Objectives & Measurement Framework

What it is

The Objectives & Measurement Framework translates vague aspirations (“we want more engagement”) into specific, measurable goals linked to business outcomes. This template guides you through setting SMART objectives (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) and identifying the key performance indicators (KPIs) that actually tell you whether you’ve succeeded.

Too many communications campaigns lack clear success criteria, making it impossible to learn what worked. This framework prevents that by forcing clarity upfront: What exactly are we trying to achieve? How will we know if we’ve achieved it? What does success look like to different stakeholders? By linking communications metrics to business outcomes, you build the case for communications investment and learn what works.

When to use it

Use this template when:

You’re planning a campaign and need clear success criteria
Stakeholders have different ideas of what “success” means
You want to demonstrate ROI from communications efforts
You need baseline metrics before launching an initiative
You’re reporting campaign results to leadership

Don’t use this template when:

You’re doing informal, low-stakes internal communications
Goals are completely predetermined and non-negotiable
You lack access to any measurement tools or data
You’re in early exploratory phases before committing to a campaign

Inputs needed

Before starting, gather:

Your communications campaign brief and objectives
Business strategy documents showing company priorities
Available analytics tools (website, email, social, CRM)
Historical campaign data (if previous similar campaigns)
Industry benchmarks for your sector and message type
Stakeholder expectations (what success looks like to leadership)

The template

Campaign baseline information

Field	Details
Campaign name
Campaign duration	From: __ To: __
Target audience
Primary channels
Owner/DRI
Budget

Objectives hierarchy

Most campaigns serve multiple objectives at different levels. Clarify them:

Level 1: Business objective (What does the organisation ultimately want?)

Example: “Increase market share in mid-market segment by 5% YoY”

Level 2: Communications objective (How will communications contribute to that business goal?)

Example: “Increase awareness and consideration among mid-market decision-makers”

Level 3: Campaign objectives (What specific outcomes should this campaign deliver?)

Objective 1: [SMART goal]
Objective 2: [SMART goal]
Objective 3: [SMART goal]

SMART objectives template

For each campaign objective, complete this structure:

Objective: [Headline]

SMART element	Details
Specific	Exactly what outcome are we targeting? (Not “increase engagement” but “increase email open rates among finance directors”)
Measurable	How will we quantify success? What metric?
Achievable	Is this realistic given resources, market conditions, historical performance?
Relevant	How does this connect to business strategy? Why does this matter now?
Time-bound	By when? (Campaign end date, or specific milestone)

Example:

Specific: Increase open rates on product launch emails sent to finance directors
Measurable: Tracked via email marketing platform (email open rate %)
Achievable: Historical average 22%; we’re targeting 28% (realistic 6pp improvement through better subject lines and timing)
Relevant: Finance directors are a key growth segment; email is our primary nurture channel
Time-bound: By end of campaign (31 March 2026)

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

For each objective, identify the KPIs that will tell you whether it’s achieved:

Objective	Primary KPI	Target	Baseline/benchmark	Measurement source	Reporting frequency
	(The metric that proves success)	(Specific goal)	(Current state or industry standard)	(Tool/platform)	(Weekly/monthly/at end)

KPI selection guidance:

Choose metrics that are:

Directly measurable – You can get actual data, not estimates
Within your control (mostly) – Don’t set KPIs on things entirely determined by external factors
Predictive of success – Leading indicators that suggest the campaign is working, not just lagging indicators
Understandable to stakeholders – Avoid metrics that require extensive explanation

Common KPI categories:

Awareness metrics:

Reach (# people exposed to content)
Impressions (# times content was viewed)
Share of voice (% of industry conversation)
Brand search volume

Consideration/engagement metrics:

Email open rates, click rates
Website visits, time on page
Content downloads
Event registrations
Social media engagement (reactions, comments, shares)

Action metrics:

Lead generation (# qualified leads)
Demo requests
Sales conversations started
Customer acquisition cost
Conversion rate

Retention/advocacy metrics:

Customer satisfaction (CSAT, NPS)
Repeat engagement
Share/referral rate
Net Promoter Score (NPS)

