Skip to main content

Custom KPIs

Updated over 2 weeks ago

Overview

Custom KPIs help you track specific business metrics that matter most to your company. Instead of being limited to default metrics like 'Sessions' or 'Form Fills', you can define your own KPIs like 'High-intent Demo Requests' or 'Marketing Qualified Accounts' based on conditions that are relevant to your GTM motion.

They can be created using filters like CRM stages, activity thresholds, and more. These KPIs then become reusable elements across reports, dashboards, and alerts.

There are three kinds of custom KPIs you can set up inside Factors:

  • CRM-based KPIs: These are KPIs based on your CRM definitions. Eg. KPI named 'Closed won leads' would be set up as 'all HubSpot contacts where Hubspot Contact Lead Stage Equals Closed Won'.

  • Derived KPIs: These are KPIs that are combinations of Ready-To-Use and Custom KPIs. Eg. KPI named 'Cost Per User (Paid Search)' would be set up as 'a ratio of Spends and Unique Users (A/B) where Channel Equals Paid Search'.

  • Event-Based KPIs: These can be used as a way to evaluate the performance of specific marketing efforts or campaigns, Eg. tracking the number of sign-ups or purchases made after coming through a particular ad source.

In case you haven't already, you can integrate your CRM with Factors using this doc ↗️

How to set up a Custom KPI

Setting up Custom KPIs inside Factors is simple, just follow along:

  1. Log in to your Factors account and click on the Settings icon -> Click on Custom Definitions -> Custom KPIs.

  2. Once inside, click on + Add New on the top right to create a new KPI.

    Give this Custom KPI and a small description for your reference.

  3. You can now select the Type of Custom KPI you wish to set up from the KPI Type. You can set up a CRM-based KPI (default), a Derived KPI or an Event-Based KPI. Let's look at them individually.

Setting up a CRM-based KPI (Default)

Let's look at how we can create the 'Closed won leads' custom KPI inside Factors. We will start by selecting the KPI Type as Default:

  1. Select the Category according to the CRM object you would like to use. Here’s a guide to integrating your CRM with Factors if you haven’t already.

  2. You can now select a Function you wish to use on the selected category. For our 'Closed won leads' KPI we need to see Unique contacts.

  3. Filter the contacts by their deal stage by selecting HubSpot Contact Lead Stage as the property inside Filter By.

  4. We are almost done, select the filter condition to HubSpot Contact Lead Stage Equals Closed Won like so:

  5. Lastly, select the Date Field inside Set Time To which will be used to count leads that became closed one by the selected date. This will serve as the horizontal time axis for this tracking this KPI.

  6. Hit Save and that’s it! Your custom KPI has now been set up inside Factors.

Setting up a Derived KPI

Let's look at how we can create the 'Cost Per User (Paid Search)' Custom KPI inside Factors. We will start by selecting the KPI Type as Derived.

  1. Click + Add KPI to add the following KPIs - Spend and Unique Users. Filter the Unique User by channel and select Channel Equals Paid Search like so:

  2. We are almost done, you can now add the formula as A/B to get our desired KPI.

    Select the 'show as percentage' checkbox if you would like to see the metric calculated as a percentage.

  3. Hit Save and that’s it! Your custom KPI has now been set up inside Factors.

Things to keep in mind

  • You can add constants as operations into your KPI as well.

  • You can display your Custom KPI as a percentage where a % metric is more useful

Setting up Event Based KPIs

Let's look at how we can create an event-based KPI to track the number of 'Get Demo' form fills from paid channels. We will start by selecting the KPI Type as Event Based.

  1. Select the event inside the dropdown that you wish to track. For our particular custom KPI we will pick Get a Demo.

  2. Select the function you wish to apply to this event. For our specific example we want to look at Unique Demos booked.

  3. Add a filter to the selected event to match your requirements. Since we want to look at Demos booked from paid channels, we add that filter.

  4. Hit Save and that’s it! Your custom KPI has now been set up inside Factors.

This is how you can set up Custom KPIs inside Factors. Please Note - It can take a couple of hours before the KPI can be used inside reports.

Usecases

Let’s take the example of Acme Corp, a B2B SaaS company that uses Factors.ai. Priya from marketing and Rahul from sales are preparing for a quarterly business review (QBR) with leadership. Instead of just showing vanity metrics like website visits, they want to present the right KPIs that reflect pipeline progress and GTM impact.

Here’s how they use Custom KPIs:

  • Marketing Use Case: Priya sets up a Custom KPI called "Engaged Buying Committee Members" that filters accounts which:

    • Have 3 or more unique visitors from the same company

    • Include a visit to the pricing page or product demo page

    • Come from target industries like SaaS or BFSI

  • This helps her show not just the volume of traffic, but how many relevant accounts are engaging meaningfully.

  • Sales Use Case: Rahul defines a KPI called "Warm Accounts in Pipeline" based on:

    • Accounts in CRM stages between MQL and SQL

    • Accounts with more than 2 unique visitors in the last 14 days

  • He uses this KPI to prioritize follow-ups and also track conversion from warm to opportunity in the QBR.

  • Content & ABM: Priya also tracks a KPI like "Accounts Engaged with Webinars" by defining conditions based on:

    • Source = Webinar landing pages

    • Event tags like form submissions or video play

  • This helps measure if recent ABM campaigns are driving the right engagement.

  • Multi-condition KPIs: Combine web + CRM + campaign + intent conditions to define complex buying behaviour (e.g., "Accounts showing intent + visited website + in late stage of CRM").

  • Lagging and Leading Indicators: Use custom KPIs to create leading indicators (like content engagement) and correlate them with lagging outcomes (like deal creation).

Compare KPIs across time: Use these KPIs to compare month-on-month or quarter-on-quarter changes in pipeline engagement or account readiness.

Need help setting up more complex Custom KPIs for your organisation?
You can reach out to us via Intercom Chat or write to us at solutions@factors.ai

What’s next

Did this answer your question?