Been questioning whether I’m looking at vanity metrics instead of what actually moves the needle.
Spent months optimizing for downloads when retention was falling off a cliff. Made me wonder what other “insights” I’ve been chasing that don’t matter.
Most people track vanity metrics instead of what actually makes money. Downloads and DAU look impressive but mean nothing if users aren’t sticking around. I’ve watched apps with killer install numbers crash and burn because they ignored activation rates and time to first value. If someone doesn’t hit your core action in their first session, they’re probably gone forever. Pick one metric that ties directly to revenue. The rest is just noise.
Track revenue per user - that’s what matters. Downloads look nice but they don’t pay the bills.
I burned through ad money chasing installs while my actual paying users stayed flat. Now I focus on lifetime value and how much each user actually brings in over time.
Same here. I wasted 6 months obsessing over click-through rates on onboarding screens while users were bailing at payment.
Day 7 cohort retention changed everything for me. Once I tracked that, I saw our pretty UI updates were worthless if people didn’t come back.
Now I pick one metric that directly ties to revenue. Everything else gets judged on whether it moves that number.
Saved me from countless pointless A/B tests on button colors when I should’ve been fixing the actual UX.
Focus on revenue not just active users
Retention matters more than downloads. Focus on keeping users engaged not just attracting them.