How to write effective OKRs: 10+ OKR Examples

Write Effective OKRs

The OKRs have helped us multiply our growth by 10 times. They have helped us to make our ambitious mission to organize the world’s information more achievable. They helped me and the rest of the company meet deadlines and measure what mattered most. – LARRY PAGE, co-founder of Google.

Faced with the success of Google, many companies adopted the OKR method thereafter. So, what exactly is the OKR method?

OKRs stands for Objectives and Key Results. To put it simply, OKR is a goal-setting framework that helps organizations achieve their goals in a measurable way and creates clarity and aligns everyone in the organization towards top business goals to drive better results.

In the book Measure What Matters, John Doerr explains that goals and key results are the yin and yang of efficiency. A goal without key results is just a desire. And key results without a goal are just to-do lists without any output. So, both need to be effective.

When getting started with the OKR framework, it is common to get questions like “what is a useful guide to OKRs?” “how to write a good OKR?” or “how to set measurable key results,” or ” how do I get a good example of a well-written OKR?” To answer these questions, we have created a set of examples on how to set OKRs, so that you can apply them as you start with your own team OKRs.

How should an OKR be?

As said earlier, Google is a benchmark in designing objectives and key results. According to it, the attributes that should characterize OKRs are:

  1. Quantifiable – Whether it’s a number, date, or percentage, KRs (key results) must be measurable and time-bound, or else they are ineffective.
  2. Qualified – At the end of the term established for the OKR, you must rate their performance. For example, Google measures the key result completion on a scale of 0-1. It is 0 when “the goal has not been achieved” and 1 when “The goal is achieved.” Since OKRs should be ambitious, getting 1 on each key result is not expected; hitting 0.6-0.7 indicates your OKRs are appropriately ambitious. This way, they rate the progress of their goals, and the results are taken as a reference to formulate the next objectives.
  3. Public – Within the organization or company itself, OKRs must be public. This way, the OKRs maintain transparency and alignment with every department, enabling early detection of the problem. Moreover, it also builds accountability and a sense of urgency on critical tasks.
  4. Ambitious – To see the team’s true potential, sometimes it is necessary to set aggressive goals. The team will encounter difficulties and put extra effort into achieving the set goals. Remember, it is better to fall short than to reach the goal without struggling.

10+ Team OKRs examples – Guide to OKRs

Now that you have some insight into the general guide to OKRs, we have shared some OKR examples below for different departments. You can use these OKR examples as guidance and jump-start your own team OKRs.

Marketing OKRs

Example 1

Objective: Create awareness of the launched product.

  • Key Result 1: Get 50 product reviews by [date].
  • Key Result 2: Launch a paid social media ad campaign by[date].
  • Key Result 3: Make three videos of the product for our YouTube channel and social networks by [date].

Example 2

Objective: Bring an incredible amount of new inbound leads to the site.

  • Key Result 1: Increase monthly website visitors from 10k to 20k by the end of [month].
  • Key Result 2: Increase Domain Rating (DR) score from 45 to 55 in SEMrush by [date].
  • Key Result 3: Decrease homepage bounce rate from 75% to 50% by the end of 1st month of Q2.

Example 3

Objective: Improve our website and increase conversions.

  • Key Result 1: Increase site visitors by 7% every month (total 21% for the quarter Q2) by [date].
  • Key Result 2: Create 10 new lead magnets before the end of the second quarter [Q2].
  • Key Result 3: Improve landing page conversions by 10% every month till the end of Q2.
Sales teams OKR

Example 4

Objective: Generate more scalability in sales.

  • Key Result 1: Increase the number of leads generated by 80% by [date].
  • Key Result 2: Decrease the sales cycle by 35% before [month].
  • Key Result 3: Generate more upsell and/or cross-sell by 20% by [date].

Example 5

Objective: Achieve quarterly revenue of 300 million INR.

  • Key Result 1: Earn 50 million INR in revenue during the first month of Q2 for a new product.
  • Key Result 2: Reduce the sales cycle from two months to 19 days by [date].
  • Key Result 3: Sell the new product to 40% of current customers by the end of quarter[Q2].

