Main Ideas and Takeaways
1. Establish a Solid Metrics Foundation
Having a solid metrics foundation is crucial for effective product discovery. This means identifying the key user behaviors that are the leading indicators of the business outcomes you care about and tracking them consistently. In the early days, most teams just track the big-picture business metrics like retention rates or annual recurring revenue (ARR). But to make these actionable, you need to break them down into smaller, more leading indicators that your team can influence. To do this, you’ll use a mix of:- Quantitative analysis—like running correlation studies to see which user actions are linked to desired outcomes
- Qualitative research—such as interviewing users to understand their motivations and challenges.
“We always start with basic concepts, right? That might mean using pirate metrics and figuring out which part of the product contributes to which of the ‘R’ steps. See it as a flow: What does the flow look like? What feeds into what you could call a flywheel? Then, look at which parts of the product contribute to each step. From there, figure out the success metric for that part of the product.”
2. Implement Analytics Incrementally
Building a full analytics system can be tough when you don’t have a lot of resources or leadership isn’t keen on dedicating time to it. Instead of proposing your team stops everything to focus on analytics, you can start adding tracking little by little as you go. Here’s are some ideas for adding analytics incrementally:- Focus on Just the Highest-Impact Areas: Start with the parts of your product that are the core to your customers getting value out of your product. You don’t need to instrument every single click, page view, and usage of minor features when you’re just starting.
- Add Tracking to New Features: Whenever you build something new, include the tracking code right then. There’s a fixed cost to making any change in your product—so it’s much easier to add tracking to something you’re already building.
“Maybe you already have some data, right? Show the analysis you’ve done and the decisions you’ve made based on the information and the quantity of data you’ve gathered. Then, make the case: ‘If I had more data, I could make even better decisions, or I could fix that part of the product, but we don’t have enough data there.‘“
3. Mapping The User Journey To Find The Most Important Things To Measure
Understanding user behavior is fundamental to identifying the most impactful metrics that can drive business impact. User journey mapping is a way to visualize the steps users must take to realize the value that your product provides. Doing this with your team will help you create alignment on what the critical touchpoints and moments of value for users in your product. By mapping the user journey, teams can observe where users:- Engage Deeply: Identifying features or content that capture user interest and encourage prolonged interaction.
- Drop Off: Pinpointing stages where users abandon the process, indicating potential issues or areas for improvement.
- Achieve Success Moments: Recognizing actions that lead to user satisfaction or the realization of the product’s value proposition.