60 Examples of Performance Metrics

John Spacey, updated on November 10, 2023

Performance metrics are indicators of the value produced by a business, program, team or individual. The following are common examples.

Absenteeism rate	Average handle time
Budget variance	Call abandonment rate
Conversion rate	Cost per ___
Cost reduction	Cross-sell rate
Customer acquisition cost	Customer churn rate
Customer complaints	Customer effort score
Customer loyalty	Customer retention rate
Customer reviews	Customer satisfaction
Defect density	Defect rate
Employee satisfaction	Employee turnover rate
Error rate	Escalation rate
First contact resolution	First response time
Goal achievement	Gross margins
Incident rate	Incident resolution time
Incident response time	Inventory turnover
Net profit margin	Net promoter score
Non-conformance rate	On-time delivery
Output per hour	Productivity rate
Project success rate	Reject rate
Reliability rate	Resolution rate
Resource efficiency	Response time
Return on assets	Return on investment
Process cycle time	Revenue
Revenue growth	Revenue per employee
Schedule variance	Scrap rate
Service level adherence	Service usage
Stakeholder satisfaction	Time spent on ___
Upselling rate	Utilization rate
Visitors	Win rate
Work accuracy	Work quality

Return on Capital Employed

The ratio of profits to the total amount of capital invested to achieve those profits. A fundamental indicator of the performance of a firm.

Revenue Per Employee

The total revenue of a firm divided by the number of employees. A basic indicator of productivity. Often used as a benchmark to see if you are over or under staffed as compared to other firms in your industry.

Cost Effectiveness

The cost per outcome achieved by an organization. For example, a non-profit organization that seeks to reduce microplastics in the ocean may calculate the cost per ton of reduction for both prevention and clean up programs.

Productivity

The amount of output per hour of work. A basic measure of employee performance. For example, a software development team might measure story points per month per developer.

Efficiency

The amount of output per unit of input. For example, a farm that measures the number of apples produced per acre of land.

Waste

The amount of waste per unit of output. For example, a supermarket that tracks the percentage of food products that expire before being sold.

Turnaround Time

The average time it takes to compete an activity. For example, the time it takes to resolve customer inquiries.

Volume

Volume metrics such as the number of sales deals closed in a month per sales person.

Quality

Quality metrics such as customer perceptions of your brand.

Budget Variance

The amount that you are over or under budget. Expressed as a percentage of the budget.

Schedule Variance

The amount that you are late or early to deliver to commitments. Expressed as a percentage of total scheduled time.

Defect Density

The number of defects per output. For example, software development teams may measure defects per thousand lines of code and factories may measure defects per thousand units.

Customer Satisfaction

Measuring performance from the customer perspective by asking them how satisfied they are with products or services. A common way to measure the performance of frontline employees.

Return on Investment

The contributions to profits generated by an investment such as a project or business purchase. Expressed as a percentage of the investment.

New Revenue Rate

The percentage of your revenue that is generated by new products. A way to measure innovation and expenditure on research & development. Requires a definition of "new product" that differs by industry.