Data & Analytics
Data and analytics show who your users are, what they want, and how to keep them.
Articles
I’m Sorry, But Those Are Vanity Metrics
In this exclusive interview, Tabb shares how to abide by metrics that generate direction — not pats on backs — so that your company can act on what’s most essential to a business. He contrasts vanity and clarity metrics across a handful of types of companies — including service, advertising, software and ecommerce — to demonstrate how to find proxies that better predict behavior over time. Lastly, he emphasizes how to prevent teams from getting seduced by vanity metrics — and tips on honing their instincts for real, productive measurement.

The only metric that matters
You need a metric that specifically answers this. It can be “x people did 3 searches in the past week”. Or “y people visited my site 9 times in the past month”. Or “z people made at least one purchase in the last 90 days.” But whatever it is, it should be a signal that they are using their product in the way you expected and that they use it enough so that you believe they will come back to use it more and more.