KPI hierarchy & weighting

Not all KPIs are equally important. Create a hierarchy:

KPI	Type	Importance	Weight	Notes
Email open rate	Engagement	Primary	40%	Most accessible to our audience
Website conversion rate	Action	Primary	40%	More predictive of sales impact
Cost per lead	Efficiency	Secondary	20%	Context for ROI assessment

Type guidance:

Primary: Directly measures objective success
Secondary: Provides context or early warning signals
Diagnostic: Helps explain primary metrics (e.g., bounce rate explains visit numbers)

Success thresholds

Define not just the target, but the range of outcomes:

Outcome	Performance level
Exceeds target	[Threshold] +
Meets target	[Target] to [Threshold]%
Below target but acceptable	[Acceptable floor] to [Target]
Failure	Below [acceptable floor]

Example for email open rate:

Exceeds target: 32% or higher
Meets target: 28-31%
Below target but acceptable: 25-27% (worth investigating but not crisis)
Failure: Below 25% (indicates messaging or technical problems)

Measurement approach

For each KPI, document how you’ll measure it:

KPI	How we’ll measure	Data source	Access/permissions	Frequency
	Step-by-step measurement process	Tool/platform	Who has access?	Real-time/daily/weekly?

Attribution & causation

Be explicit about attribution:

What outcomes will we attribute directly to this campaign?

Email opens (from campaign emails)
Website visits from campaign links
Leads tagged to campaign in CRM

What outcomes might be influenced but aren’t directly attributable?

Sales conversations (influenced by campaign but multiple touchpoints involved)
Brand awareness (hard to isolate campaign impact from other factors)

How will we account for external factors?

Competitor activity
Market conditions
Seasonality
PR/earned media coverage

Confidence level: We’ll be [high/moderate/low] confidence in attributing campaign outcomes because [reason].

Stakeholder reporting

Different audiences need different information:

For executives/leadership:

Did we hit our business objective? (Yes/No/Partial)
ROI or business impact
Key learnings

For campaign team:

Detailed KPI performance against targets
Diagnostic metrics explaining performance
What worked? What didn’t?

For stakeholders who funded the campaign:

Results against promised outcomes
Lessons for future campaigns
Recommendation for continued investment

Contingency & learning

Plan for scenarios where metrics underperform:

If this KPI misses target	Likely causes	Investigation steps	Potential pivots
Email open rate below 25%	Subject line ineffective / delivery issues / list quality	A/B test subject lines / check spam folder rate / review list segment	Refresh segment / adjust send time / improve preview text

Post-campaign analysis

Schedule a review meeting to discuss:

What we achieved: Did we hit objectives? Which KPIs exceeded vs. missed?
Why: What explains the results? What worked? What didn’t?
What we learned: Insights about audience, channels, messaging, timing
What’s next: Apply learnings to next campaign / continue successful approaches

AI prompt

Base prompt

Help me define objectives and success metrics for [CAMPAIGN_NAME].

**Campaign context:**
- Business goal: [BUSINESS_OBJECTIVE]
- Target audience: [AUDIENCE]
- Key messages: [MESSAGE_PILLARS]
- Channels: [CAMPAIGN_CHANNELS]
- Duration: [TIMEFRAME]
- Budget: [BUDGET_AMOUNT]

**Current state (baseline):**
- Historical performance: [PREVIOUS_SIMILAR_CAMPAIGNS]
- Industry benchmarks: [RELEVANT_BENCHMARKS]
- Available metrics/tools: [ANALYTICS_CAPABILITIES]

Using the Objectives & Measurement Framework, help me:
1. Define 3-4 SMART campaign objectives linked to the business goal
2. Identify primary and secondary KPIs for each objective
3. Set realistic targets based on benchmarks and history
4. Specify how each metric will be measured
5. Create a simple success dashboard for stakeholders

Include guidance on which metrics matter most for decision-making.

