Make Your Pirate Metrics Actionable
Make Your Pirate Metrics Actionable
When Dave McClure first introduced the idea of Pirate Metrics , it shook the startup world to its core.
1. Acquisition: Compare Your Results From Across Channels
To improve your acquisition efforts, you need to combine this cross-channel approach with a focus on users who actually try your app out.
The Actionable Metric: Conversion Rate from Download to Sign-up
If you track users from the moment they see your app to the moment they sign up, then separate those results out by marketing channel, you will know precisely how well you’re marketing. To do so, set up a 2-step funnel from the first screen of your app to sign-in and compare your conversion percentages:
Now you have work to do:
- As McClure says, “Do LOTS of landing page tests & A/B tests — make lots of dumb guesses and iterate QUICK.”
- Check your conversion rates constantly. Get them up. Take a break once you start to see diminishing returns.
- Re-double your marketing efforts on the channel where you’re seeing the best performance: the largest volume of conversions for the lowest cost.
2. Activation: Fix Your Funnel For A Quicker Aha Moment
You need to understand:
- How many users aren’t being activated properly
- Where specifically those users are getting lost
- What steps you need to take to fix it
The Actionable Metric: Conversion Funnels and Split Testing
The journey from sign up to activation is a perilous one. To fix this, build new versions of your onboarding flow and split test them to see how they work. Don’t be afraid of making things more complicated if it helps new users get to the core value of your product faster.
Friction isn’t always bad. If it gets your users engaged, then it’s productive.
3. Retention: —Use Behavioral Cohorts To Identify Retaining Features
The most popular way to measure retention is DAU or MAU—daily active users or monthly active users.
- Defining “active” is difficult
- If you’re growing, the amount of new user registrations you’re getting will distort your numbers and prevent you from seeing how many of those users are actually coming back.
The Actionable Metric: Behavioral Cohort Analysis
There’s no formula. You just have to experiment with different possibilities for behavioral cohorts.