Essential metrics to track for B2B & B2C Product Managers
+ updates about latest international chapter & Soch Cafe PM Meetups
Salaam & good morning Soch fam!
The monsoon season is in full swing in the nation. Phew. These rain showers brought in a much needed reprieve from the intense heat we were experiencing (although I don’t think our members in Dubai can relate).
Sigh. Garmi, baarish aur loadshedding ka nirala combination :)
So, in this edition of Sochnama, we thought we’d make it “rain” with some insights on product metrics - a topic that is relevant to PMs of all experience brackets.
Also, we have an exciting announcement to make about the launch of our latest international chapter. Can you guess the city? Find out below.
Here’s what you can find in this newsletter:
Essential Product Metrics for B2B & B2C Product Managers
Soch Cafes in pictures across all our chapters
New Chapter Launch
Latest Jobs
Essential Product Metrics B2B & B2C Product Managers should be tracking
As a product manager, metrics are how you measure your product’s health, prove progress to leadership and what you base your product decisions on. While that’s something everyone understands, knowing what metrics to track can be a tricky proposition.
Though the specific metrics may vary based on factors like industry, business model, and product stage, there are several overarching categories of metrics that all product managers should at least consider tracking. Kuch toh bohat zaroori hain.
But, first, it’s important to recognize that there are primarily 2 categories of metrics PMs need to think about:
Customer Metrics: those metrics that indicate customer satisfaction, activation & engagement
Business Metrics: metrics that highlight value for the business in terms of revenue, profitability & sustainability.
Secondly, the metrics for B2B and B2C products can be slightly different.
Thus, we’ll list out key metrics that fall in each of these buckets.
B2B Business Metrics
For B2B companies, especially in the SaaS paradigm, some of the most important metrics at the business level include:
Revenue - Total revenue generated, segmented by source, product line, geography etc. This is key for measuring overall business health. Leadership ko yeh khoob samajh ati hai :)
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) - The cost to acquire a new customer. Lower is better. This is what Growth PMs obsess about.
Lifetime Value (LTV) - The total revenue generated from a customer over their lifetime. Higher is better. Comparing CAC to LTV indicates the viability of the business model.
Churn Rate - The percentage of customers lost in a given period. Lower is better. Customers ko ruknay ki wajah doh.
B2B Customer Metrics
For understanding B2B customers specifically, key metrics include:
Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) Score - Measures customer satisfaction with the product, service, or experience. Gathered through surveys. Higher is better.
Net Promoter Score (NPS) - Measures customer loyalty and likelihood to recommend the product. The higher, the better. Although this metric does have a it’s naysayers, it’s still a commonly used lagging indicator to indicate customer satisfaction.
Account Engagement - This will be tied to the value metric your product aligns with.
Kya matlab? For instance, engagement for a cloud storage service could be evaluated by the volume of data stored or number of files uploaded. Similarly, for an email marketing solution, it might be gauged by the number of email campaigns dispatched. For a product like Slack, it will be measured by unique number of users and messages sent. A greater active usage indicates satisfied customers who are more likely to continue using the product, resulting in higher customer retention.
B2C Business Metrics
On the B2C side, top-level metrics for products like e-commerce marketplaces include:
Conversion Rate - The percentage of website visitors that complete a desired action like signup, purchase, etc. This varies based on business model. Higher is generally better.
Repeat Purchase Rate - For ecommerce companies, the percentage of customers that purchase again within a given timeframe. Higher indicates loyalty/satisfaction. For other B2C consumer apps like ride hailing, grocery delivery or fintech, this would pertain to customers that repeat key actions like bookings, transactions & payment top-ups.
Average Revenue Per User (ARPU): This is the total revenue divided by the total number of users. It gives you an understanding of how much revenue, on average, you're getting from each user.
Gross Margin: This is the difference between the revenue generated and the cost of goods sold (COGS), divided by the revenue. This metric indicates the efficiency of your business model and its ability to generate profits. Business ka actual nafah.
