We’re all told to be “data-driven”, but we’re downing in an ocean of data points. This is even more difficult as we move from an Output to Outcome focus. What exactly should we be measuring and what does good look like?
This is a question asked by many teams and it’s a legitimate one.
👉 How do you know if the feature you’ve built delivers value?
👉 How do you know if your launch was successful?
The first step is to define what good looks like before you start working on building anything new, planning a launch, or designing a campaign.
Additionally, teams shouldn’t develop these measures in isolation.
They should collaborate to ensure there is a “steel beam” aligning all teams and their efforts.
Let’s start with the teams that should be involved
👉 Engineering
👉 Product Management
👉 Go To Market
👉 Demand Generation
👉 Sales
What metrics would be a good indicator of success?
These are by no means exhaustive. There are plenty of others.
Add yours in the comments below
Engineering and Product Management
✅ First time user adoption
✅ Feature usage retention
✅ Customer Success / Support calls?
✅ Is the feature working as designed?
✅ Is the feature availability as designed?
✅ Does the feature impact system performance?
✅ How long does it take users to reach the desired value?
Go To Market
✅ Win Rate
✅ Media Mentions
✅ LTV, CAC, CAC Payback
✅ Number of new customers
✅ Churn Rate / Buyer Retention / NDR
Demand Gen
✅ Website visitors
✅ Num of new trials
✅ Return on Ad Spend
✅ Engagement Rate / CTR
✅ Self-Reported Attribution
Sales
✅ Meetings booked
✅ Num of Demos booked
✅ Average Contract Value
✅ Sales / Pipeline Velocity
✅ Win Rate & Revenue Booked
✅ Qualified Pipeline generated
There are other that will make sense and some of these may not be appropriate for your particular feature, product, or launch.
The key is to look at
👉 WHO is it for?
👉 WHAT will they get?
👉 WHEN will they use it?
👉 HOW will it benefit them?
👉 WHY are you building this?
👉 WHERE else can they do this?
Then link the value chain from Feature development in Product Management and Engineering all the way through to Go To Market and Demand Gen, and then to Sales.
When you align success metrics you naturally begin to act in a unified way.
This is not only far more productive and effective – it gives you a massive advantage.
Why? Because most teams still operate in isolation.
That leads to
❌ Miscommunication
❌ Wasted work and effort
❌ One team achieving targets while others miss
Winning is a team sport.
Something as “simple” as how you measure success and the metrics you use are a key part of your teams performance.
