CMO INDEX — FRACTIONAL CMO PERFORMANCE REVIEW
Updated 7 October 2026
Guide: https://www.cmoindex.com/blog/how-to-measure-the-success-of-your-fractional-cmo-key-performance-indicators-to-track/

A practical template to adapt with your CMO, sales team and finance team.
Fill in a local copy. CMO Index does not collect your answers.
It is not a validated rating system or a guarantee of business results.

1. AGREE THE QUESTION BEFORE MEASURING
Business problem and buyer/customer segment:
CMO responsibilities, decisions and agreed deliverables:
Work outside the CMO's scope:
Execution resources and people responsible:
One primary business outcome and two supporting indicators:
Baseline period and comparison period (dates and timezone):
Sales-cycle length and expected outcome lag:
Review date:
Currency, accounting basis and data cut-off date:

2. DEFINE EACH METRIC — COPY FOR EACH SELECTED METRIC
Metric name, business question and unit:
Exact numerator and denominator (if a rate):
Customer/opportunity cohort and exclusions:
Definition of qualified lead or opportunity, agreed with sales:
Data source, report/query and person maintaining it:
Baseline value and sample size:
Review value and sample size:
Target or acceptable range, rationale and decision if missed:
Missing records, tracking/consent gaps and unresolved outcomes:
Confidence/limitations (measured, estimated or unknown):

Common definitions to check:
- Qualified pipeline is potential business, not booked revenue. Record the
  qualifying criteria, stage, amount basis and expected close date. Keep a
  probability-weighted forecast separate from unweighted opportunity value.
- Cohort win rate = won opportunities / all opportunities in that cohort x 100.
  For a fully resolved cohort, the denominator is won + lost. If opportunities
  remain open, show those counts and label an interim rate as provisional;
  do not compare it with a fully resolved cohort without explaining the gap.
- Acquisition CAC = allocated sales and marketing acquisition costs / new
  paying customers acquired. Use consistent scope, currency and timing.
  Include an agreed allocation of leadership, staff, agency, tools and media
  once only; show exclusions and timing mismatch when deals take longer.
- Contribution = recognized revenue minus the agreed variable costs needed
  to deliver it. Contribution is not net profit or cash collected.
- Simplified contribution-based CAC payback in months = CAC / monthly
  contribution per acquired customer. This assumes stable positive monthly
  contribution and retention. For irregular sales use cumulative contribution
  over time; zero or negative contribution gives no finite positive estimate.
- A zero denominator, missing data or immature cohort is unknown/not
  computable, not an invented zero or a guaranteed result.

3. RECORD WHAT THE CMO DID AND WHAT THE COMPANY DID
Date / decision or deliverable / evidence / responsible person:
Implementation by sales, marketing, agencies or other teams:
Change in positioning, pricing, product, budget or channel mix:
Training, handover or team capability evidence:
What was completed, delayed or blocked, and why:

4. CHECK ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATIONS
Seasonality or market changes:
Sales capacity, sales process or offer changes:
Customer mix, deal size, refunds or cancellations:
CRM stage, tracking, consent or attribution-model changes:
Other campaigns and teams contributing to the result:
Mature comparison group or suitable experiment available:
What can be linked to an action, and what remains only an association:

Analytics attribution assigns credit; it does not by itself isolate an
individual CMO's causal impact. Do not count clicks or contact attempts as
qualified leads, pipeline as revenue, or all revenue growth as CMO-created.

5. CLOSE THE REVIEW WITH A DECISION
Outcome observed and evidence:
CMO execution/decision quality and evidence:
Unknowns or results still pending:
Continue / change scope / investigate / stop a specific activity:
Next action, responsible person and due date:
Next review date and data required:

Keep the original definitions and baseline with the review. Document changes
instead of silently replacing them. A weekly operational check and a monthly
review may be useful starting points; choose the outcome window around your
actual sales cycle. There is no universal 90-day pass mark.