Counter-Metrics
Before you sign off a KPI, decide what would show it's being gamed.
People find the easy way to hit a number, and a KPI on its own can't show when that's happened. So every success KPI gets a counter-metric: the metric that keeps the KPI honest, and a strategic brake against drift and short-termism.
No primary KPI can exist without a balancing counter-metric.
This is productive friction, and the tension it creates protects the long-term moat of the brand. Each pair below shows how a KPI gets gamed, and what catches it.
- KPIEarned impressionsHow it gets gamedRunning online competitions, which create conversations without building salience.Counter-metricEarned impressions from non-competition posts, or from branded and cultural events
- KPICPAHow it gets gamedTargeting existing customers who would have bought anyway.Counter-metricConversion quality or new-customer acquisition
I once worked in a team where earned impressions was a KPI. The theory was sound: great creative gets spoken about. By month 10, the marketing managers had realised that running competitions online also created conversations. Humans naturally look for the easy way out.
Every stage needs a pairing
The same logic runs from brand through to customer.
| KPI | Counter-metric |
|---|---|
| Reach | Creative Quality Score |
| Acquisition | Churn-adjusted growth |
| Cross-sell or proactive messaging | “Spam Score” or app uninstall rate |
| Trust Gap | “Fluff Limit”A cap on lifestyle creative. |
| Share of Search | Legacy search decayThe decline in confusion-based searches left over from an old message. |
Focus decays as a business scales
Individuals are rewarded on generic KPIs, and the metric eventually replaces the strategy. We call this marketing entropy. Counter-metrics and governance are how you resist it.
Each KPI comes with a set of metrics
The set has three parts.
We review counter-metrics monthly or quarterly so the team doesn't drift. Unified KPIs then create shared stakes across stages, such as tying part of the Brand team's bonus to long-term sales.
What a counter-metric can't do
A counter-metric shows when a KPI is being hit at the wrong cost. It can't tell you whether you chose the right KPI. That comes from the diagnosis.
Where we use it
Where this comes up
When the board asks for the numbers, have the answer.
Tell us where it hurts: the budget conversation, the agency relationship, or numbers nobody trusts. We'll suggest where to start.
TALK TO NEIL →