I’ve noticed WAU metrics don’t tell the full story anymore. User behavior is changing rapidly.
Wondering how others are adapting their analytics to capture these shifts. What new metrics or approaches are you finding most insightful?
Stop looking at WAU. It’s too broad. Focus on specific actions that drive revenue or retention.
I’ve had clients double growth by tracking activation events instead. Things like first purchase, content shared, or features used regularly.
Build cohorts around these key actions. Then optimize your funnel to push more users towards them. You’ll see which changes actually move the needle on your business metrics.
Don’t waste time on vanity metrics that look good in reports but don’t impact the bottom line.
Dropped time-in-app for user actions. Shows real value better.
I’m tracking user journey stages now. It shows where people drop off or get stuck.
Helps me tweak onboarding and figure out where to add tooltips or walkthroughs. Also good for timing engagement campaigns.
Combine it with revenue data to see which paths lead to paying users. That’s where I focus my efforts.
WAU’s still useful, but yeah, it doesn’t show the whole picture anymore. Over the last few years, I’ve shifted to looking at retention curves by cohort.
It’s more work to set up, but it shows which users stick around and why. We tag cohorts based on acquisition source, onboarding path, feature usage - whatever matters for the app.
Then we track how those cohorts retain week over week. It’s been eye-opening. Some cohorts that looked great in WAU numbers actually churned fast.
We’ve used these insights to tweak onboarding flows and retargeting campaigns. It’s helped us focus on bringing in the right users, not just more users.
One tip: don’t go overboard with cohorts at first. Pick 2-3 key factors and expand from there. Otherwise, you’ll drown in data.
We switched to tracking feature adoption rates. Shows which parts of the app actually matter to users. Helps us focus on improving the right stuff.