Product Metrics
Metrics for measuring product usage, adoption, and delivery.
Usage Metrics
Daily Active Users (DAU)
Definition: Unique users who performed a meaningful action in the product on a given day.
Formula:
DAU = Count of unique users with qualifying activity in 24-hour period
Qualifying activity: Defined per product. Must be intentional engagement, not passive (e.g., not just logging in, but performing a core action).
What it tells you: Daily engagement level.
Weekly Active Users (WAU)
Definition: Unique users who performed a meaningful action in the product within a 7-day period.
Formula:
WAU = Count of unique users with qualifying activity in 7-day period
Monthly Active Users (MAU)
Definition: Unique users who performed a meaningful action in the product within a 30-day period.
Formula:
MAU = Count of unique users with qualifying activity in 30-day period
What it tells you: Monthly engagement breadth.
DAU/MAU Ratio (Stickiness)
Definition: The ratio of daily to monthly active users, indicating how often users return.
Formula:
Stickiness = DAU / MAU × 100
Benchmarks:
- Below 10%: Low stickiness, investigate product-market fit
- 10-13%: Average for B2B SaaS (Mixpanel data: 13% median)
- 13-20%: Good for B2B SaaS
- 20-25%: Strong engagement
- 25%+: Exceptional (top-quartile products)
- 50%+: World-class (communication/collaboration tools like Slack)
Important context: DAU/MAU is misleading for products not designed for daily use (accounting tools, signature apps, seasonal products). For B2B tools used weekly, WAU/MAU is more appropriate.
What it tells you: How habit-forming the product is. Higher = users come back more frequently.
Sources:
WAU/MAU Ratio
Definition: Weekly to monthly active user ratio.
Formula:
WAU/MAU = WAU / MAU × 100
Benchmarks:
- Below 40%: Infrequent use
- 40-60%: Moderate use
- Above 60%: Regular weekly use
Active Accounts
Definition: Customer accounts with at least one active user in the period.
Formula:
Active Accounts = Count of accounts with ≥1 active user in period
What it tells you: Account-level engagement (vs user-level).
Activation Rate
Definition: Percentage of new users/accounts that reach the activation milestone.
Formula:
Activation Rate = Users reaching activation / New users × 100
Activation milestone: Product-specific moment when user has experienced core value. Define explicitly.
Benchmarks:
- Below 20%: Low activation, onboarding issue
- 20-40%: Average
- 40-60%: Good
- Above 60%: Strong activation
What it tells you: Is the product delivering value to new users?
Adoption Metrics
Feature Adoption Rate
Definition: Percentage of users/accounts using a specific feature.
Formula:
Feature Adoption = Users using feature / Total active users × 100
Track for each key feature.
What it tells you: Which features are being used, which are ignored.
Core Feature Adoption
Definition: Percentage of users using the core features that define the product.
Formula:
Core Feature Adoption = Users using all core features / Total active users × 100
Define 3-5 “core” features that represent full product usage.
Benchmarks:
- Below 30%: Users not fully utilizing product
- 30-50%: Moderate adoption
- 50-70%: Good
- Above 70%: Strong full-product adoption
Feature Depth
Definition: How extensively users engage with features (not just whether they use them).
Formula:
Feature Depth = Average feature actions per user per period
What it tells you: Intensity of usage, not just breadth.
Time to Feature Adoption
Definition: Time from signup/activation to using a specific feature.
Formula:
Time to Adoption = Median of (First feature use date - Signup date)
What it tells you: Feature discovery and adoption speed.
Breadth of Adoption
Definition: Average number of features used per account.
Formula:
Breadth = Total features used across all accounts / Active accounts
What it tells you: How much of the product is being utilized.
Engagement Metrics
Session Frequency
Definition: Average number of sessions per user per period.
Formula:
Session Frequency = Total sessions / Active users
What it tells you: How often users return.
Session Duration
Definition: Average time spent per session.
Formula:
Session Duration = Total session time / Total sessions
Benchmarks: Highly product-dependent. Track trend over time.
What it tells you: Depth of engagement per visit.
Time in Product
Definition: Total time spent in product per user per period.
Formula:
Time in Product = Sum of session duration per user
What it tells you: Overall engagement intensity.
Actions per Session
Definition: Average number of meaningful actions per session.
Formula:
Actions per Session = Total actions / Total sessions
What it tells you: Productivity per session.
Product Qualified Accounts (PQAs)
Definition: Accounts that have demonstrated product engagement indicating sales-readiness.
Formula:
PQA = Accounts meeting product engagement threshold
Threshold criteria (examples):
- Used product X times
- Activated Y features
- Added Z users
- Reached usage limit
What it tells you: Product-driven sales signals.
Retention Metrics (Product)
User Retention (Day N)
Definition: Percentage of users who return on day N after signup.
Formula:
Day N Retention = Users active on day N / Users who signed up N days ago × 100
Common intervals: Day 1, Day 7, Day 14, Day 30.
Benchmarks (Day 30 for B2B SaaS):
- Below 20%: Poor
- 20-40%: Average
- Above 40%: Good
Cohort Retention
Definition: Retention tracked by signup cohort over time.
Formula:
Cohort Retention (Week N) = Active users in week N / Users in cohort × 100
What it tells you: How retention evolves, and whether it’s improving for newer cohorts.
Resurrection Rate
Definition: Percentage of churned/dormant users who return.
Formula:
Resurrection Rate = Reactivated users / Dormant users × 100
What it tells you: Can you win back lost users?
Delivery Metrics
Release Frequency
Definition: How often new releases are shipped to customers.
Formula:
Release Frequency = Releases per period
What it tells you: Product development velocity.
Note: Related to Engineering’s Deployment Frequency, but measured at feature/product level vs code deployment level.
Feature Delivery Rate
Definition: Percentage of planned features delivered on schedule.
Formula:
Delivery Rate = Features shipped on time / Features planned × 100
What it tells you: Roadmap predictability.
Roadmap Completion
Definition: Percentage of roadmap items completed in the period.
Formula:
Roadmap Completion = Roadmap items completed / Roadmap items planned × 100
Time to Market
Definition: Time from feature concept to production release.
Formula:
Time to Market = Median of (Release date - Concept approval date)
What it tells you: How quickly product can respond to market needs.
Quality Metrics (Product)
Error Rate (User-Facing)
Definition: Percentage of user actions that result in errors.
Formula:
Error Rate = Error events / Total user actions × 100
Target: <1%
Note: Related to Engineering’s Error Rate, but measured from user action perspective.
Bug Escape Rate
Definition: Bugs found in production vs found in testing.
Formula:
Bug Escape Rate = Production bugs / (Production bugs + Bugs caught in QA) × 100
Target: <10%
User-Reported Issues
Definition: Number of bugs/issues reported by users.
Formula:
User-Reported Issues = Count of user-submitted bug reports
What it tells you: Quality as perceived by users.
Feature Request Volume
Definition: Number of feature requests received.
Formula:
Feature Request Volume = Count of feature requests per period
Track by theme/category to identify patterns.
Summary Table
| Metric | Type | Primary Indicator Of |
|---|---|---|
| DAU/MAU (Stickiness) | Usage | User engagement frequency |
| MAU | Usage | User engagement breadth |
| Activation Rate | Adoption | New user success |
| Core Feature Adoption | Adoption | Full product utilization |
| Session Frequency | Engagement | Return rate |
| PQAs | Engagement | Product-driven sales signals |
| Day 30 Retention | Retention | User stickiness |
| Release Frequency | Delivery | Development velocity |
| Error Rate | Quality | Product reliability |