Example 6

Objective: Offer an excellent after-sales experience for customer retention.

  • Key Result 1: Bring the customer satisfaction score above 90% by [date].
  • Key Result 2: Reduce request response time to less than 3 days before the starting of [month].
  • Key Result 3: Retain the current customer base by 90% before the end of quarter [Q2].
Customer success OKRs

Example 7

Objective: Provide a top-notch customer support experience to increase customer base.

  • Key Result 1: Achieve a 90% Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) all urgent tickets by [date].
  • Key Result 2: Start solving 100% critical issues within 1 hour from the [month].
  • Key Result 3: Resolve 95% of medium severity support tickets in less than 24 hours from [date].
  • Key Result 4: Each support representative must maintain a personal CSAT of 95% or higher till the end of [Q2].

Example 8

Objective: Ensure proper support to the customer success team members to succeed and achieve company-wide goals.

  • Key Result 1: Conduct 2 product training sessions bi-weekly from the start of [date/month].
  • Key Result 2: Increase task success rate from 70% to 90% by [ date].
  • Key Result 3: Successfully onboard 10 new customers per month till the end of Q2.

Example 9

Objective: Improve QA procedure to leverage the testing processes.

  • Key Result 1: Have 85% bug-free solutions by [date].
  • Key Result 2: Conduct 4 more test sessions per week with target users by the end of Q2.
  • Key Result 3: Decrease testing cycle average time by 50% by [date].
Engineering team OKRs

Example 10

Objective: Improve QA procedure to leverage the testing processes.

  • Key Result 1: Have 85% bug-free solutions by [date].
  • Key Result 2: Conduct 4 more test sessions per week with target users by the end of Q2.
  • Key Result 3: Decrease testing cycle average time by 50% by [date].

Example 11

Objective: Enhance the quality of the product.

  • Key Result 1: Speed up the code coverage from 40% to 75% by [date].
  • Key Result 2: Reduce the QA rejections per function, on average, from 2.5 to 1 by [date].
  • Key Result 3: Lessen the average number of recently reported bugs from 70 to 30 by [date].

Example 12

Objective: Accelerate the development team’s speed to create more value for our customers.

  • Key Result 1: Increase sprint speed ​​from 40 to 65 by [date].
  • Key Result 2: Reduce the average number of bugs per feature from 3 to 1 by [date].
  • Key Result 3: Reduce average lead time by 25% by the end of [month].
 

OKR Writing Tips

  1. Define clear and specific goals – While setting OKRs, there should be no complications or ambiguities. The goals you define must be specific, and this also applies to both the objectives and the key results. Then only the team members’ will be able to understand what is wanted and will stay aligned to achieve the goal.
  2. Involve the team in the creation of objectives – It is crucial to work together while setting the objectives. Therefore, these should not be established only by managers or leaders, but rather the entire team should be involved.
  3. Establish relatively short deadlines for Key Results – For the process to be manageable by the team efficiently, it is recommendable to set shorter deadlines instead of having such extended deadlines for the achievement. It is best to set reasonable deadlines, for instance, quarterly or semi-annually.
  4. Assess results constantly – Even if the achievement period is 3 or 6 months, it is good to constantly evaluate the results to ensure the consistency of the work. It can be done weekly, for example, so you can make quick adjustments as needed before moving on.

To Conclude

Writing good, well-structured, and effective OKRs is not easy. Have the patience to run multiple iterative improvement cycles, and you will see what success looks like! Also, you can use OKR management software which facilitates access for all employees to OKRs, encouraging teams’ engagement, motivation, and performance.

OKR vs. KPI: Breaking it all down

OKR vs KPI

For every business to stand firm, every company needs to have clear objectives and well-defined goals. These goals help organizations keep everyone on the same path and motivate employees towards their work. When it comes to setting business objectives and measuring business performance, the two most common acronyms of the business world are OKR and KPI. Let us dive into OKR vs KPI.

