The metrics that flatter you

Up and to the right

There is a particular kind of chart that every board deck contains. It counts something cumulative — total sign-ups, total downloads, lifetime users — and it only ever rises, because nothing can be subtracted from it. It is the most reassuring image in business, and it tells you almost nothing.

Why they seduce

Flattering metrics are not lies. They are true numbers that answer the wrong question. Total sign-ups tells you that marketing is working. It does not tell you whether anyone found the product useful, came back or paid. A team that steers by it will keep buying traffic for a product that is quietly failing.

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A number that cannot go down cannot tell you that something is wrong.

What to watch instead

Prefer rates to totals, cohorts to aggregates and behaviors to visits. The share of new customers who reach the first valuable action in a week. The retention of this month’s cohort against last month’s. Revenue per active customer. These numbers fall when things go wrong, which is exactly what makes them useful.

Keep the flattering charts if they cheer the team up. Just don’t let them anywhere near a decision.