Published on: Jun 29, 2023
Last updated: Oct 21, 2024

15 Important Product Metrics You Should Track, How & Why

Confused about which product metrics are actually worth tracking? We break things down in this blog post.

TL:DR

  • Data-driven decision-making is crucial for product-led businesses to optimize product performance and drive growth.
  • McKinsey & Company found that data-driven organizations are more likely to acquire customers and be profitable.
  • Product analytics metrics provide insights into user behavior, product adoption, and overall product health.
  • Important categories of product analytics metrics include user acquisition, user engagement, conversion, retention and churn, and revenue metrics.
  • User acquisition metrics include new signups, app downloads, and website registrations.
  • Conversion rate metrics include click-to-purchase rate, trial-to-paid conversion rate, and form completion rate.
  • Retention and churn metrics include user retention rate, churn rate, and repeat purchase rate.
  • Revenue metrics include average revenue per user (ARPU), customer lifetime value (CLTV), and revenue growth rate.
  • Strategies for utilizing product metrics include establishing clear goals and KPIs, performing cohort analysis, conducting A/B testing, and utilizing data visualization.
  • By analyzing product analytics metrics and leveraging data-driven insights, businesses can optimize their products, improve user experience, and drive success.

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Data-driven decision-making has become increasingly crucial for the success of product-led businesses. Product managers, data analysts, and business stakeholders need to harness the power of product analytics metrics to optimize product performance and drive growth. 

According to a study by McKinsey & Company, data-driven organizations are 23 times more likely to acquire customers and 19 times as likely to be profitable as a result. Product analytics metrics play a pivotal role in achieving these impressive results, as they provide invaluable insights into user behavior, product adoption, and overall product health.

In this blog post, we'll look at fifteen of the most important product analytics metrics you should be tracking and why. Let's dive in!

Understanding product metrics

Product analysis metrics serve as vital tools for assessing product performance, user behavior, and business results. By measuring and analyzing these metrics, businesses can make data-driven adjustments to optimize their products and achieve desired outcomes. Crucial categories of product analytics metrics include:

  • User Acquisition Metrics: These metrics focus on the effectiveness of attracting new users to your product through various marketing channels.
  • User Engagement Metrics: These metrics analyze how users interact with your product, showcasing its value and usability.
  • Conversion Metrics: These metrics measure the rate at which users complete specific actions, such as signing up or purchasing.
  • Retention and Churn Metrics: These metrics examine user loyalty and the degree to which customers continue using your product over time.
  • Revenue Metrics: These metrics quantify the financial impact of your product on your business, highlighting its profitability.

Monitoring and comprehending these metrics empower organizations to make strategic decisions, enhance user satisfaction, and maintain a competitive edge.

User acquisition metrics

Important user acquisition metrics include: 

  • New signups
  • App downloads
  • Website registrations

New user sign-ups

New user sign-ups are a key metric to track the growth of your product or service. This metric indicates the number of users who have created an account or subscribed to your offering during a specific period. To track new user sign-ups, you can use tools like Google Analytics or a CRM tool like HubSpot. To set up tracking in Google Analytics, you'll need to install a Google Analytics tracking code on your website and create a goal to track conversions. CRM tools like HubSpot and Intercom enable automatic notifications when someone signs up for your product or becomes a lead.

App downloads

App downloads are a vital metric for any mobile app-based business. This metric measures the total number of times your app has been downloaded from app stores like Google Play or Apple's App Store. To track app downloads, you can use the analytics provided by app stores through your dashboard or use third-party tools like App Annie or Sensor Tower and link your app store accounts to access detailed download data.

Website registrations

Website registrations are an essential metric for businesses that require users to sign up for an account to access their content, products, or services. This metric tracks the number of users who have registered on your website during a specific period. To track website registrations, you can use web analytics tools like Google Analytics by creating a goal and tracking conversions or using CRM tools like HubSpot or Intercom and set up notifications to learn when someone registers on your website.

How to track user acquisition metrics

Analytics tools like Google Analytics and CRM tools like HubSpot often track most of these metrics automatically. If they don't, it's easy to set up custom goals and triggers to track the KPIs you're measuring.

Conversion rate metrics

Important conversion rate metrics include: 

  • Click-to-purchase rate
  • Trial-to-paid conversion rate
  • Form completion rate

Click-to-purchase rate

Click-to-purchase rate is a conversion metric that measures the percentage of users who click on a specific call-to-action (CTA) and complete a purchase. This metric helps evaluate the effectiveness of your conversion funnel, specifically the transition from browsing to purchasing.

Trial-to-paid conversion rate

Trial-to-paid conversion rate measures the percentage of users who convert from a free trial or freemium plan to a paid subscription. This metric is crucial for businesses offering a trial period or freemium model to assess the effectiveness of their conversion strategies.

Form completion rate

Form completion rate is a conversion metric that measures the number of users who successfully complete and submit a form on your website. This metric can help evaluate the effectiveness of your forms and identify potential areas for improvement.

