February 24, 2021 Cue Insights

Measuring Your Strategy’s Performance with a Proprietary Index

index
noun
An indicator, sign, or measure of something

 

In market research, performance indices are widely used, oftentimes in the form of cross-industry validated models like the Net Promoter Score1.  While there is a time and place for validated benchmark indices, they don’t always align well with the key performance metrics that impact a business’ strategy.

A proprietary performance index can benefit your organization much more than something off-the-shelf. Cue’s approach to developing a proprietary performance index produces a single measure of your strategy reflecting carefully chosen attributes that have a high degree of impact on your specific business.

Here are 5 reasons why you should consider developing a proprietary performance index for your brand.

  1. It’s about you. Developing a proprietary index, based on your business’ key drivers and strategic direction, means that everything is customized to your business: how to develop it, how to name it, and how to use it to align stakeholders around a core value or strategy.
  2. It fosters alignment. Rather than using an off-the-shelf metric that may not apply to your business, creating a proprietary metric requires stakeholders to align around a core value or strategy. (See below for examples.) This creates a culture of accountability, and ensures everyone works together towards the same goal.
  3. It’s easy to interpret. Unlike black box indices, a proprietary index is transparent and practical. It’s calculated by using regression to create impact scores on your business’ key drivers, which are then averaged to create a single measure of performance (i.e., the index). You have a simple, single-number score based entirely on drivers related to your customers, your category, and your strategy.
  4. It drives change. The index is actionable because it measures impact, not importance. It prioritizes the variables required to make improvements specifically for your business, thus creating an effective road map to impact change.
  5. It’s repeatable. It’s a measure that can be re-measured and trended over time, providing an internal benchmark from which to measure progress.

Examples of Partnership Measurement
– Collaborative partnership
– Valued partnership
– Trusted partnership

Examples of Positioning Measurement
– Industry leadership
– Innovative company/brand
– Scientific excellence

Are you curious about how you can develop your own proprietary strategic performance index?
Email denise.burns@cueinsights.com to schedule a consultation.

 

1 Net Promoter Score (NPS) measures the willingness of customers to recommend a company’s products or services to others.

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