15 customisable OKR examples for Cost Reduction
What are Cost Reduction OKRs?
The Objective and Key Results (OKR) framework is a simple goal-setting methodology that was introduced at Intel by Andy Grove in the 70s. It became popular after John Doerr introduced it to Google in the 90s, and it's now used by teams of all sizes to set and track ambitious goals at scale.
Writing good OKRs can be hard, especially if it's your first time doing it. You'll need to center the focus of your plans around outcomes instead of projects.
We have curated a selection of OKR examples specifically for Cost Reduction to assist you. Feel free to explore the templates below for inspiration in setting your own goals.
If you want to learn more about the framework, you can read our OKR guide online.
Building your own Cost Reduction OKRs with AI
While we have some examples available, it's likely that you'll have specific scenarios that aren't covered here. You can use our free AI generator below or our more complete goal-setting system to generate your own OKRs.
Feel free to explore our tools:
- Use our free OKR generator
- Use Tability, a complete platform to set and track OKRs and initiatives, including a GPT-4 powered goal generator
Our customisable Cost Reduction OKRs examples
You will find in the next section many different Cost Reduction Objectives and Key Results. We've included strategic initiatives in our templates to give you a better idea of the different between the key results (how we measure progress), and the initiatives (what we do to achieve the results).
Hope you'll find this helpful!
1. OKRs to achieve substantial operational cost reduction
Achieve substantial operational cost reduction
Implement automation in 3 high-cost operational activities to improve efficiency
Implement and monitor the automation processes- Design suitable automation strategies for each operation
- Identify 3 high-cost operations prone to automation
- Reduce operational expenses by 15% through process optimization and waste reduction
- Identify and eliminate inefficient operational processes
- Train staff on optimized workflow processes
- Implement waste reduction measures across all departments
- Reduce third-party vendor costs by renegotiating contracts and exploring alternative suppliers
- Research and evaluate alternative suppliers
- Develop and implement cost-effective contracts with new vendors
- Initiate negotiations for current vendor contracts
2. OKRs to achieve significant cost reduction in metal fabrication
- Achieve significant cost reduction in metal fabrication
- Identify and implement at least 3 cost-effective fabrication methods by the end of the quarter
- Research potential cost-effective fabrication methods
- Implement and monitor the selected methods
- Select three most viable methods for implementation
- Negotiate supply contracts for raw materials to lower purchase costs by 15%
- Prepare detailed negotiation strategy with cost reduction targets
- Research suppliers for competitive pricing on required raw materials
- Initiate contract negotiations with selected suppliers
- Reduce waste material in fabrication by 20% to save costs
- Review and optimize fabrication processes to minimize waste
- Invest in waste-reducing technology or equipment
- Implement training on material efficiency for fabrication staff
3. OKRs to achieve significant reduction in operations cost
- Achieve significant reduction in operations cost
- Decrease monthly overhead expenses by at least 10%
- Identify and eliminate unnecessary services or subscriptions
- Negotiate lower costs with vendors or suppliers
- Implement energy-efficient practices in office operations
- Procure 20% of materials from lower-cost suppliers without compromising quality
- Transition 20% of orders to selected suppliers
- Conduct sample tests to ensure material quality
- Identify potential lower-cost suppliers with high-quality materials
- Implement automation in 3 operations processes to save labor cost
- Identify 3 operations processes suitable for automation
- Research and select suitable automation software
- Train staff on new automation tools
4. OKRs to optimize IT costs by reducing expenses by 20%
- Reduce IT expenses by 20%
- Analyze previous quarter expenses and identify areas for cost reduction
- Determine cost-saving opportunities
- Identify spending patterns
- Review expenses
- Implement cost reduction measures
- Educate employees on cost-saving practices and enforce IT policies
- Regularly remind staff of cost-cutting policies
- Contain training sessions for IT policy adoption
- Monitor employee compliance with IT policies and address non-compliance
- Hold information sessions about cost-saving practices
