17 metrics executives track religiously

"As a subscription business the metrics of conversion and retention are my twin North Stars. What percentage of visitors in trial are going to become paid subscribers, and what percentage of them will remain paid subscribers in three months? Really these metrics are a reflection of the benefit customers get from our products showing they are valuable enough for someone to pay us and that they are valuable enough for them to stick around."

"I track organic Google search above almost everything. You can buy impressions, but you can't buy someone typing your brand name unprompted. It's the cleanest signal of real demand. If search and inbound drop when spend drops, you're renting attention, not building equity. What happens when we ease off spend? Do we disappear or are we building something worthy of the space we've been given?"

Metrics serve as directional indicators for business success, but only when they represent strong signals rather than noise. Different businesses prioritize different metrics based on their models and goals. For subscription businesses, conversion and retention rates function as primary indicators of product value and customer satisfaction. For brand-driven companies, organic search volume and unprompted brand mentions signal genuine demand and cultural relevance. Inbound interest from partners and retailers indicates market positioning. Testing what happens when marketing spend decreases reveals whether a company has built lasting equity or merely rented temporary attention.

Read at Fast Company