale (SUS), Net Promoter Score (NPS), Customer Satisfaction (CSAT). 

Interchangeable term: KPI

Use in a sentence: Key Performance Indicators incorporate regular review processes during which managers and other stakeholders assess the meaning of the results.

Related Words: System Usability Scale (SUS), Net Promoter Score (NPS), Customer Satisfaction (CSAT). Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)

Visual: No

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