#metrics #event - 6 mins read

Metrics that matter: how to align product metrics with business KPIs

We held a panel discussion with product leaders to discuss one of the trickiest challenges: connecting product metrics to business outcomes/KPIs.

Whether it's the board pushing to understand how product contributes to strategic success. Or assumptions and hidden bias leading teams to measure the wrong things.

Leaders recognise the difficulties of connecting user behaviour and business goals. We explored:

The root causes behind the disconnect between product metrics and business goals
What teams are doing today - from small changes in practice to more structured initiatives
How different levels of maturity and pressure shape the right approach
The cultural shifts needed to turn metrics from an afterthought into a habit

Below we share the key takeaways, from the panelists who generously appeared on stage and the audience who contributed their own ideas to the discussion.

You’ll find the strongest ideas that came up across the conversation.

Table of contents:

The panel:

Anna Dick, CTO at Capsule
Rachel Goulding, Product Lead at OVO Energy
Jason Knight, Product Leadership Coach & Consultant at One Knight Consulting
Niamh Jones, Senior Growth Product Manager at Pendo.io
Bob Holt, Product Management at BNY

How to choose what to measure?

Start with strategy, but make it actionable The best measurement frameworks begin with CEO-level strategic goals, but the magic happens in translation. High-level objectives like "acquire a million new customers" need to become specific, measurable activities that teams can actually influence.

Simplify your OKR structure Evolve your complex, multi-level OKRs to simplified company-wide focus. Too many objectives dilute attention. The sweet spot seems to be fewer, clearer goals that create genuine cross-functional alignment.

Measure "one step away" from business goals Instead of trying to directly measure revenue impact, focus on user behaviors that clearly connect to business outcomes. To illustrate this point, one panelist gave the example of measuring 'data visibility from survey results' rather than 'revenue from surveys', as it's more actionable whilst still maintaining a clear business connection.

Frameworks that work

The pirate metrics structure (AARRR) Acquisition, activation, retention, revenue and referral provides a solid foundation, but avoid "metrics theatre" - tracking everything without taking action.

Customer health scoring Combine behavioral data with business outcomes to predict which customers are at risk. One team reduced churn by 21% by creating an engagement score that combined adoption and stickiness metrics, with specific targets for onboarding specialists.

❤️ We also recommend looking at the HEART framework which helps teams focus on improving UX and tracking the success of features at a granular level.

🌟 And the North Star Framework which helps teams looking to align on a single vision, especially at scale.

We’ve compared these three frameworks, which you can find here.

Success measurement should combine behavioral data (what users do) with sentiment data (what users say and feel) to get a complete picture.

How do you keep product metrics aligned with company goals?

Metric trees help. Metric trees are a practical tool to help product teams connect the dots between day-to-day product activity and high-level company goals. Try this template to visualise your team’s metric alignment.

Once the tree is in place, perform dry runs of upcoming (or recent) initiatives. This can help teams define hypotheses, identify success metrics, and outline how impact will be monitored post-launch.

Securing investment and buy-in

Partner with finance early Before building your case, sit down with someone in finance and ask: "If I can get customers to do X, what do you think it's worth?" This creates shared understanding and internal validation of your approach.

Combine numbers with stories The CFO wants quantitative data, but bringing actual customer quotes saying "we can fix that" helps tell the complete story. Both perspectives are needed to build compelling investment cases.

Be honest about results Don't cherry-pick the one metric that went up whilst ignoring everything else. Teams that build credibility through transparent reporting of both successes and failures tend to get more investment over time.

Focus on business impact, not just product metrics Too many product managers gravitate toward comfortable technical or design discussions whilst missing the business component. The job is making customers happy in ways that work for the business - both parts matter.

Advice for teams looking to get better at product measurement

Start small Start with one focused metric rather than overwhelming dashboards, and collaborate with others to clarify your thinking and problem definition.

Cross-functional collaboration Involve cross-functional teams from the start and balance delivery milestones with impact metrics to get buy-in from different stakeholders.

Combine qualitative and quantitative Qualitative feedback can reveal gaps in quantitative metrics, and combining customer voices with numbers creates more compelling and complete stories.

How do you prevent metrics from becoming vanity targets?

Choose carefully Choose metrics that drive action and match your business model rather than defaulting to standard or easy-to-measure metrics.

Knowing your metrics Test metrics by asking "what would we do if this changed?" and always define guard metrics to prevent gaming or unintended consequences.

Our templates you can use:

Metrics tree template: A clear, structured way to break down high-level business goals into measurable metrics. Useful for aligning teams on what matters and designing instrumentation that supports decision-making.

Service blueprint: A versatile template for mapping user journeys, backstage processes, and data interactions. Great for spotting metric gaps and aligning teams.

We also recommend:

C4 Architecture – Helps you visualise how your software and data infrastructure fit together. A handy tool for data stack reviews or onboarding new team members.