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Love Metrics

A while back, Anjali posted a quote from a product designer saying that if they had to live with one user engagement (horrible word, I know) metric for a non-transactional site or app it would be visitor recency. That's not to say that using a bundle of metrics isn't useful. It is. But since visitor recency measures what percentage of your visitors come back each day and each week, it's a good indicator of whether what you're creating is a truly great experience. One that people want to do again and again. One that stands a chance of becoming a regular part of people's lives.

It's a nice point. Eric Ries (he of the Lean Start-up movement) has talked about the trap of so called 'vanity metrics'. How every start-up (because it's so important to get talked about) will inevitably use numbers that look good on paper or on a press release (like page impressions, total users, views, message volume) but aren't action oriented.

But as Kevin Systrom of Instagram says in this interview, whilst this may be OK externally, internally it is critical that you focus on active user metrics. So for Instagram, that's not only how many people are posting per day, opening it up and checking it, but how different cohorts are using it over time (like how many of the people that first downloaded it are still using it for example). It's what Scott Cook of Intuit calls 'Love Metrics' – the kind of metrics that are better indicators of "how much people love the product, how often they come back, how delighted they are".

It sometimes seems that digital media is awash with vanity metrics. Personally, I'd much rather focus on the numbers that told me whether what I was building was something that stood a chance of being a meaningful or useful part of people's lives. I think a lot of content producers (and dareisayit media owners) still focus too much attention on their own version of vanity metrics. It's all about how many users you have rather than who they are, what they're doing or how often they come back. This, to me, is a fundamental mistake.

6 responses to “Love Metrics”

  1. @duh_sponge Avatar
    @duh_sponge

    Reading this and ‘canalside-view’ blog on engagement.
    It is easy to boost morale with vanity metrics – and in instances this is harmless – everyone needs a pickmeup once in a while and these numbers are easy to score / watch expand.
    The danger comes when you start to believe your own hype (now humming Public Enemy).
    Feel good about site visits, exposure of message to audience, effectiveness of media campaigns to draw views, etc.
    But don’t fool yourself in to thinking that these ‘intermediate metrics’ are having a demonstrably positive impact on business performance.
    Just because you have an audience doesn’t mean you have a buyer.
    As both you and Martin Weigel say – the metrics of love are harder to measure, but this is where you learn if your communications have made a difference to your business.
    Pamper yourself with vanity – but don’t lose sight of reality.
    Great read from both posts – thanks for the learning.

    Reply
  2. @duh_sponge Avatar
    @duh_sponge

    Reading this and ‘canalside-view’ blog on engagement.
    It is easy to boost morale with vanity metrics – and in instances this is harmless – everyone needs a pickmeup once in a while and these numbers are easy to score / watch expand.
    The danger comes when you start to believe your own hype (now humming Public Enemy).
    Feel good about site visits, exposure of message to audience, effectiveness of media campaigns to draw views, etc.
    But don’t fool yourself in to thinking that these ‘intermediate metrics’ are having a demonstrably positive impact on business performance.
    Just because you have an audience doesn’t mean you have a buyer.
    As both you and Martin Weigel say – the metrics of love are harder to measure, but this is where you learn if your communications have made a difference to your business.
    Pamper yourself with vanity – but don’t lose sight of reality.
    Great read from both posts – thanks for the learning.

    Reply
  3. Dan Thornton Avatar
    Dan Thornton

    I completely agree with using the right internal metrics and ideally tracking everything back from whatever makes your business money, then adding user activity, and finally reporting on the vanity metrics every so often for the sake of it if you have to.
    But with digital media/content owners, the key thing is that many still make a significant proportion of their revenue from advertising, and despite the claims of change from most media agencies/buyers, the majority is still bought on the basis of eyeballs.
    I’ve had plenty of conversations in the past where I’ve been able to offer ways to interact with a highly engaged and active group, only to find someone wanted 100k impressions at £1 a throw.
    It’ll change more as media owners look increasingly beyond advertising for cash – Conde Nast running educational courses springs to mind, but it’ll be a long slow process. After all, it’s taken ages to move from hits to page views to unique users, despite the fact people starting gaming hits and page views stats the moment they started gaining attention.

    Reply
  4. Dan Thornton Avatar
    Dan Thornton

    I completely agree with using the right internal metrics and ideally tracking everything back from whatever makes your business money, then adding user activity, and finally reporting on the vanity metrics every so often for the sake of it if you have to.
    But with digital media/content owners, the key thing is that many still make a significant proportion of their revenue from advertising, and despite the claims of change from most media agencies/buyers, the majority is still bought on the basis of eyeballs.
    I’ve had plenty of conversations in the past where I’ve been able to offer ways to interact with a highly engaged and active group, only to find someone wanted 100k impressions at £1 a throw.
    It’ll change more as media owners look increasingly beyond advertising for cash – Conde Nast running educational courses springs to mind, but it’ll be a long slow process. After all, it’s taken ages to move from hits to page views to unique users, despite the fact people starting gaming hits and page views stats the moment they started gaining attention.

    Reply
  5. @duh_sponge Avatar
    @duh_sponge

    Interesting section in this piece from Brian Solis:-
    http://www.briansolis.com/2011/09/be-careful-what-you-ask-for-you-just-might-measure-it/
    ‘By the numbers’ section charts the decline in use / interest in ‘love’ metrics amongst CMOs across US plc from 2010 to 2011.
    Are they backing away because ‘love’ is a more difficult metric to establish, or are they missing the point?
    As outlined in your post above – site visits, likes, etc are not evidence of ‘love’ and make no contribution to the bottom line – they simply indicate ‘activity’ (and that doesn’t pay the bills).
    Perhaps the boards of these organisations fail to recognise the difference between like and love.
    But is it the responsibility of the marketer to educate the board – and if so, by allowing them to focus on ‘vanity’ metrics, are marketers playing the game and protecting their backsides?

    Reply
  6. @duh_sponge Avatar
    @duh_sponge

    Interesting section in this piece from Brian Solis:-
    http://www.briansolis.com/2011/09/be-careful-what-you-ask-for-you-just-might-measure-it/
    ‘By the numbers’ section charts the decline in use / interest in ‘love’ metrics amongst CMOs across US plc from 2010 to 2011.
    Are they backing away because ‘love’ is a more difficult metric to establish, or are they missing the point?
    As outlined in your post above – site visits, likes, etc are not evidence of ‘love’ and make no contribution to the bottom line – they simply indicate ‘activity’ (and that doesn’t pay the bills).
    Perhaps the boards of these organisations fail to recognise the difference between like and love.
    But is it the responsibility of the marketer to educate the board – and if so, by allowing them to focus on ‘vanity’ metrics, are marketers playing the game and protecting their backsides?

    Reply

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