OKR stands for “Objectives and Key Results,” and KPI stands for “Key Performance Indicators.” One is about goal setting and execution framework, whereas the latter is a mechanism to define necessary measures to achieve success in an organization. Thus, comparing OKRs and KPIs is like comparing apples to oranges.  

However, at times KPIs are compared with OKRs and create confusion as they both are management tools that helps in decision-making. So, in this article, we will explain the core difference between OKRs and KPIs and how you should leverage them in different approaches to get the best results.

What is an OKR?

OKR is a goal management framework born in the mind of Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel, in 1971, to focus the work on the company’s main objectives. However, OKR started gaining popularity since 1999, when John Doerr introduced the OKR framework to the Google founders, who implemented this methodology and delivered tremendous results since then.

To put it simply, it is a way of internally aligning the company’s objectives with each department, managers’, and team members‘ goals, who contribute to the organization.

With this collaborative goal-setting methodology, companies can focus on the critical areas of business operations. Instead of creating dozens of goals and getting lost among them, the OKR framework focuses on a list of 3-5 goals (objectives). Under each objective, a maximum of 3-5 key results are set to measure the employee’s progress towards the objective holistically.

What are KPIs?

KPIs are the key indicators that measures the performance or growth of a company. While the KPIs have a long and illustrious history, the exact date and precise origin of the KPI are still unknown. But it is speculated that the practice of KPIs dates back somewhere to the third century when emperors of the Chinese Wei Dynasty began to rate the performance of official family members.

Coming to the business world, KPIs serve as the business guideposts for many companies. It consists of result-based tracking metrics that evaluate an organization’s performance and how effectively the business is moving towards set goals. Organizations can use KPIs to track the health of the business, projects, programs, or various other company initiatives at the strategic level.

For a business to establish what its KPIs are, you need to conduct an analysis of what it is delivering and how it can be measured. One way to do this is through the Balanced Scorecard (BSC), a methodology that will help you choose the right metrics for your business. Let’s look at some common KPI examples –

Sales –
  • Average ticket size.
  • Conversion rate.
  • Customer lifetime value.
Marketing –
  • Traffic on the website or blog.  
  • Completed leads.
  • Interaction in social networks.

OKR vs KPI – Breaking it down for you

At first glance, two concepts resemble one another a lot. Both KPIs and OKRs are methods of setting goals, tracking, and measuring the company’s performance and successes. While both are effective methods, there is a significant difference between OKRs and KPIs. But before that, it is also essential to understand the difference between lagging and leading KPIs.

Lagging KPIs represent metrics that allow you to measure the result – the outcome of our strategy and efforts. It measures how well a business performance or system was managed, such as last month’s profit and loss (P&L) statement, the number of products or services sold, total incidents, etc.  

On the other hand, leading KPIs are driven by metrics that correspond with the future outcomes or where you are likely to get to. They measure target values that lead to the performance of lag measures, measuring intermediate processes and activities, such as current ongoing customer cases, percentage of team availability, number of outstanding bugs, etc.

So, the KPIs (key performance indicator) consist of a series of metrics to measure the performance of a process, an area, or an entire company. KPI presents information about the efficiency and productivity of a business. Through KPI analysis, it is possible to determine whether progress is being made in the right direction or any new decisions need to be made to achieve the set objectives. In contrast, OKR is more of a goal-setting framework that aligns company goals with departmental goals with that of teams and individuals and ensures every individual is striving towards a common goal throughout the business quarter.  

If we list the differences between OKRS vs. KPIs in a table, it will have something like this –

Examples of OKR & KPI

To better understand the difference between OKR & KPI, let us consider the example below:

The marketing team created a great landing page that delivers product value and converts visitors into great opportunities. Now the commercial team wants to take advantage of this potential page to generate more sales.

The OKR for the marketing team is to evolve their qualified lead generation –

  • Key Result 1: Increase monthly site visitors from 4k to 8k.
  • Key Result 2: Increase product free trial subscriptions from 320 to 600.

