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Srinath Kotela is a seasoned Senior Product Manager at JPMorgan Chase, with a track record of over 12 years in successfully launching technology products across a wide range of industries. His expertise spans international operations, supply chain, SAAS, financial services, and banking sectors. He has extensive hands-on experience in designing and building product operations functions at industry-leading organizations like Amazon and Twilio. Additionally, he is the host of the popular product and technology podcast "Everything Product"

Srinath Kotela

Unlock the potential of your product with KPIs and metrics—indispensable tools for gauging performance and pinpointing enhancement opportunities.
In this read, delve into:
<ul>
<li>The essence of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and metrics.</li>
<li>Their pivotal role in product management.</li>
<li>Strategies for selecting the right KPIs for your product.</li>
<li>Crucial insights to remember.</li>
</ul>
<h2>What are KPIs and metrics?</h2>
KPIs and metrics stand as two distinct pillars in the realm of performance evaluation, each serving its unique purpose. KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) primarily focus on broader, strategic business objectives. For instance, a KPI might center around enhancing revenue by driving new customer acquisitions. Metrics, however, delve into the granular details that underpin these strategic objectives. They provide intricate insights, such as measuring the conversion efficacy by tracking how many website visitors transition into new customers. In essence, while KPIs set the broader goals, metrics illuminate the pathways and effectiveness of strategies employed to reach those goals.
<h2>Why KPIs and metrics matter</h2>
Here are a few key reasons why KPIs and metrics matter for product managers:
<ul>
<li>Informed decision-making: KPIs and metrics empower you with the data you need. By examining insights, such as recognizing user challenges with certain features, you can make data-driven choices to prioritize enhancements.</li>
<li>Bridging communication with stakeholders: They provide a unified language, fostering clearer communication about product performance. Sharing these insights transparently builds trust and bolsters support for your initiatives.</li>
<li>Measuring and monitoring progress: These tools serve as an objective yardstick. By routinely observing and analyzing, you can gauge your product&#8217;s trajectory, ensuring you&#8217;re on track to meet goals and identify areas ripe for improvement.</li>
</ul>
<h2>How to develop and write KPIs</h2>
<img decoding="async" src="//wp-content/uploads/2023/10/dba963d2-2d53-4b33-8f23-6d7f4cca0037_Untitled.jpg" />
Image Source:Shutterstock
Product managers regard Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as essential tools for tracking progress towards business goals. However, crafting meaningful KPIs isn&#8217;t always straightforward. To guide you through creating impactful and actionable KPIs, follow these steps:
<ol>
<li>Root Your KPIs in business objectives: Begin by understanding your overarching business goals. Recognize the role your product plays in achieving these objectives. This clarity serves as the foundation for your KPIs.</li>
<li>Spotlight key product areas: Identify the crucial elements of your product that drive your business goals. For instance, in a social media app, focal points could include user acquisition, engagement, retention, and revenue generation.</li>
<li>Tailor metrics to focal points: For each of these key areas, determine specific metrics. Using our social media app example, if user acquisition is vital, the metric could be the number of new users.</li>
<li>Craft aligned KPIs: Develop KPIs that dovetail with these metrics. Ensure they&#8217;re clear, concise, and quantifiable. For the user acquisition metric, a fitting KPI might be targeting a 10% surge in new users for the upcoming quarter.</li>
<li>Review and refine: KPIs are dynamic. Continuously assess them, making adjustments to ensure they remain relevant. If you&#8217;re falling short on certain KPIs, reconsider and recalibrate them to stay aligned with your business goals.</li>
</ol>
<h2>Use this template for writing effective KPIs:</h2>
<img decoding="async" src="//wp-content/uploads/2023/10/870fe5fa-61f3-45f6-9f5f-65afdce515b0_Untitled.jpg" />
<ul>
<li>Definition: Offer a succinct explanation of the KPI.</li>
<li>Purpose: Define the primary goal behind this KPI.</li>
<li>Target: Set a realistic benchmark that corresponds with the KPI&#8217;s purpose.</li>
<li>Significance: Delve into why this KPI matters for the business strategy.</li>
<li>Associated KPIs: Enumerate any complementary KPIs that give a holistic view of performance.</li>
<li>Measurement Approach: Detail how the KPI is gauged, considering data sources, calculation methods, and evaluation frequency.</li>
<li>Ownership: Highlight who oversees the KPI&#8217;s tracking and reporting.</li>
<li>Response Strategy: Outline corrective steps, and their timeline, if the KPI doesn&#8217;t meet its target.</li>
<li>Additional Insights: Provide extra context or notes on the KPI for clarity among stakeholders and teams.</li>
</ul>
Let’s take an example of the Facebook application here.
KPI: Increase the Monthly Active Users (MAUs) of Facebook application by 10% over the next year
<ul>
<li>Definition: Count of distinct users who&#8217;ve created at least one Facebook post in the past 60 days.</li>
<li>Goal: Elevate Facebook&#8217;s monthly active users to amplify ad revenue and foster deeper user interactions.</li>
<li>Benchmark: Aim for a 10% surge in Monthly Active Users (MAUs) within the upcoming year.</li>
