About the Author
Corey is the owner and President/CEO of VOLTAGE. He is also founder and author of The Digital Marketing Success Plan™ and the START Planning Process. Corey has spent 20+ years working in strategic and leadership roles focused on growing national and local client brands with award-winning, ROI-generating digital strategies. He's the recipient of the KCDMA 2019 Marketer of the Year award and his team at VOLTAGE has won nearly 100 local, national, and global awards for ROI-focused client work in the past decade.
In today’s messy world of marketing attribution—complicated by GA4 transitions, privacy laws, fragmented tracking systems, and now, AI—the truth behind your digital marketing performance isn’t always crystal clear. Even with the help of powerful dashboards, integrations, and reporting tools, many marketers are still left grappling with a troubling disconnect: marketing KPIs don’t always align with business ROI.
In a recent article for Search Engine Journal, I explored this KPI-ROI misalignment, drawing from real-world experience to share why it matters and what to do about it.
Below are some key takeaways to help digital marketers, agencies, and in-house teams address the gap between success on paper and real results in the boardroom.
The Harsh Truth: Good Marketing Metrics Can Still Get You Fired
If you’ve read my book or have heard me speak, you may have already heard an early-career experience working with a client who received great SEO results—on paper. Rankings improved. Traffic increased. Conversions were up. Client sentiment, however, did not.
My client hadn’t gained a single new client to his firm. In fact, his team spent more time disqualifying bad leads. That experience highlighted a vital truth: green metrics don’t always translate to business success.
The KPI vs. ROI Disconnect
Marketers focus on:
- Impressions
- Clicks
- Conversions
- ROAS
But executives care about:
- Revenue
- Profit margin
- Customer acquisition cost (CAC)
- Lifetime value (LTV)
Failing to tie these together creates risk. By mapping marketing KPIs back to core business outcomes, you can bridge this gap and build trust.
Why This Gap Happens
Some common reasons the disconnect occurs:
- Siloed data or inherited systems
- Lack of strategy or stakeholder alignment
- Shifting attribution models (GA4, CRM limitations)
- Not updating leadership on evolving digital efforts
How to Fix It
To close the gap:
- Start with business objectives and work backward
- Include stakeholders early and often
- Align on meaningful metrics (beyond vanity KPIs)
- Report with clarity and context
- Be ready to adapt to tech and attribution changes
Final Thought
The cost of ignoring the KPI-ROI gap can be high—lost trust, lost contracts, or even job loss. At VOLTAGE, we believe digital marketing should be viewed as an investment, and we work with clients to tie every effort back to what really matters.
Read my full article for Search Engine Journal: Addressing the KPI-ROI Gap in Search Marketing