B2C Customer Metrics
Useful B2C customer metrics include:
Daily Active Users (DAU) / Monthly Active Users (MAU): This metric provides information on how many unique users are engaging with your product on a daily or monthly basis. It can give you a sense of your product's reach and how often users are interacting with it. Apkay product par din din ka rush.
Retention Rate: This metric provides insights into how many users continue to use your product over time. A high retention rate indicates that users find your product valuable and continue to use it over other alternatives.
Feature Usage: This metric gives insights into which features of your product are used most and least frequently. This can inform where to focus development resources to increase engagement and user satisfaction.
Regularly tracking these metrics across the business and customer lifecycle keeps you honest on how the product is performing. They help identify bright spots to double down on as well as pain points requiring attention.
Soch Café (PM Meetup) Updates
Before we take a look at all the Product Manager meetups (dubbed Soch Cafés) we have been having recently, an important announcement:
SAVE THE DATE FOR OUR LAHORE PM MEETUP
We are partnering with none other than Arbisoft for our next PM meetup in Lahore. Here are the deets:
When: August 4th, 2023 @ 6.30 pm
Where: Arbisoft, 25 Canal Rd, Westwood Colony, Lahore
Map: https://goo.gl/maps/KNvwNzRaDpAfyvMv9
Topic: Critical Soft Skills for PMs
If you’re in Lahore, you can’t afford to miss this one. Abhi calendar mark karo!
Now, onto some highlights from Soch Cafés across our chapters:
ISLAMABAD
We had a fantastic session at Emumba on soft skills of Product Managers where we unpacked topics like the role of empathy in decision making.
Shout out to the amazing folks at Emumba for providing their venue for these discussions. Solid scene!
KARACHI
Our Karachi Soch squad wasn’t far behind either. We saw many come out to discuss the same topic (soft skills) at Katalyst Labs. People bonded over common themes and challenges seen in the market.
DUBAI
Our ever-growing Dubai chapter had it’s second Soch Café at RAW Coffee Company. This time, we saw a balanced mix of senior and junior Product Managers that owed to a very insightful dialog on soft skills and other related questions.
Product Soch at the Notion Event
Notion made its presence felt with a banger of an event in Islamabad which saw a sizable attendance from their local community and partners.
As Notion has fast become a intensely popular documentation & task organization tool in the Product Manager fraternity, it made sense for Product Soch to join hands in the initiative and put forward the PM perspective. Mudassir and Abdul Hannan from our team represented the Soch Fam.
New Chapter Launch: Toronto
Product Soch reached a new continent this month! We joined hands with what was previously a Whatsapp group of 70+ Pakistani Product Managers, marketers & designers in the Toronto/GTA region.
After a few fruitful conversations, we collectively decided to encapsulate the group under our wings and launch it as Product Soch's Toronto Chapter! Hamari soch, sarhad paar.
The Toronto chapter already has it’s own set of unique initiatives which you can learn about here: productsoch.com/canada
We’re super excited about this chapter as it allows us to connect Pakistani product minds all over the world & accelerate idea exchange.
Here are a few of the members at a recent picnic event that they co-organized with the FAST Alumni association in Toronto:
Fun times ahead!
💼 Latest Jobs
Are you in the market for jobs? Well, our Slack group’s #job-portal channel has been blowing up with interesting vacancies.
For example, these employers are looking for product peeps with solid Soch:
Small World is looking for Product Managers. Join the Slack group and find the thread here.
Mahaana is looking for a Senior Product designer.
Johnny & Jugnu are looking for product owner. Follow this thread on our Slack.
Zaraye is looking for a Product Owner. Apply here.
Paismo is looking for their first product hire. Learn more here.
If you or someone you know is looking for options, you might want to jump into our Slack. Our job portal channel is heating up!
Till next time, keep your Soch on.
Best,
Sarrah