KPI and metric framework

KPI and Metric Framework

Introduction

It’s important to establish a basic KPI and metric framework so we know how to adapt to our users.

Once users are interacting with the app, we need to answer two key questions:

1. How successful are our conversion events (specifically those related to first contact, onboarding and re-engagement)?
2. Are users getting value (the enjoyable experiences in the Digital Value Loop), or just passing through?

Calculating conversion rate

To answer those questions we use the following calculation, which we’ll adapt in a number of different ways.

On its own the calculation doesn’t do much (no baseline, no trend), but it becomes powerful when plotted over time. For that reason I typically think of conversion rate as:

Successes over time ÷ Opportunities over time %

Three-step KPI approach

We can measure engagement at every stage of the loop by viewing it through a 3-step lens:

1. Initialisation: “Are users discovering the feature or call-to-action?”
2. Completion: “Are users following through?”
3. Stickiness: “Are users coming back?”

Note: Stickiness is slightly different, as we typically don’t need it for onboarding or setup events that we expect a user to do only once.

At each step we adapt the definitions of “success” and “opportunity” in the calculation.

1. Initialisation: “Are users in the app starting the task?”

Example of how you might define the rate:

• Successes: users who clicked into the feature or call-to-action in the last 30 days
• Opportunities: 30-day active users (MAU)

Note: The calculation looks like: Users who opened feature ÷ MAU %

A high initialisation rate signifies discovery and interest. It suggests the task or feature is exciting and easy to find.

2. Completion: “Are users who started finishing the task?”

Example of how you might define the rate:

• Successes: users who completed the last step of the task in the last 30 days
• Opportunities: users who clicked into the feature or call-to-action in the last 30 days

Note: Here, the opportunities are the successes from the previous step.

High completion signifies the task is interesting enough to hold the curiosity it piqued.

3. Stickiness: “Are users coming back to the task?”

Example of how you might define the rate:

• Successes: users who completed the last step of the task in the last 7 days
• Opportunities: users who completed the last step of the task in the last 30 days

Note: The successes are calculated over a shorter window than the opportunities. The rate shows the proportion of users who completed the task in the last 30 days who also completed it in the last 7.

High stickiness over time signifies a valuable, habit-forming task for the user.