What are the metrics do you check on your analytics the most?
Hey guys, I am curious if there are any strategies/tips on monitoring analytics for any side project in its early stage?
Please do mention your product as well.
I think a good metric to see at the early stages is Referrals, to really see from where your new visitors are coming and understand if you published in the right subreddits/indiehackers group and/or if someone published an article about your product.
Other than that, I suggest to put some events (triggers, goals… the name depends on the service that you want to use) on the landing page, to understand how the user interacts with the page the first time it sees your product and if it's driven to click on the register button or on the 'pricing' page.
Shameless plug: I built metrical.xyz, a privacy-focus web analytics tool :)
This is a good answer. Goals are much more informative than general visitor counts for example.
Great insight, I do agree that the best metric you can look into in your early days is referrals, figuring out which community is really working out for you and your tool and divert your focus accordingly. This is the easiest hack to get some early customers.
For my Kano Model project, I have a mini dashboard showing number of users, number of surveys created, and number of responses received. Then I use those numbers to work out some kind of engagement metrics - "num surveys per user", "num responses per survey" and so on.
It's still very early days so the numbers don't mean anything yet, but I hope they'll turn into good signals of overall product health.
On top of the traditional metrics (visits, pageviews, etc), I always track 2 things:
Referrals This is a big one when starting out. Also, make sure you're tracking referrals with sign ups. It makes a huge difference. Some sites may be sending you tons of users but they might have low conversion.
User activity For SubscriptionZero, I track the number of subscriptions a user has added. If a user has at least 5, I would consider them an active user. I'll then start the conversation with them to see how the product is treating them and how I can make things better for them.
Which analytics tool are you using? Have you actually marked events and goals in your analytics tool?
Maybe not the answer you are looking for. I'd be more focused on engagement and revenue.
Talk to potential customers about your side project and if they don't become a customer ask them why. Use this feedback to refine your offering as needed.
Revenue indicates your ability to grow.
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