Been tracking all the usual stuff - CAC, LTV, retention rates, funnel conversions.
But honestly starting to question if these numbers actually translate to real business growth or if I’m just optimizing vanity metrics.
What do you actually measure that moves the needle on revenue?
Payback period is what matters most. How long does it take for a user to pay back their acquisition cost through actual spending? If your CAC is $20 and users spend $5 monthly, you break even at month 4. Everything after that is profit. Most apps focus on downloads or signups but never track when users become profitable. Once you know payback periods by channel, you can shift budget to sources that pay back fastest.
Revenue per user over time tells you more than conversion rates alone.
Look at customer engagement and repeat purchases
Cohort profitability breaks this down better than any single metric.
I split users into weekly cohorts and track how much net profit each group generates after covering their acquisition costs. Some cohorts from expensive channels actually become more profitable than cheap traffic over 6 months.
Also started measuring feature adoption that correlates with payment. Found that users who complete specific actions within 7 days have 3x higher lifetime spend. Now I optimize campaigns to attract users more likely to hit those behaviors.
Most marketers stop at revenue per user but miss the cost side. Factor in support costs, refunds, and churn management. A $50 LTV user might only net you $30 after everything.
I focus on how much money each user brings in during their first 30 days because that shows if my marketing actually attracts people who spend.
Also track how many users upgrade or buy additional features since that means they see real value in what you built.