Product Success Metrics
Five numbers that tell you the truth weekly.
Teams that track one activation metric outrun teams tracking forty vanity charts.
The journey, step by step
Where the work concentrates
- Pick the north star5
- Instrument the funnel5
- Set honest baselines4
- Review and act4
Pick the north star
Choose one metric that means 'user got value'.
It must be countable weekly without a data team.
Revenue proxies beat engagement proxies.
Write it where the whole team sees it.
Everything else supports this number or gets cut.
Instrument the funnel
Track visit, signup, activation, repeat use, payment.
One event per funnel step. Named in plain English.
Verify events fire before launch, not after.
Set a weekly dashboard. Auto-sent, not hand-built.
Tag traffic sources so you know what channel works.
Set honest baselines
Week one numbers are the baseline. Record them.
Compare week over week, never day over day.
Segment new users from returning before judging trends.
Ignore any metric with fewer than 30 data points.
Review and act
One 30-minute metrics review per week. Same slot.
Every review ends with one action, not five.
Kill metrics nobody acted on for a month.
Share the numbers with stakeholders unedited.
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