Day 23 - Product Metrics
What are product metrics and why do we need them?...
Hello learners!
Welcome to the 23rd lesson of the series 30 Days of PM by Crework! Today, we will be talking about what are product metrics why you need to track them as a product manager.
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What are Product Metrics?
Before we jump into product metrics, let’s first ask - what is a metric?
A metric is anything that can be quantified and measured in a specific number, and hence be compared over time.
When we have a product, we want it to deliver some value to the users. Understanding user behavior and how they use the product can tell us if they are getting the value or not? We study this user behavior by mapping the product value to specific metrics that we call Product Metrics.
Product metrics refer to a set of data and indicators that reveal details about how users are interacting and responding to your product. Tracking these metrics can answer questions such as which features customers are using most, how long they are using a feature, what makes them stop using it, etc.
But why should we use them?
Without tracking metrics in product management, your product team would miss out on meaningful insight into its customers. While surveys and customer interviews can provide a glimpse into a customer’s perception of the product, behavioral data can reveal trends and missed opportunities.
When building a product, conflicting opinions tend to disrupt the development process. By providing hard data without emotional bias, you can ensure your product team is building features that appeal to users while still maintaining business goals.
Can product value always be measured and analyzed?
Yes. No matter how “fuzzy” or intangible the value may appear, you can apply quantitative measurements to any product. For example, while it’s tough to gauge precisely how much fun and entertainment users are getting from a video streaming service, you can measure how many videos they watch weekly, or how much time is spent on each.
Similarly, while finding a 100% precise way of measuring anxiety reduction in users of a meditation app might seem difficult without a qualitative study, you can measure completion rates for meditation sessions, and the percentage of people coming back each week to use the app again and again. In addition, you can observe in what ways people who do come back behave differently from those who don’t.
A helpful tool in measuring value for your product is defining the so-called “value moments”—user events or actions that indicate that a person is getting value out of your product. Your product’s value moment is an event, an action, or a series of events and actions that represent the moment that a user found value in your product. Here are a few examples of value moments:
For a dating app, the value moment could be liking a photo or sending a message
For a food delivery app, the value moment could be placing an order.
For a therapy app, it could be to take a therapy session.
Generally, we try to quantify these value moments and measure these as metrics. These become our key performance indicators (KPIs).
That’s it for today, tomorrow we will go deeper into what different kinds of metrics are used by different types of products.
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