Prompt variations

Variation 1: Multi-objective campaign

Our campaign serves three distinct business goals:
1. [GOAL 1] - we want to measure [DESIRED_OUTCOME_1]
2. [GOAL 2] - we want to measure [DESIRED_OUTCOME_2]
3. [GOAL 3] - we want to measure [DESIRED_OUTCOME_3]

Using the Objectives & Measurement Framework, help me:
- Translate each business goal into a communications objective
- Identify which KPIs matter most for each objective
- Determine if we should weight objectives differently or measure them equally
- Create a single success dashboard that shows progress on all three

Variation 2: Limited data scenario

We don't have much historical data for similar campaigns, and our analytics tools are limited (we have access to [TOOLS_AVAILABLE] only).

Help me use the Objectives & Measurement Framework to:
1. Set objectives we can actually measure with available tools
2. Identify proxy metrics that approximate what we really care about
3. Determine if we should invest in better analytics tools first
4. Create a measurement plan that works within current constraints

Variation 3: Stakeholder alignment

Different stakeholders have different ideas of success:
- Executive leadership wants to see: [EXECUTIVE_GOAL]
- The sales team cares about: [SALES_GOAL]
- The customer success team prioritises: [CS_GOAL]

Using the Objectives & Measurement Framework:
1. Find the shared objective these goals actually point to
2. Identify metrics that matter to multiple stakeholders
3. Create a hierarchy showing which metrics are primary vs secondary
4. Draft a dashboard that shows each stakeholder their key metric

Variation 4: Attribution complexity

This campaign involves [MULTIPLE_CHANNELS] and our customers typically [DECISION_PROCESS].

Help me use the Objectives & Measurement Framework to:
1. Identify which outcomes we can directly attribute to this campaign
2. Determine what's influenced but not directly attributable
3. Establish confidence levels for different claims about impact
4. Create metrics that acknowledge the complexity (e.g., incrementality tests)
5. Recommend which claims we can confidently make to stakeholders

Variation 5: Continuous improvement

Rather than a one-time campaign, we're planning ongoing [CHANNEL/MESSAGE/PROGRAM].

Using the Objectives & Measurement Framework:
1. Define objectives for the first phase (initial launch)
2. Identify diagnostic metrics that help us optimise over time
3. Create targets that can evolve as we learn
4. Suggest a testing/learning cadence (weekly/monthly)
5. Build in flexibility to pivot based on performance data

Human review checklist

Example output

Campaign: “Reaching the Mid-Market” – Product awareness and consideration campaign Duration: Q1 2026 (January-March) Target audience: Finance directors, operations managers at 100-500 person companies Channels: LinkedIn, email, industry webinars, analyst reports

Business objective: Increase market share in mid-market segment by 5% YoY by improving awareness and consideration among mid-market buyers

Campaign objectives:

Objective 1: Awareness

SMART definition: Achieve 40% aided awareness of [Company] features among mid-market finance directors and operations managers in UK and US by 31 March 2026
Primary KPI: Brand awareness survey (post-campaign) – target 40%
Secondary KPIs: Reach (300k impressions), campaign site visits (25k)
Target: 40% aided awareness (baseline: 12% from previous tracking study)

Objective 2: Consideration

SMART definition: Generate 500 qualified leads for sales team from mid-market segment by 31 March 2026
Primary KPI: Qualified leads (in CRM, tagged as mid-market, pre-qualified)
Secondary KPIs: Email CTR (4%), demo request conversion (8% of site visitors)
Target: 500 leads (achievable from estimated 25k site visitors at 2% conversion)

Objective 3: Efficiency

SMART definition: Achieve cost per qualified lead under £40 across entire campaign spend
Primary KPI: Cost per lead
Secondary KPIs: Channel efficiency (cost per lead by channel)
Target: £40 CPL (industry benchmark: £45-60; we’re targeting below average due to targeted approach)

KPI Dashboard:

