Which priority phishing KPIs should executives track?

Which KPIs should security leaders prioritize when reporting LMS phishing program outcomes?

In our experience the most useful reporting focuses on a small set of priority phishing KPIs that map to executive risk, SOC efficiency, HR remediation and L&D engagement. This article lays out a prioritized KPI set, clear definitions and formulas, reporting cadence, a sample one‑page executive dashboard and practical templates you can implement this quarter.

We’ve found that teams that reduce KPI noise and agree on a single source of truth improve decision velocity and program funding. Below is a concise framework to align stakeholders and measure phishing program success in a way executives understand.

Stakeholder-prioritized KPI set: who needs what and why

When deciding which KPIs to report for phishing training programs, start with stakeholder outcomes: executives want risk reduction, the SOC wants faster detection, HR wants remediation completion, and L&D needs engagement and behavior change.

Below are the recommended priority phishing KPIs grouped by owner and why each matters.

• Executives — Top-line risk reduction: Phish susceptibility rate, estimated exposure reduction, and business-risk incidents avoided.
• SOC — Operational detection & response: Mean time to detect (MTTD) phishing clicks, mean time to contain (MTTC), and percent of simulated phishing escalations detected proactively.
• HR — Remediation & compliance: Time-to-complete mandatory training, remediation completion rate, and repeat offender rate within 90 days.
• L&D — Engagement & effectiveness: Training completion rate, average module score, click-to-lesson conversion, and behavior lift (pre/post assessments).

Prioritizing these resolves reporting sprawl and focuses dashboards on actionable outcomes rather than vanity metrics.

Which KPIs should executives see?

Executives need priority phishing KPIs that speak to residual risk and program ROI. Provide consolidated metrics that translate user behavior into potential business impact.

Suggested executive KPIs (top 3): phish susceptibility rate, estimated incidents prevented, and trend of high-risk user segments. Show 90/180/365‑day trends to demonstrate momentum.

KPI definitions, formulas and reporting cadence

To avoid ambiguity, every reported metric must have a clear definition, formula and recommended cadence. Below are the common phishing KPIs with precise definitions and calculation steps.

This section also covers how to pick a cadence that balances noise and timeliness for each stakeholder.

Key KPI definitions & formulas

• Phish Susceptibility Rate = (Number of users who clicked a simulated phishing link ÷ Total users targeted) × 100. Cadence: monthly and rolling 90 days.
• Phish Click Rate (by campaign) = (Clicks ÷ Emails delivered) × 100. Cadence: per campaign; aggregated monthly.
• Mean Time To Detect (MTTD) = Average time from phishing email delivery to detection/alert. Cadence: weekly/monthly for SOC dashboards.
• Mean Time To Contain (MTTC) = Average time to isolate and remediate a clicked simulated phishing incident. Cadence: weekly/monthly.
• Remediation Completion Rate = (Users finished remediation training ÷ Users assigned remediation) × 100. Cadence: weekly until remediation completes.
• Repeat Offender Rate = (Users who clicked >1 time in X period ÷ total clicked) × 100. Cadence: 90 days.
• Behavior Lift = Pre-training susceptibility − Post-training susceptibility. Cadence: per cohort, 30/90 days post-training.

For security metrics phishing programs, pairing volume-based KPIs (clicks, deliveries) with time-based KPIs (MTTD, MTTC) gives a fuller operational view.

Reporting phishing program: sample one-page executive dashboard

Executives prefer a single-page digest that highlights risk, trend, and recommended action. Below is a simple layout and a bordered table to communicate metrics clearly.

Include context rows: baseline, target, and delta to show progress against goals.

Metric	Current	Target	Delta	Cadence
Phish Susceptibility Rate	6.2%	≤4%	+2.2%	Monthly
Estimated Incidents Prevented	12/year	20/year	-8	Quarterly
MTTD (hours)	2.8	≤1	+1.8	Weekly
Remediation Completion Rate	92%	≥95%	-3%	Weekly
Behavior Lift (cohort)	45% ↓	≥40% ↓	+5%	Per cohort

Use a short narrative below the table: one-sentence insight, two action items, and one ask (budget/approval). Keep the visual uncluttered: top-line priority phishing KPIs only, with links to SOC and L&D drilldowns.

How to resolve conflicting KPIs and ensure data integrity

Conflicting KPIs are a common pain point. For example, L&D may celebrate high completion rates while SOC sees unchanged MTTD. The root is often mismatched definitions or data silos.

Address this by standardizing definitions, centralizing data pipelines, and creating a governance board with cross-functional ownership (security, HR, L&D, analytics).

How do you reconcile conflicting metrics?

Start with three practical steps:

1. Agree on canonical definitions: pick authoritative formulas (use the ones in this article).
2. Instrument a single data source of truth: a secure analytics layer that ingests LMS, email, and SOC telemetry.
3. Establish reporting cadence and reconciliation checks: weekly rollups and monthly audits.

A pattern we’ve noticed is that the turning point for most teams isn’t just creating more content — it’s removing friction. Tools like Upscend help by making analytics and personalization part of the core process, which reduces discrepancies between L&D reports and SOC telemetry.

Discrepancies often come from sampling differences (campaign vs. org-wide), attribution gaps (clicks vs. successful compromises), or time-window mismatches. Build reconciliation rules to map campaign-level events to user records and retain raw logs for audits.

Implementation checklist and KPI templates

Below is a pragmatic rollout checklist and templates you can copy into your reporting tool. The goal is to produce reliable security metrics phishing outputs in 30–60 days.

Short deployments beat perfect long-term projects. Start with the executive dashboard and an SOC drilldown, then add L&D cohort analysis and HR remediation views.

• 30-day quick wins: Standardize definitions, publish executive dashboard, automate weekly MTTD and remediation reports.
• 60-day build: Implement data pipeline, cohort behavior lift analysis, automated alerts for repeat offenders.
• Ongoing: Quarterly audits, update targets, run A/B tests on simulated campaigns and training content.

KPI templates

Copy these two templates into your dashboard tool:

1. Executive summary — single row per KPI: metric name, current value, 90-day trend sparkline, target, action required.
2. Operational drilldown — table keyed by user segment: clicks, MTTD, remediation status, repeat clicks, next action.

We recommend storing raw event streams (email send, click, remediation assignment, remediation completion, SOC detection events) in a single analytic store to support flexible slices and reliable LMS training KPIs.

Conclusion & next steps

Choosing the right priority phishing KPIs requires aligning stakeholder outcomes, standardizing definitions and committing to a reproducible data pipeline. Focus reporting on risk reduction for executives, MTTD/MTTC for SOC, remediation completion for HR and engagement plus behavior lift for L&D.

Quick action checklist:

• Adopt the standardized KPI definitions above.
• Publish the one-page executive dashboard within 30 days.
• Set a governance cadence and reconcile data weekly.

If you want a ready-to-use blueprint, start by exporting campaign-level data and applying the formulas in this article. This will let you produce defensible, audit-ready reports that executives and practitioners trust.

Next step: Schedule a cross-functional KPI alignment session this month to adopt these metrics and produce your first one-page dashboard.