<li>Importance: As a pivotal revenue catalyst for Meta, Facebook&#8217;s sustained growth strategy hinges on expanding its user base. A rise in MAUs not only bolsters user interaction but also enhances the platform&#8217;s appeal to advertisers.</li>
<li>Associated Metrics: Along with MAUs, monitoring conversion rates and user dwell time is vital to comprehensively assess Facebook&#8217;s efficacy.</li>
<li>Gauging Approach: Leverage Facebook&#8217;s proprietary data analytics suite to assess MAUs, with monthly updates.</li>
<li>In Charge: The dedicated Facebook unit will oversee the monitoring and reporting of MAUs.</li>
<li>Strategy for Shortfalls: Should MAUs not meet the set benchmark, the Facebook division will delve into user feedback for optimization avenues, initiate promotional campaigns for user acquisition, and collaborate with the Facebook Ads sector to maximize platform visibility.</li>
</ul>
By following these guidelines, you&#8217;ll be able to craft robust KPIs that not only monitor your product&#8217;s performance but also align seamlessly with your business goals. Potent KPIs foster informed decisions, enhance transparency in communicating results to stakeholders, and are pivotal in steering your product towards success.
<h2>Some common KPIs and metrics for product managers</h2>
<img decoding="async" src="//wp-content/uploads/2023/10/7131aa75-6587-46d5-b9b6-bbb8e87e7205_Untitled.png" />
Choosing the right KPIs hinges on your business goals and your product&#8217;s unique attributes. While the exact KPIs can differ, there are standard benchmarks many product managers lean on. Let&#8217;s use Facebook as an example to illustrate how KPIs and metrics can be tailored based on distinct goals. Remember, Facebook&#8217;s essence is to let users narrate their stories and engage in dialogues.
<ul>
<li>Customer Satisfaction: Gauge the contentment users derive from your product. For a platform like Facebook, this could be assessed via metrics like user ratings or the speed of resolving customer support queries.</li>
<li>Engagement: Understand how deeply users interact with your product. Facebook, for instance, values metrics like the number of ads users view or the total time users spend on their platform.</li>
<li>Acquisition: This captures your ability to onboard new users. For a giant like Facebook, this translates to tracking new registrations, app downloads, or site visits.</li>
<li>Revenue: A measure of the financial success of your product. In Facebook&#8217;s context, this would mean observing overall ad earnings or assessing the average spend to maintain the platform.</li>
<li>Retention: A crucial KPI that zeroes in on user loyalty. Facebook might examine metrics like the average user&#8217;s lifespan on the platform or how often users return after certain intervals.</li>
<li>Conversion: This determines your product&#8217;s efficacy in guiding users towards a set goal, be it making a purchase or signing up for a service.</li>
</ul>
By diligently observing these KPIs and their associated metrics, Facebook can glean profound insights about its operations. Such a data-rich strategy ensures sound decisions, clarity in communicating results to stakeholders, and steers the platform towards achieving its vision.
<h2>Key takeaways</h2>
&nbsp;
Imagine you&#8217;re an explorer, standing at the edge of a vast, dense forest, with countless paths before you. Each path represents a potential KPI or metric. The challenge? Knowing which paths will lead you to the treasure of true product insight. As you ponder your options, a wise old owl perches nearby, offering sage advice:
<ul>
<li>The Path of Consistency: &#8216;As you journey,&#8217; the owl begins, &#8216;ensure you tread consistently. Just as footprints in the sand can show a traveler&#8217;s journey, monitoring your KPIs regularly helps discern the evolving narrative of your product. It&#8217;s through such dedication that patterns emerge, guiding you to valuable insights and needed adjustments.&#8217;</li>
<li>The Path of Alignment: &#8216;Remember the compass that guides your heart – your business objectives,&#8217; the owl continues. &#8216;If, for instance, the North Star of your venture is revenue growth, let metrics like customer acquisition and conversion rates be your loyal guides.&#8217;</li>
<li>The Path of Simplicity: The owl tilts its head, &#8216;In this vast forest, it&#8217;s easy to get lost. Don&#8217;t burden yourself with every possible trail marker. Stick to clear, straightforward paths, or KPIs, that lead you closer to your goals. Overcomplication can often obscure the journey.&#8217;</li>
<li>The Path of Action: &#8216;Lastly,&#8217; the owl imparts with a gleam in its eyes, &#8216;every path you take should empower you to act. As you measure user engagement, for instance, keep your senses keen. Look out for ways to enhance that engagement, through tweaks or transformations in your product.&#8217;</li>
</ul>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
KPIs and metrics act as the compass and map for product managers, guiding them on their journey towards business goals. They empower managers with the knowledge to navigate decisions with data and articulate the product&#8217;s tale to stakeholders.
When choosing these guiding lights, one must align them with the company&#8217;s north star, ensure they point towards actionable routes, simplify the journey, and revisit them regularly. By embracing these principles and focusing on pivotal markers, one can steer the product towards a path of excellence and achievement
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From conception to clarity: Navigating the KPI journey for product managers

Srinath Kotela

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