KPI	Baseline	Target	Stretch	Status	Owner
Aided awareness (survey)	12%	40%	50%	—	Comms lead
Campaign reach	—	300k	400k	—	Paid media
Website traffic from campaign	—	25k	35k	—	Analytics
Email open rate	22%	28%	32%	—	Email manager
Email CTR	3.2%	4%	5%	—	Email manager
Qualified leads generated	—	500	700	—	Sales ops
Cost per lead	—	£40	£35	—	Finance
Demo requests	—	80	120	—	Sales development

Measurement approach:

Awareness: Pre- and post-campaign tracking survey (commissioned tracker, n=500, target audience)
Reach/traffic: Google Analytics, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, email platform analytics
Lead quality: CRM tagging; sales team assesses within 2 weeks of submission
Cost: Finance system tracking campaign spend across channels and budget categories

Attribution notes:

Directly attributed: email opens, site visits from campaign links, lead form submissions with campaign source
Influenced but not directly attributed: sales conversations (may involve multiple touchpoints)
External factors to track: competitor campaigns, PR coverage, seasonality

Success thresholds:

Outstanding: Hit target on all KPIs + clear messaging insights
Success: Hit primary KPIs (leads, CPL, awareness) even if secondary KPIs miss slightly
Acceptable: Hit 80% of lead target + maintain CPL under £45
Review/pivot: Below 80% of lead target OR CPL over £50

Campaign Brief – Define the campaign strategy and objectives before measuring
Channel Strategy Matrix – Choose channels, then measure their effectiveness
Quarterly Comms Planning Grid – Plan activities that support objectives
Audience Segmentation Worksheet – Define audience segments for targeted measurement

Tips for success

Distinguish between leading and lagging indicators Leading indicators predict success (e.g., email engagement, website visits) before you see business outcomes. Lagging indicators confirm success arrived (e.g., revenue, customer acquisition). Monitor both: leading indicators help you optimise during the campaign, lagging indicators show true business impact.

Make targets ambitious but believable Targets should stretch your team but remain achievable. If your historical email open rate is 22%, a target of 40% isn’t ambitious—it’s delusional. A target of 28% is ambitious (6pp improvement) and credible. Stakeholders believe credible targets; missing ambitious-but-delusional targets loses credibility.

Start simple, add complexity only if needed Many campaigns fail at measurement because they try to track 20 KPIs. Three to five well-chosen KPIs are better than 15 mediocre ones. Start with primary metrics and add diagnostic metrics only if you need to understand why primary metrics are moving.

Document assumptions alongside targets Every target contains assumptions (“we’ll reach 25k people if we have X budget and Y team effort”). Document those assumptions. When targets miss, you can diagnose whether assumptions were wrong or execution was weak.

Build reporting into the campaign timeline Don’t treat measurement as an afterthought post-campaign. Build reporting into the campaign schedule (weekly check-ins? monthly? final review 1 week after end). Assign someone to be accountable for tracking and share results regularly so surprises don’t emerge at the end.

Common pitfalls

Confusing activity metrics with success metrics “We sent 50 emails” is an activity metric. “We achieved 28% open rate” is a success metric. Stakeholders don’t care how much you did; they care what resulted. Focus metrics on outcomes, not effort.

Setting unmeasurable objectives “Increase brand perception” sounds like an objective, but how will you measure perception? Instead: “Increase aided awareness of our sustainability commitment from 15% to 30% (measured by post-campaign survey).” Specificity enables measurement.

Ignoring the baseline If you don’t know where you started, you can’t calculate improvement. Always document current-state metrics before campaign launch. Without a baseline, you can’t credibly claim results.

Attribution overreach When a sales deal closes after someone sees your campaign, the urge to claim credit is strong. Resist it. Be clear about what you can directly attribute vs. what was influenced. Overstating impact destroys credibility.

Choosing unmeasurable channels Offline events, print materials, and word-of-mouth are valuable but hard to measure precisely. If measurement is important to your stakeholders, prioritise channels with clear data trails (digital, email, attributed leads) even if impact is slightly smaller.

Skipping the post-campaign review You gathered all this data and then… nothing. Most campaigns skip the actual review meeting where you discuss what you learned. Schedule this before the campaign ends so people prioritise it. This is where measurement becomes learning that improves future campaigns.