Criteria for Good metrics 

Actionable (2, 143)

• Demonstrate clear cause and effect
• Understand how value was achieved (eg was it engineering or marketing)
• Blame culture when metrics go down is avoided

Accessible (2, 143)

• Everyone can get them
• Allows metrics to guide as they are single source of truth
• “Metrics are people too”
  • E.g. website hit is not as accessible as customer visiting site

Auditable (2, 143)

• Data is credible to employees
• Can pot check the data with real people to verify

Iterating Metrics

Product Metrics Structures

Pirate or AARRR Metrics

Originally by David McClure

Metrics

1. Acquisition (prospects visit from various channels/ users find your product)
2. Activation (prospects convert to customers/ users have their first great experience)
3. Retention (customers remain active/ user return to your product)
4. Referral (Customers refer prospects/ users recommend)
5. Revenue (customers make your business money/ users pay for your product)

Benefits

• Can calculate conversion through each step of the funnel (3, page 106)

Shortfalls

• Does not consider user satisfaction (3, page 106)

HEART Framework

• This framework is for a specific product or feature
• Happiness (how satisfied the user is with the product)
• Engagement (how the user interacts with the product)
• Adoption (same as activation in Pirate Metrics)
• Retention (same as Pirate Metrics)
• Task Success (how easy is it for the user to complete the task)

Specific Metric Details

Retention Parameters

Retention Curves (1, page 243)

• Days since first use does not start at 0 usually as this would be 100% and would alter the scale of the graph
• Can use cohort analysis (i.e. plotting the retention rates of different user cohorts (groups) onto the same axis to see the difference in the retention parameters for the separate groups

• Parameter 1 to notice: The percentage where the graph starts on Day 1 shows the initial drop off rate
• Parameter 2: Rate that the retention curve decreases from Day 1 value
• Parameter 3: Terminal value for retention curves is where the retention flattens out. If it is 0% then your product will ultimately lose all of its customers

---

References

1. Lean Product Playbook by Dan Olsen
2. Lean Startup by Eric Ries
3. Escaping the Build Trap by Melissa Perri