The essentials
- The method: start from the revenue you are aiming for, break it down into customers, enquiries then visits by channel, and show only the metrics that appear in that cascade.
- Example: €240,000 of additional revenue, an average order of €4,000, a 25% win rate, a 2% conversion rate: you need 60 customers, 240 quotes and 12,000 qualified visits over the year.
- The validity test: if a metric changes no figure in the cascade when it moves, it doesn't belong on the dashboard.
- Revision: the assumptions (rates, order value) are recalibrated each quarter with the real data.
Most marketing dashboards show metrics nobody can connect to the profit and loss account. The owner sees 12,000 sessions and a 3.2% engagement rate; they have no idea whether that is good. The remedy is an explicit cascade running from the business objective down to the marketing metrics, with the pass-through rates between each level. Here is the method, a complete worked example and the calculation traps. For the basic definition, see what a KPI is.
Step 1: state the business objective in figures
A usable business objective has four components: a quantity (revenue, margin, number of customers, renewal share), a target value, a horizon and a scope. "Grow the business" isn't an objective; "€240,000 of additional revenue over 12 months from new customers" is. If the leadership team has no quantified objective, take last year's growth plus 10 to 20% as a working assumption and have it approved.
Step 2: break it into a cascade
Each level follows from the previous one through a rate or an average value, measured in your own data over the last 12 months. The standard model for a services business:
| Level | Formula | Assumption (small services business) | Annual result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Target revenue | Objective | Set by the leadership team | 240 000 € |
| New customers | Revenue / average order value | Average order value €4,000 | 60 customers |
| Quotes or appointments | Customers / win rate | Win rate 25% | 240 quotes |
| Incoming enquiries | Quotes / qualification rate | 80% of enquiries produce a quote | 300 enquiries |
| Qualified visits | Enquiries / the site's conversion rate | Conversion rate 2.5% | 12,000 visits |
Each row becomes a dashboard metric, with its monthly target (here 5 customers, 20 quotes, 25 enquiries, 1,000 qualified visits a month). The metrics that don't appear in the cascade (impressions, followers, engagement rate) stay diagnostic metrics, consulted when a level slips, never put at the top of the dashboard. That distinction is developed in vanity KPIs.
Step 3: split it by channel
The 12,000 qualified visits don't come from one channel, and each channel has its own conversion rate and cost. The split is based on your history, then on budget decisions:
| Channel | Qualified visits | Conversion rate | Enquiries | Cost per enquiry 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEO (non-brand) | 6 000 | 2 % | 120 | €10 to €25 |
| Google Ads Search | 2 500 | 4 % | 100 | €40 to €70 |
| The Google listing and brand traffic | 2 000 | 3 % | 60 | Close to zero |
| Social ads and email | 1 500 | 1,3 % | 20 | €30 to €60 |
The marketing budget then follows directly: 100 Google Ads enquiries at €55 on average, or €5,500, 20 social enquiries at €45, or €900, plus the cost of the SEO content. The method for deciding between channels is detailed in KPIs and budget steering.
Step 4: read the cascade every month
The monthly reading compares each level with its target and looks for the first level that slips, starting from the bottom. Three typical cases:
- Visits on target, enquiries behind: the site is converting less; check the entry pages, the forms, the tracking. See analysing a conversion funnel with GA4.
- Enquiries on target, quotes behind: the enquiries are less qualified (often an advertising channel that is too broad) or the sales handling is slowing down.
- Quotes on target, signings behind: the problem is commercial or about pricing, not marketing. The cascade lets you say so clearly.
- Improvement objectives: to formalise a change to achieve over a quarter rather than ongoing tracking, the OKR method complements the cascade.
The calculation traps
- Using benchmark rates instead of your own: a sector conversion rate of 3% is worthless if yours is 1.2%. Benchmarks serve to set an ambition, not to calculate a cascade.
- Forgetting the lag: between the visit and the signature, allow 2 to 12 weeks in B2B. March's visits produce May's customers.
- Ignoring existing customers: if 40% of revenue comes from renewals, the "new customers" cascade only covers 60% of the objective.
- Freezing the assumptions: recalculate the rates and order values each quarter with the real data and adjust the lower levels' targets.
How GreenRed helps
Rather than juggling several tools, GreenRed's Action plan module brings these metrics together in a single dashboard, compares them over time and tells you which actions come first. You can try it free, with no card, from the Pricing.
Frequently asked questions
What do you do when the sales cycle is long?
Shift the levels in time: month M's visits compare with M's enquiries, M+1's quotes and M+2 or M+3's signings depending on your measured cycle. A dashboard comparing the same month's visits and signings always draws the wrong conclusion.
What if the company has no CRM to count quotes and signings?
A spreadsheet kept by the salesperson is enough to start: date, source, amount, status. Without that data, the cascade stops at enquiries and marketing can no longer prove its contribution to revenue. A simple CRM costs €0 to €30 per user per month in 2026.
Do you need a cascade per product line?
Yes, as soon as average order values or win rates differ significantly between offers. An averaged cascade hides a profitable offer and a loss-making one. Two or three cascades stay readable; beyond that, group them by family.
How do you fold awareness into this method?
Awareness feeds the "brand traffic" level: searches for the company name, direct visits, calls from the Google listing. Track it as a level of the cascade with its own conversion rate, rather than through impressions or reach that connect to no enquiry.