OKR Examples

Company Level OKR

Objective: Become No. 1 brand in Enterprise goals management market by 2020

Key results:

1. Brand perception value is at least 0.7 basis points over the closest competitor
2. Buyer personas from at least 8 fortune 500 companies recommend our product
3. Increase brand visibility in the SMB segment from 64% to above 80%

Discussion:

The objective here is very specific and has a longer duration. It can be modified to suit other products and services that companies want to become no. 1 by any time period, preferably long term.

To become the no. 1 brand in Enterprise goals management market by 2020, you need to consider various aspects and then measure whether if the objective has been achieved. Here, we are measuring the outcome against the brand’s competitors, buyer personas as well as by its rise in visibility in the SMB segment. If you consider only 1 or 2 of these aspects, it would be difficult to determine if you really did manage to achieve your end goals.

Team Level OKRs

Objective 1: Become No. 1 standalone goals management product by 2020

Key results:

1. Number of MQLs increased by 1500 per month
2. Revenue increased at CAGR of 42% every quarter
3. Increase market reach by 35%

Discussion:

While this objective is same as the overall company level objective for marketing, you will notice these key results are highly different. The outcome expected here is more tactical in nature and set for a shorter durations. By measuring these short term goals effectively, the management is better equipped to determine if they are on the right track for the long term.

If you look at the KRs closely, there is quite a bit of room to collaborate cross-functionally with Sales & Customer success teams.

Objective 2: Increase market reach by 35% by Q4 2017-18

Key results:

1. 2nd largest distributor network in Q2 2017-18 growing at 15% per month
2. Voted most popular product across 5 leading publications

Discussion:

This team’s objective is a classic case of how one level’s key results can be the next level’s objective. According to Rick Klau, this does seem one way of cascading the goals to the lowest level in the hierarchy. However, it does not have to be so every time. You could align your goals to other teams and individuals goals or to the company goal and ensure everyone works together in one direction.

Objective 3: Increase visibility of product by 35% by Q4 2017-18

Key results:

1. Participation in 4 Nationwide conventions, 150 prospects data collected on average per event
2. 1 contest conducted each quarter where winner is awarded free product for lifetime

Discussion:

If the first key result only mentioned, “Participate in 4 Nationwide conventions” it would be a simple matter of measuring how many conventions were attended during that period. Adding the second part about collecting data from 150 prospects makes sure not only were these were you present at the convention but you also managed to gain valuable data that can further utilized by the sales team.

Objective 4: Increase brand recognition by 35% by Q4 2017-18

Key results:

1. Product reviewed positively by 10 industry Influencers per month
2. Top 3 most visited booth at 4 trade exhibitions in 2017
3. 35% of website traffic received through weekly newsletter

Discussion:

While the first 2 KRs do indicate that the prospects recognize the brand and want to know more about it, the last one does not provide sufficient details. Those who navigate to the company website after going through the newsletter, may not necessarily recognize the brand. They may have been enticed by the CTAs or the content may appeal to one or more of their needs. In this case, this is an insufficient KR and needs to be replaced with something appropriate or eliminated entirely.

Objective 5: Leverage product feature that is ranked most popular in the market

Key results:

1. Conduct 2 surveys online every 15 days for 3 months
2. Heat map of website shows 60% visitors focus on primary feature of product and remaining on secondary features
3. Feedback received from customers indicate product’s primary feature provides 2x more value

Discussion:

The second and third KR are clearly articulated and can help to identify whether the objective has been achieved. However the first KR needs to reflect what is to be achieved. For example, it could be more accurate if it said, “Conduct 2 surveys online every 15 days for 3 months and compare results to monitor any change in preferences”

Objective 6: Increase website engagement by 70% Q4 2017-18

Key results:

1. Daily 75000+ page views
2. Average session on website more than 2 minutes 30 seconds
3. 9000+ submitting form on Landing Page

Individual Level OKRs

Objective 1: Increase reach of all social media channels by Q3 2017-18

Key results:

1. Number of followers increased by 35% in Q3 2017-18
2. #Productfeature consistently ranked as top hashtag among competitors
3. 120+ comments on every LinkedIn post/article/group conversation

Objective 2: Write engaging blogs about product and topics related to goals management

Key results:

1. Number of blog subscribers increased by 35%
2. Featured as most popular blog in product category
3. On average 4000+ shares on every piece of content
4. 7000+ Likes on every piece of content

Discussion:

Here the KRs have been drafted carefully but the objective looks more a activity to be performed. It can be modified and written as, “Increase the efficiency of content marketing”. And the original objective could be instead added to the list of KRs in a way that it can be measured as well. For example, “Write 6 blogs about product and topics related to goals management every month”

By making ‘write engaging blogs’ an objective, there is very little scope for your team to come up with radical ideas. Other way round, if the objective is to ‘increase efficiency of content marketing’ there is lot of scope for employees’ ideas. e.g. podcast may turn out to be a more appropriate content piece than a blog post for your industry. Had the objective been ‘write engaging blogs’ the idea would never reveal itself.

Objective 3: Enrich newsletter content and generate 20% more prospects every week

Key results:

1. 15% of website traffic received through weekly newsletter
2. 20% of total demos scheduled through newsletter CTA
3. Increase in click through on average for every newsletter from 12% to 18%

Discussion:

The first 2 KRs show the new statistics but they can be further modified to reveal more information such as what has been the percentage increase between the previous statistics and the current ones. Make them as detailed as possible to get a better understanding of how things are progresssing.

Objective 4: Optimize SEO ranking for specific keyword

Key results:

1. Website displayed on first page for every keyword
2. 15 inbound links received every month
3. 75% traffic on website received through organic search

Objective 5: Increase efficiency of website

Key results:

1. Page loads 70% faster
2. Navigation between different pages improved by 2X
3. 20% more conversion on Landing pages

Objective 6: Increase email marketing efforts by 35% by Q4 2017-18

Key results:

1. Number of demo requests increased by 30%
2. Number of trial version requests increased by 20%
3. Monthly traffic on website increased by 35%

Objective 7: Conduct 2 surveys every week to gain insights

Key results:

1. 15000+ prospects participated on average in every survey
2. 35% existing customers participated in survey of which 85% is positive feedback
3. 15% prospects visited website to check out product features

Objective 8: Engage with industry experts to leverage their network

Key results:

1. Interview (on goals management) with 10 influencers conducted every month and published on all social channels
2. Product reviewed by industry experts and shared on their social channels
3. Market reach extended by 70%, spreading to International market