How to track conversion rate metrics

Most conversion rate metrics can be tracked by setting up a goal in Google Analytics. However, For more data and granularity, consider using tools like:

  • Session replay tools: These tools, such as Hotjar or Fullview, record user sessions like a video, allowing you to watch how users interact with your website and web app, including mouse movements and clicks.
  • Heatmap tools: Tools like Crazy Egg or Heatmap aggregate clicks on a webpage and display them graphically, like thermal imagery, with red indicating high click density and blue indicating fewer clicks.

Retention and churn metrics

These metrics include: 

  • User retention rate
  • Churn rate
  • Repeat purchase rate

User retention rate

User retention rate is a metric that measures the number of users who continue to use your product or service over a specific period. This metric helps you understand user loyalty and identify areas for improvement in retaining customers.

Churn rate

Churn rate measures how many customers stop using your product within a specific time frame. A high churn rate indicates potential issues with customer satisfaction, product quality, or customer support.

Repeat purchase rate

Repeat purchase rate is a metric that measures the number of customers who make more than one purchase from your business. This metric helps you understand customer loyalty and the effectiveness of your marketing efforts in driving repeat business.

How to measure retention and churn metrics

Product analytic software like Mixpanel and WhatFix can help you measure these metrics. However, most involve an installation of some kind. This typically involves pasting a few lines of code into your app or using GTM (Google Tag Manager).  

Revenue metrics

These metrics include: 

  • Average revenue per user (ARPU)
  • Customer lifetime value (CLTV)
  • Revenue growth rate

Average revenue per user (ARPU)

Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) is a revenue metric that measures the average amount of money generated by each user during a specific time period. This metric helps businesses evaluate the financial impact of their product and identify potential areas for growth.

To measure ARPU, simply divide your total revenue during a specific period by the total number of users during the same period:

ARPU = Total Revenue / Total Number of Users

Customer lifetime value (CLTV)

Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV) is a revenue metric that estimates the total amount of money a customer will generate for your business throughout their entire relationship with your company. CLTV helps businesses understand the value of acquiring and retaining customers and informs marketing and sales strategies.

To measure CLTV, use the following formula:

(Average Revenue per User x Gross Margin) / Churn Rate

Revenue growth rate

Revenue growth rate is a revenue metric that measures the percentage increase in revenue over a specific period. This metric helps businesses evaluate their financial performance and understand the effectiveness of their marketing, sales, and product strategies.

To measure revenue growth rate, use the following formula:

(Current Period Revenue - Prior Period revenue) / Prior period revenue

How to track revenue metrics

You can use revenue management software like ChargeBee or Subskribe to track revenue metrics. Software like this also allows you to run pricing experiments and is great for companies that run on a subscription model.

Leveraging product metrics for data-driven insights

By analyzing data-driven insights, organizations can optimize their products, improve user experience, and ultimately achieve better outcomes. In this section, we'll explore strategies for effectively utilizing product analytics metrics, helping businesses gain a deeper understanding of their users and drive success.

These strategies include: 

  • Establishing clear goals and KPIs
  • Performing cohort analysis
  • Conducting A/B testing
  • Utilizing data visualization

Establishing clear goals and KPIs

Defining specific goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) aligned with business objectives is essential in guiding metric analysis. By establishing clear goals and KPIs, businesses can focus on the most important aspects of their product and measure progress toward achieving their desired outcomes.

To effectively establish goals and KPIs, businesses should:

  • Identify their primary objectives, such as increasing user engagement, improving user retention, or boosting revenue.
  • Develop specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals related to these objectives.
  • Determine the appropriate KPIs that will help track progress toward these goals.

Performing cohort analysis

Cohort analysis is a valuable technique that involves segmenting users into cohorts based on shared characteristics or behaviors. This allows businesses to identify patterns and trends over time, which can inform targeted marketing strategies, product improvements, and user retention efforts.

By performing cohort analysis, businesses can:

  • Understand how different groups of users engage with and adopt their products.
  • Identify which features or aspects of the product resonate best with specific cohorts.
  • Tailor their marketing and communication strategies to better serve the needs and preferences of each cohort.

Conducting A/B testing

A/B testing is a powerful method for comparing the impact of different variations or features on user behavior and outcomes. By conducting A/B tests, businesses can make data-driven decisions about which product changes will be most effective in achieving their goals.

To conduct successful A/B tests, businesses should:

  • Formulate a clear hypothesis about the expected impact of a specific change or feature.
  • Create two or more variations of the product, with one serving as the control and the others incorporating the proposed changes.
  • Randomly assign users to each variation and collect data on key metrics.
  • Analyze the results to determine which variation performs best and implement the winning changes.

Utilizing data visualization

Visualizing product analytics metrics through charts, graphs, or dashboards is essential for facilitating understanding and communicating insights effectively. By presenting data in a visually appealing and easily digestible format, businesses can quickly identify trends, patterns, and areas for improvement.

Data visualization can help businesses:

  • Monitor KPIs and track progress toward their goals
  • Identify correlations between different metrics or user behaviors
  • Communicate insights to stakeholders in a clear and compelling manner

Conclusion

Product analytics metrics provide valuable insights that help businesses make informed decisions about their products and identify areas for improvement. By leveraging the most appropriate product analytics metrics, organizations can target the right users, optimize their products, increase user engagement and retention, and ultimately drive success.

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