- Negotiate with vendors for better pricing
- Research vendor's competitors and their rates
- Highlight your previous purchasing history with them
- Offer to sign a long-term contract for a discount
- Ask for a volume discount based on the forecasted quantity
- Implement solutions and track savings
- Identify opportunities for cost reduction
- Implement cost-saving solutions
- Track and report realized savings
- Prioritize solutions based on potential savings
5. OKRs to optimize CPA by reducing it by 15%
- Decrease CPA by 15%
- Identify and pause underperforming campaigns
- Pause or adjust campaigns that consistently underperform benchmarks
- Review campaign performance metrics
- Determine performance benchmarks for each campaign
- Compare benchmarks to current campaign performance
- Optimize landing pages for higher conversion rates
- Increase page load speed by optimizing images and minimizing text
- Simplify form fields and reduce the number of required inputs
- Conduct A/B testing to determine optimal page layout
- Create clear call-to-action button with contrasting color and placement
- Perform a comprehensive audit of current campaigns
- Review campaign goals and success metrics
- Evaluate ad copy and creative effectiveness
- Analyze audience targeting and segmentation
- Assess budget allocation and ROI
- Increase bids on top-performing campaigns
- Monitor campaign performance to evaluate the effectiveness of bid increases
- Identify top-performing campaigns
- Implement bid increases on identified campaigns
- Analyze performance data to determine bid increase percentage
6. OKRs to boost profitability via disciplined revenue and expense management
- Boost profitability via disciplined revenue and expense management
- Increase quarterly revenue by 10% through strategic sales initiatives
- Develop and implement a comprehensive sales training program
- Optimize pricing strategy for improved profitability
- Identify and target high-revenue potential clients
- Decrease operating costs by 15% via efficiency improvements
- Streamline supply chain to reduce excess waste
- Identify non-essential operations that can be terminated or outsourced
- Implement energy efficient technology in the office
- Achieve a consistent 20% profit margin throughout the upcoming quarter
- Upsell and cross-sell to increase profits
- Analyze previous quarters to identify profitable strategies
- Streamline business operations to reduce expenses
7. OKRs to negotiate better pricing with vendors early in the project
- Negotiate better pricing with vendors early in the project
- Finalize early-project contracts with all vendors securing reduced rates by week 8
- Negotiate contracts and reduced rates with each vendor
- Finalize and secure all vendor contracts by week 8
- Identify all vendors necessary for early-project completion
- Build relationships with 5 key vendors by the end of the week 3
- Identify and shortlist 5 key vendors relevant to our business needs
- Initiate contact and arrange meetings with the selected vendors
- Follow up post meetings to solidify relationships and discuss potential collaborations
- Achieve at least a 10% reduction in pricing from each vendor by week 6
- Analyze current expenditure with each vendor
- Obtain written commitment to new prices
- Initiate negotiation talks for discount rates
8. OKRs to increase revenue stream for the newspaper's Editorial department
- Increase revenue stream for the newspaper's Editorial department
- Increase ad revenue by 20% through strategic placement and premium ad operations
- Optimize premium ad operations for improved visibility
- Implement A/B testing to maximize ad performance
- Identify top-performing channels for strategic ad placement
- Reduce department's operational overhead by 10% without compromising editorial quality
- Utilize automation tools to streamline routine tasks
- Implement efficient workflow to reduce time and resource wastage
- Review and renegotiate vendor contracts for cost-effectiveness
- Achieve a 15% increase in digital subscription sales by implementing targeted marketing strategies
- Optimize website for conversion rate
- Implement social media targeted ads
- Develop personalized email marketing campaigns
9. OKRs to reduce overall IT expenditure per employee
- Reduce overall IT expenditure per employee
- Decrease hardware renewal cost by 20%
- Identify and eliminate unnecessary hardware assets
- Implement preventative maintenance strategies on existing hardware
- Negotiate better contracts with hardware vendors
- Implement software use audits to identify 15% cost-saving opportunities
- Identify key software used in organization operations
- Analyze audit findings to identify cost-saving opportunities
