Product Metrics

Nneka Akuma
3 min readMay 25, 2022
Photo by Darling Arias on Unsplash

Metrics are numerical data that display information about a process. They provide information about how a process works and lay the groundwork for feedback and improvement. Feedback loops aid in the measurement of feedback. The more you get authentic feedback, the more you look forward to managing and improving the process.

What gets measured, gets managed — Peter Drucker

Metrics vary from products and industries. Store reviews, number of monthly active subscribers, number of returning subscribers, the time it takes a user to click play on a video on your platform and the time it takes the video to play are all instances of metrics.

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

To ensure that the team and product are on pace to fulfill the product’s goal, the Product Manager must define what success means, and this is done through metrics.

Here are some examples of product metrics:

Growth metrics: These include total users per month, monthly active users etc.

Engagement metrics: These include number of logins daily, time spent on platform, number of actions performed, no of interactions etc.

These examples vary from different companies, products and industries

Usually, tracking output with just one metric is insufficient. The effectiveness of a process can be measured using a variety of metrics.

Some metric frameworks:

  1. AARRR (Pirate) framework:

Grouping your metrics into the pirate metrics categories will give you better insight into what areas of your product need the most attention. This is how a growth marketing framework is formed, which helps to determine where you should dedicate resources to improve your product.

A — Acquisition: this measures how many users know and have downloaded your product

A — Activation: this metric measures number of users who use your product. users who make a post or status update etc.

R — Retention: this metric measures how many users return to your product.

R — Referral : This measures the number of users who are happy with your product and go ahead to tell their friends and family about it

R — Revenue : this measures how money is being made.

2. Heart framework:

The HEART framework is user-centered. It was formed to assess the quality of the user experience and assist teams in determining the impact of UX changes.

H — Happiness: This metric measures how satisfied or happy your user is.

E — Engagement: this measures how long does it takes your user to return to your product

A — Adoption: this measures how many users have actually used your product.

R — Retention: this metric measures how many users return to your product.

T — Task Success: this measures whether your user is able to achieve the goal of the product.

Some tools for tracking metrics:

  1. Google Analytics
  2. Mixpanel
  3. Kiss metrics
  4. Optimizely
  5. Segment metrics

Good metrics should be easily understandable, dynamic, connected etc.

Identifying the right metrics to track and analyze allows you and your team make more informed product decisions.

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Nneka Akuma

A Product Manager focused on adding value, 1 successful product at a time