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Sometimes, a product fails, but we're too busy high-fiving over-page views to notice the house is on fire.
Let's talk about metrics. It's not the boring "here's how you calculate churn" metrics (though we'll get there), but the existential questions that keep product managers up at night: How do we know if what we're building matters? And why do we feel so empty inside when the numbers look great, but something feels... off?
When numbers feel good
but mean nothing.
We've all been there. The monthly report shows 10,000 new signups, social media followers, and page views that would make a BuzzFeed editor blush. Everyone's patting backs in the Slack channel. Yet somehow, revenue is flat, and customers are quietly slipping away.
Welcome to vanity metrics, which are the corporate equivalent of Instagram filters. They make everything look prettier than it is. According to Product Management Mastery, vanity metrics "look impressive at first glance but do not provide actionable insights or directly correlate with the success of a product."
Page views? Love 'em. Downloads? Delicious. Social media followers? Chef's kiss. They all share one critical feature: they make great slides for executive presentations while telling you absolutely nothing about whether your product is solving problems.
I once celebrated our "explosive growth" in web traffic for three months, only to discover later that most visitors bounced faster than a caffeinated toddler on a trampoline. The metrics looked fantastic. The reality was that we'd accidentally become very good at attracting people who had zero interest in what we were selling.
Indeed, vanity metrics are "measurable statistics that imply significant growth but may not always qualify as meaningful business results." In other words, they're the business equivalent of someone with six-pack abs who can't climb stairs without needing oxygen.
Actionable metrics:
The numbers that actually move things.
If vanity metrics are the empty calories of the product world, actionable metrics are your protein-packed, fibre-rich meal. They might not look as sexy on a PowerPoint slide, but they'll tell you if your product is going somewhere.
The lean startup guru Eric Ries cuts through the nonsense: actionable metrics help validate or invalidate your hypotheses and guide your actions. They answer essential questions about your business: Why do you gain or lose customers? When do people seek out your product? What contributes to revenue changes?
Let's get specific. Instead of downloads, track active users. Instead of page views, measure conversion rates. Rather than total user count, look at retention rates. These numbers are smaller and less impressive to brag about at networking events, but they'll tell you if your product has a pulse.
When I finally started measuring conversion rates instead of traffic, our "wildly successful" marketing campaign suddenly looked like what it was: an expensive way to attract window shoppers. Humbling? Yes. Necessary? Absolutely.
The framework fiesta:
Finding your metric North Star.
Just when you thought you understood metrics, someone introduces you to a framework with an acronym that sounds like a pirate having a stroke.
Let's decode three popular ones:
AARRR:
The pirate framework (yes, really).No, that's not the sound of distress from your team when deadlines approach. AARRR stands for Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Revenue, and Referral. It follows the customer journey from first touch to becoming an enthusiastic promoter of your product.
This framework works beautifully when you need to identify where customers are getting stuck. Are they finding you but not signing up? Signing up but not sticking around? Understanding which part of the funnel leaks like my kitchen sink after DIY plumbing can focus your efforts where they matter most.
HEART:
Google's take on metrics.Google, being Google, created their own framework called HEART: Happiness, Engagement, Adoption, Retention, and Task success. It's particularly useful when you care about user experience and need to track whether people actually enjoy using your product, not just whether they're grudgingly putting up with it while plotting your downfall.
I've found this framework especially useful when working with products where user satisfaction matters as much as growth numbers-which is to say, almost all products unless you're running some sort of digital hostage situation.
North Star:
The one metric to rule them all.For teams drowning in data, the North Star framework offers simplicity: identify one single metric that represents your product's value to customers. Everything else becomes supporting inputs to that guiding star.
Spotify might use "time spent listening" as their North Star, while Airbnb could focus on "nights booked." The beauty of this approach is alignment-everyone knows exactly what matters most.
When metrics go sideways:
The existential crisis party.
Here's where things get interesting (and by interesting, I mean panic-inducing). What happens when your carefully chosen metrics suddenly plummet? Is your product doomed? Are you doomed? Will you ever work in this town again?
First, breathe. Then, diagnose. As PMS Success points out, missing a KPI isn't always the problem-it's often a symptom of something deeper When KPIs go sideways, it's typically due to one of three issues: a system problem, a training problem, or a performance problem.
Remember Amazon's Fire Phone? That $170 million experiment that spectacularly flopped? Jeff Bezos told the product lead, "You can't, for one minute, feel bad about the Fire Phone. Promise me you won't lose a minute of sleep." Why such chill from a notoriously demanding CEO? Bezos understands that innovation requires failure. If you're not failing occasionally, you're playing it too safe.
This doesn't mean we celebrate failure for failure's sake (I'm not running a product management participation trophy program here). But it does mean recognising that metrics tell stories, which are sometimes complicated.
The metrics that actually matter.
So, what metrics should you actually care about? The frustratingly accurate answer is that it depends on your product and business goals.
But if you're looking for a place to start:
- Customer retention rate: Are people sticking around? This tells you if your product delivers ongoing value.
- Conversion volume/rate: Are people taking the actions that matter?
- Customer lifetime value: How much revenue does each customer generate over their relationship with you?
- Net Promoter Score: Would users recommend you to others?
The most important thing isn't which specific metrics you choose but ensuring they connect to business outcomes and user value. They're just expensive decorations for your dashboard if they don't help you make decisions.
Remember: metrics should be tools for understanding, not weapons for self-flagellation or ammunition for office politics. Choose wisely, measure consistently, and always be willing to admit when a number, no matter how beloved, isn't telling you anything useful.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to explain to my boss why our explosive growth in newsletter signups isn't worth celebrating until we see whether anyone's opening the damn things.
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