At the same time, the marketing team has a lot of tracking KPIs or metrics to monitor. The KPIs includes are –

  • Conversion rate.
  • CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost).
  • Landing page conversion rates.
  • Organic traffic and top 5 entry pages.
  • Lead-to-customer ratio.
  • Social media traffic and conversion rates.

The marketing team continuously monitors all KPIs based on the business objectives. As the business objectives change, it is necessary to improve KPIs accordingly. In the example above, it is demand generation. It could also be conversion rate, social media followers/comments, time on site, customer acquisition costs, funnel optimization, etc. Based on the tracking of your KPIs and the results of the previous objectives, you can formulate the next OKRs.

Although different, do they work together?

Yes, both OKR and KPI can be used together while planning the company’s strategic goals since the two complement each other and help the company achieve the fundamental goals and serve as a starting point for better employee engagement.

Objectives and Key Results are metrics or measurements that outline the objectives and define the desired key result, bringing some benefits such as –

  • Quickly identifies what needs to be improved.
  • Involves teams and ensures alignment regarding key results.  
  • Distributed targets.
  • Improve Performance and productivity.

When it comes to KPIs to include in your business strategy, they bring various benefits, such as –

  • Measures the health of the business.
  • Identifies data and compares them with the expected results.
  • More assertive decision-making.

Wrapping up

In a nutshell, OKRs and KPIs work very well together. OKRs help solves problems, improve processes and drive innovation. KPIs help monitor performance, identify problems and areas of opportunity. Thus, it is necessary to know the differences and benefits of OKRs and KPIs and apply them correctly to go beyond expectations. This guide to OKR vs KPI surely will help you understand how both works in a larger scale.

How to set good marketing OKRs

Set marketing OKRs

In his book ‘Measure What Matters’, John Doerr, the father of OKR, mentioned, “An effective goal-setting system starts with disciplined thinking at the top, with leaders who invest the time and energy to choose what counts.”

To simplify, OKR known as Objectives and Key Results is a process of setting goal that connects the company, team, and goals to generate measurable metrics, enabling the marketing department to work in a unified direction to achieve the long-term global goal. Because, marketing is not just about repeating the number of leads, views, clicks, etc., that you need each month. It is about figuring out what you can do better every day and where you need to focus.

Why are Marketing OKRs important?

Every organization’s marketing department plays a vital role in promoting the company. They coordinate and create all the marketing materials like brochures, collaterals, e-books, etc., to keep up the company’s image and help attract prospects, consumers, investors, and the audience’s attention, creating a global image that showcases your company in a positive light.

The goal-setting method clarifies the team members on how to optimize their daily efforts in strengthening the brand name, generating quality leads for sales, or building marketing capability by using both digital and traditional marketing. Thus, with well-defined marketing OKRS, team members can connect to the bigger picture of the entire organization and strive for more success.

OKR Examples for Marketing Team – Guide to OKRs

We have listed a few examples below to inspire you to set an OKR for your marketing team –

‍Inbound Marketing OKR Examples

#1 Objective – Increase the number of new inbound qualified leads.

  • Key Result 1: Increase demo requests via the PPC (pay-per-click) landing pages by 20% before [date]. ‍
  • Key Result 2 : Increase the lead conversion rate from 5% to 15% through webinar attendees by [date].  ‍
  • Key Result 3: Increase the download rate of eBooks by 2x over last month before the end of Q2.

#2 Objective: Set up a new inbound campaign.

  • ‍Key Result 1: Increase the number of monthly visitors from 30,000 to 600,000 by the end of Q2. ‍
  • Key Result 2: Raise the DA (Domain Authority) rating from 40 to 70 by [date]. ‍
  • Key Result 3: Increase on-site visitor to trial conversion rate from 5% to 10% by [month].

Product Marketing OKR Examples

#1 ‍Objective: Gather customer feedback on our existing product in the market.  

  • ‍Key Result 1: Conduct 30 customer interviews to identify why they bought our product and how was the after-use experience by [date]. ‍
  • Key Result 2: Capture 1,000 responses through an online survey about our product positioning before the [month].
  • ‍Key Result 3: Identify the topmost prevalent obstacles to increase sales per customer before [date].