- Develop and implement a software auditing process
- Achieve a 10% reduction in IT service contractor expenses
- Explore cheaper alternatives or in-house solutions for IT services
- Evaluate current IT service contracts for potential cost-saving opportunities
- Negotify renegotiations or cancellations of costly contracts
10. OKRs to increase annual revenue to $30 million
- Increase annual revenue to $30 million
- Improve operating efficiency by reducing overhead costs by 10%
- Negotiate with vendors and suppliers to secure better pricing and/or discounts on necessary materials and services
- Implement technology solutions or automation tools to streamline operations and reduce manual effort
- Conduct a thorough review of all overhead expenses and identify areas for cost reduction
- Streamline processes and eliminate any unnecessary steps or redundancies in operations
- Increase sales volume by 15% compared to the previous quarter
- Train sales team on effective sales techniques and provide ongoing support and motivation
- Identify target market and create targeted marketing campaign to attract new customers
- Implement a customer loyalty program to encourage repeat purchases and increase customer retention
- Collaborate with suppliers to negotiate bulk discounts and lower costs to maximize profit margins
- Expand trading operations to three new markets
- Conduct market research to identify potential markets for expansion
- Establish partnerships or collaborations with local partners in the target markets
- Develop a strategic plan for entering new markets, including budgeting and resource allocation
- Implement marketing and advertising campaigns to raise awareness and attract customers in new markets
- Achieve a customer retention rate of 90% or higher
11. OKRs to maximize revenue from current business operations
- Maximize revenue from current business operations
- Upsell or cross-sell products or services to 20% of current customers
- Train sales team in upselling and cross-selling techniques
- Design and deploy targeted marketing campaigns
- Analyze purchasing trends of current customers for upsell opportunities
- Enhance customer retention rates by 15% to boost recurring revenue
- Improve customer service response times and efficiency
- Regularly solicit and act upon customer feedback
- Implement loyalty programs to reward frequent purchases
- Increase profit margins by 10% through cost reduction strategies
- Negotiate with vendors for more favorable supply deals
- Identify areas for potential cost savings in operations
- Implement energy-saving policies to reduce utility costs
12. OKRs to enhance scalability and efficiency of deployed cloud systems
- Enhance scalability and efficiency of deployed cloud systems
- Reduce infrastructure costs by 15% through optimization of cloud services
- Implement cost-efficient cloud service solutions
- Identify potential areas for resource optimization
- Perform comprehensive audit of existing cloud service usage
- Successfully achieve 99.9% uptime across all deployed cloud services
- Implement robust redundancy measures for every service
- Utilize real-time notifications for immediate incident response
- Regularly monitor and assess cloud service performance and health
- Implement upgrades for 3 existing cloud architectures to improve performance benchmarks
- Execute upgrades on the 3 existing systems
- Research available cloud architecture upgrades
- Identify performance shortcomings in current cloud architectures
13. OKRs to reduce delivery service expenses
- Reduce delivery service expenses
- Lower staff overtime costs by 15% by improving shift scheduling
- Conduct periodic reviews to identify scheduling inefficiencies or issues
- Train managers on workload distribution and staff utilization techniques
- Implement a digital shift scheduling system for efficient workforce management
- Implement an efficient parcel tracking system to reduce lost package costs by 5%
- Train staff on new system usage
- Research and adopt an advanced tracking solution
- Identify current weaknesses in existing parcel tracking system
- Decrease fuel expenditure by 10% through optimizing delivery routes
- Train drivers on fuel-efficient driving techniques
- Implement GPS-based routing software for efficient trip planning
- Regularly maintain delivery vehicles for optimal performance
14. OKRs to increase overall company revenue
- Increase overall company revenue
- Reduce operational expenditures by 10% for increased profit margins
- Identify inefficient processes and implement cost-saving improvements
- Negotiate lower prices with suppliers and service providers
- Reduce unnecessary business travels and meetings
