21 Jun 2016

The Most Important Key Metric For SaaS

by Alex Chaidaroglou | with 4 Comments | in Analytics

I am sure that you are thinking that having a single major metric for your SaaS sounds ludicrous. And it does; at first. But, let me explain.

As a founder or VP, you need to have one or two key metrics that just by looking at them, you can gauge your performance in any given time/month. However, different SaaS business models need a different major KPI.

Below, I will describe the most popular SaaS business models and the most important key metric they need to monitor frequently, as well as the reasons for choosing each of those metrics.

Let me explain first why having such a metric and monitoring it daily is so crucial.

10 Dec 2015

Vanity vs Actionable SaaS Metrics

by Alex Chaidaroglou | with 0 Comment | in Analytics

Let me start by getting something out of the way right here and now:

*EVERY metric looked in isolation is a vanity metric*

EVERY metric looked in isolation is a vanity metric

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Think about that… 300% increase in signups, 50% increase in traffic, 10% increase in MRR….

All these mean nothing unless you give them context and compare them to other data.

15 Sep 2015

CTR as a KPI: a Dangerous Proposition (with examples)

by Alex Chaidaroglou | with 3 Comments | in Analytics

ClickThrough Rate: at surface it looks promising, but if you dig deeper, it turns out it’s the worst KPI to track.

As you know, in the modern digital era we can track virtually anything. This fact alone has a benefit that everything is trackable and everyone “accountable”, but on the same hand it gives us so many elements to track (Key Performance Indicators – KPIs), that one might find hard deciding on what they should track.

I had been a victim of this, tracking vanity metrics like CTR, which are appealing to marketers, but not indicative of ROI.

In this post I am going to show you some pitfalls, how to counter them and the role of ad pricing, with examples.

17 Oct 2014

What Are The Best Content Marketing Metrics?

by Alex Chaidaroglou | with 0 Comment | in Content Marketing

Competition is fierce in the world of content and to get the most from your marketing efforts you need to constantly measure your progress and optimize your strategy. Without cold, hard data you can’t pinpoint what’s working and – more importantly – what needs changing.

But with so much data available, one of the toughest questions content marketers face is which metrics are the most important?

A comprehensive answer depends on your specific goals, but today we’re looking at the key metrics you should measure for just about any content strategy. At some point you will probably have to dig a little deeper into data, but these are the core metrics you want to get started with.
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