#2 Objective: Introduce new products to the market by a well-written crisp marketing message.

  • Key Result 1: Conduct a user test session with 25 customers to test the new product by [date]. ‍
  • Key Result 2: During the product launch, choose five different channels to help you run your product ads by [date]. ‍
  • Key Result 3: Provide a free trial to 15 customer groups to showcase your product offering before [date].

Content Marketing OKR Examples

#1 Objective: Improve the content strategy.

  • Key Result 1: Publish 5 monthly articles with proper keywords and more than 1,000 words each by [month].
  • ‍Key Result 2: Identify 5 new channels/forums or communities to post our content by [date].
  • Key Result 3: Grow the blog subscriber count from 6,000 to 12,000 by the end of Q2.

#2 Objective: Decrease the bounce rate on all the published blogs.  

  • Key Result 1: Include at least one video or infographic image on our top bounce rate pages [mention the date].  
  • Key Result 2: Include 2-3 relevant internal links on all the published blogs/articles by [date].  ‍
  • Key Result 3: Reduce page loading time from 30 seconds to 12 seconds before [date].

Social Media Marketing OKR Examples

#1 Objective: Improve the brand presence and engagement in Social Networks.

  • Key Result 1: Use direct messaging to find and engage with 50 thought leaders by the end of Q2.  
  • Key Result 2: Increase followers on all our social media platforms (Facebook/ Instagram/LinkedIn/YouTube) by 10% per month till the end of Q2.
  • Key Result 2: Start posting four times a day on different social media platforms to increase visibility by [date].

#2 Objective: Boost paid users from social media.

  • Key Result 1: Raise website visitors from social media by 25% each month till the last month of Q2.
  • Key Result 2: Increase Signups from social media by 15% every month by the end of Q2.‍
  • Key Result 3: Increase demo requests from social media from 10% to 20% each month before [date].

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) OKR Examples

#1 Objective: Become a prominent player on Google search.

  • Key Result 1: Identify the top 5 keywords and improve the SEO of already published articles by [date].
  • Key Result 2:  Appear on the first page of the search -engine for the top 5 keywords within a maximum of 1 month.
  • Key Result 3: Get 80 backlinks each for the SEO content on the targeted keywords per month.

#2 Objective: Improve ranking on top 3 untapped relevant keywords.

  • Key Result 1: Identify 30 relevant keywords that are untapped by competitors by [date].
  • Key Result 2: Create a CMS (Content Management System) template for the blog page to manage and modify the content before the end of [month].
  • Key Result 3: Build long-form content and post it on multiple pages using the CMS template by [date].

Brand Marketing OKR Examples

#1 Objective: Establish a strong brand presence.

  • Key Result 1: Have 2 publications with influencers per week before [month].
  • Key Result 2: Conduct campaigns with the top 5 industry influencers by [date].
  • Key Result 3: Achieve 4 out of 5-star ratings and 250 positive reviews on Google before [date].

#2 Objective: Increase brand communication.

  • Key result 1: Expand the community members from 15,000 to 30,000 by the end of [date].
  • Key result 2: Decrease response time from 30 minutes to 10 minutes by [date].
  • Key result 3: Increase customer satisfaction (CSAT) from 50% to 100% by the end of Q2.

PPC (Pay-Per-Click) Marketing OKR Examples

#1 Objective: Increase the outcomes of Ad campaigns.

  • Key result 1: Increase the average CTR (Click-through rate) of ad campaigns from 1% to 5% by [date].
  • Key result 2:  Increase the lead conversion rate for paid traffic from 3% to 15% by [date].

To conclude, one mantra to set winning OKRs is when you are drafting an objective, first define a problem you want to solve, then try to phrase your key results with the highest impact.  

Breaking down larger tasks is highly beneficial for your team. It makes actions manageable and boosts employees’ confidence. They will perceive that they are contributing to a larger goal and feel more motivated to achieve the key results to make the company successful.