In this section:
1. You will learn how to optimize the Activation (are users signing up and going through the key activity?) and Retention (do users like my product so that they keep coming back?) of your solution based on the analytics data you get from monitoring your early adopters. Data-driven optimization Rocks!
2. You will learn about awesome tools that will help you monitor your users' behavior.
Remember Dave Mcclure's AARRR?
At this point, the most important metrics we need to optimize are Activation, Retention - and possibly Revenue (if you are charging).
Activation is the your conversion rate of you converting visitors into users and having them complete the key activities. This metrics show you whether or not you have a convincing landing page (or problem, or solution - if you did not properly complete your customer development). When potential customers arrive at your service and do not see or do not trust your offering, they will leave, leaving you with low Activation Rate. Also, if they log in and do not perform any of the key activities, it could be because:
1. Your interface is too difficult for them.
2. Your initial follow up page after signing in doesn't entice them.
3. Key activties take too long to get to, or complete.
Retention is measuring if users return to use your service again. Once users have signed up, Retention basically tells you whether or not you have delivered your promise of the UVP to them. This is the most important metrics, as this basically tells you if you have built a useful product.
Revenue is the metrics that measure the conversion of a user into a paying user. While this is not necessarily applicable for every startup during their MVP stage, some startups that have SaaS (Software as a Service) as their product might want to start charging early. This tells you whether or not your solution is good enough for someone to want to pay for it.
Finally, Acquisition and Referral are the main drivers of visitors to your site. While these 2 metrics are tremendously important, they are not necessarily important to optimize at this point of time, since what we really need to do right now is only to validate whether or not we have a right solution and product for a real problem.
