Resource

Popular Product Metrics

Key product metrics explained through frameworks, intuition, and real-world application.

A Working Lens for Product & Feature Delivery Team

I build this as a learning tool and as a place to start looking quantitatively.

Growth

Are people finding this? How are they arriving, and from where?

Retention

Do they come back? What brings them back, and when do they stop?

Activation

Did it click? What moment created clarity or confusion?

When these align, something like product market fit tends to emerge.

Timeframe Analysis

Product rhythm

Represents a full operating cycle. Helps establish baseline performance and recurring patterns.

Common use: Monthly reviews, KPI health checks, growth tracking.

Essential Triangle

Retention Rate

Retention rate measures the percentage of users who return after their initial visit. Think of it like a portfolio: how many recruiters who visited your site come back for a second look? Day-7, Week-2, and Month-1 cohorts reveal different insights about your product stickiness and whether you are solving a real problem.

A B2B SaaS tool saw Day-7 retention at 45% but Month-1 dropped to 12%. Investigation revealed users loved the initial setup experience but struggled with advanced features. Adding progressive onboarding increased Month-1 retention to 28%.

Amplitude Retention Guide Lenny Newsletter on Retention Reforge Retention Deep Dive

Activation Rate

Activation rate tracks how many users complete their "aha moment" and truly get what you offer. For a portfolio, this is like asking: does a hiring manager understand your value proposition within the first 30 seconds? This bridges acquisition and retention. Without activation, users churn before experiencing what makes your product great.

Slack activation metric is "2,000 messages sent by a team." They found teams hitting this threshold had 93% retention vs 15% for those who did not. This insight drove their entire onboarding strategy.

Product-Led Growth: Activation First Round Review: Activation Mixpanel Activation Guide

Growth Rate

Growth rate measures the pace at which your user base expands. Like tracking how many recruiters, hiring managers, and HR professionals view your resume or portfolio each month. MAU growth, new user acquisition, and viral coefficient all matter. Sustainable growth comes from optimizing the entire funnel, not just top-of-funnel acquisition.

A productivity app grew MAU by 15% monthly through referrals alone. They discovered power users invited an average of 3 colleagues after hitting certain usage milestones, so they added strategic share prompts at those moments.

a16z Growth Metrics Guide Sequoia Growth Framework Brian Balfour on Growth

Product Velocity

Velocity / Story Points

Velocity measures how much work your team completes per sprint, typically in story points. The goal is not maximizing velocity but achieving predictability. A stable velocity helps with planning, stakeholder communication, and identifying when something is off.

A team averaging 45 story points suddenly dropped to 28. Rather than pushing harder, the PM investigated and found a critical technical debt issue. Addressing it took one sprint but restored velocity to 50+ points going forward.

Atlassian Velocity Guide Mountain Goat: Velocity Scrum.org Velocity Article

Lead Time / Cycle Time

Lead time measures discovery-to-delivery (idea to production), while cycle time measures development-to-delivery. These metrics reveal bottlenecks in your process. Shorter, predictable cycle times mean faster learning and happier stakeholders.

Analysis showed average lead time of 6 weeks, but cycle time was only 5 days. The bottleneck? Ideas sat in the backlog for 5+ weeks before starting. Implementing a weekly prioritization ritual cut lead time to 2 weeks.

Atlassian: Lead vs Cycle Time LinearB Cycle Time Guide DORA Metrics Overview

User Value

Feature Adoption Rate

Feature adoption rate shows what percentage of users engage with a new feature. Low adoption does not always mean a bad feature. It might mean poor discoverability or targeting the wrong users. This metric guides iteration and sunset decisions.

A new export feature had only 8% adoption after launch. User research revealed most users did not know it existed. Adding a contextual tooltip at the right moment increased adoption to 34% within two weeks.

Pendo Feature Adoption ProductPlan Adoption Metrics Appcues Feature Adoption

NPS / CSAT

NPS (Net Promoter Score) measures likelihood to recommend, while CSAT measures satisfaction with specific interactions. Together, they reveal both overall sentiment and actionable friction points. The key is acting on qualitative feedback behind the scores.

NPS was strong at +42, but CSAT for customer support was only 3.2/5. Digging into verbatims revealed wait times were the issue. Implementing a callback system raised support CSAT to 4.4/5 and NPS climbed to +51.

Delighted NPS Guide Qualtrics: NPS vs CSAT Hotjar NPS Calculator

Business Impact

Revenue Metrics

MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) and ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) are the heartbeat of subscription businesses. Tracking expansion, contraction, and churn revenue separately reveals whether growth is healthy or masking retention problems.

MRR grew 8% monthly, but analysis showed 60% came from expansion revenue while new customer MRR was flat. This signaled market saturation and prompted a pivot to a new customer segment, diversifying growth sources.

ChartMogul MRR Guide OpenView SaaS Benchmarks Baremetrics Revenue Metrics

Sprint Burndown

Sprint burndown charts show remaining work versus time in a sprint. The shape of the curve tells a story: a flat line mid-sprint suggests blockers, a steep late drop indicates last-minute scrambles. Use it for daily standups and stakeholder visibility.

The burndown showed work completed only in the last 2 days of each sprint. Investigation revealed code reviews were batched on Fridays. Implementing continuous PR reviews smoothed the curve and reduced weekend work.

Atlassian Burndown Charts Scrum.org Burndown Guide Visual Paradigm Burndown

Want to see this applied?

Explore real case studies where these metrics and frameworks informed product decisions and outcomes.

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Metrics here emphasize understanding, not vanity numbers.