- Launch new 2 revenue streams and achieve 15% revenue contribution from them
- Develop robust business plans for each stream
- Identify profitable markets to establish new revenue streams
- Implement, monitor, and adjust strategies to achieve 15% revenue
- Boost product sales by 20% through enhanced marketing strategies
- Develop targeted social media advertisement campaigns
- Conduct SEO optimization for product listings
- Implement email marketing with promotional content
15. OKRs to increase company-wide revenue
- Increase company-wide revenue
- Elevate product revenue by 15% via new customer acquisition initiatives
- Implement robust promotional outreach specifically targeting potential customers
- Fine-tune product features based on market research data
- Develop and launch new customer focused marketing strategies
- Enhance service revenue by 12% through cross-selling and up-selling activities
- Implement incentives encouraging team's cross-selling activities
- Train staff in effective up-selling and cross-selling tactics
- Develop new bundled product and service offers
- Boost gross margin by 10% through systematic cost reduction strategies
- Streamline product development to reduce associated costs
- Negotiate better terms with suppliers to decrease material costs
- Implement more efficient operational processes to reduce wasted resources
Cost Reduction OKR best practices to boost success
Generally speaking, your objectives should be ambitious yet achievable, and your key results should be measurable and time-bound (using the SMART framework can be helpful). It is also recommended to list strategic initiatives under your key results, as it'll help you avoid the common mistake of listing projects in your KRs.
Here are a couple of best practices extracted from our OKR implementation guide 👇
Tip #1: Limit the number of key results
The #1 role of OKRs is to help you and your team focus on what really matters. Business-as-usual activities will still be happening, but you do not need to track your entire roadmap in the OKRs.
We recommend having 3-4 objectives, and 3-4 key results per objective. A platform like Tability can run audits on your data to help you identify the plans that have too many goals.
Tability's audit dashboard will highlight opportunities to improve OKRsTip #2: Commit to weekly OKR check-ins
Don't fall into the set-and-forget trap. It is important to adopt a weekly check-in process to get the full value of your OKRs and make your strategy agile – otherwise this is nothing more than a reporting exercise.
Being able to see trends for your key results will also keep yourself honest.
Tability's check-ins will save you hours and increase transparencyTip #3: No more than 2 yellow statuses in a row
Yes, this is another tip for goal-tracking instead of goal-setting (but you'll get plenty of OKR examples above). But, once you have your goals defined, it will be your ability to keep the right sense of urgency that will make the difference.
As a rule of thumb, it's best to avoid having more than 2 yellow/at risk statuses in a row.
Make a call on the 3rd update. You should be either back on track, or off track. This sounds harsh but it's the best way to signal risks early enough to fix things.
How to turn your Cost Reduction OKRs in a strategy map
Your quarterly OKRs should be tracked weekly in order to get all the benefits of the OKRs framework. Reviewing progress periodically has several advantages:
- It brings the goals back to the top of the mind
- It will highlight poorly set OKRs
- It will surface execution risks
- It improves transparency and accountability
Spreadsheets are enough to get started. Then, once you need to scale you can use a proper OKR platform to make things easier.
Tability's Strategy Map makes it easy to see all your org's OKRsIf you're not yet set on a tool, you can check out the 5 best OKR tracking templates guide to find the best way to monitor progress during the quarter.
More Cost Reduction OKR templates
We have more templates to help you draft your team goals and OKRs.
- OKRs to enhance employee recruitment, mentorship and development strategies
- OKRs to improve management of hourly budget per work order
- OKRs to enhance skill at describing campus locations
- OKRs to keep a long-running project on track
- OKRs to implement network DLP to limit disruption and data loss
- OKRs to develop a comprehensive monolingual dictionary
OKRs resources
Here are a list of resources to help you adopt the Objectives and Key Results framework.
- To learn: What is the meaning of OKRs
- Blog posts: ODT Blog
- Success metrics: KPIs examples
Create more examples in our app
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