Alicia Shiu discusses the importance of defining a product's north star metric to measure success and drive business outcomes rather than just outputs. She emphasizes that a strong north star should reflect customer value, align with company strategy, and act as a leading revenue indicator. The document also outlines the three games of product (attention, transaction, productivity) and offers a framework for evolving the north star through experimentation.

1. Alicia Shiu
Growth Product Manager, Amplitude
How to Find Your Product's North
Star Metric
Tune in on Twitter: #testandlearn19

2. Biomedical
Engineering
Growth Product
Manager
Neuroscience
Alicia Shiu
Growth Product Manager
30K Products Powered
>7T User Actions Analyzed
Marketing
About me..

3. How does your product development team
define success?

4. # of features shipped
did we ship them on time
The most successful product teams measure
impact on business outcomes, not outputs

5. Lower barriers to
entry
Massive explosion in
product choice &
noise
Customer experience
and value trump
everything
Product is the best
competitive advantage
Product-led companies are winning
5m+ apps 0.01% survival rate

6. What does it mean to be Product-led?
Vision of Solving
Customer Pain
Revenue and
Shareholder Value

7. Impact the CEO
cares about
Customer value created
by the Product team
Product Analytics
Alerts App
Redesign
New User
Activation
Help Product
LaunchTrial Conversion
Profile
UX
North
Star

8. The 3 Games of Product
What Makes a Good North Star?
Evolving Amplitude’s North Star
From North Star to
Experimentation
→
→
→
→
Finding Your
North Star

9. The 3 Games of Product
What Makes a Good North Star?
Evolving Amplitude’s North Star
From North Star to
Experimentation
→
→
→
→
Finding Your
North Star

10. What game
are you
playing?

11. The 3 games of Product
attention transaction productivity

12. What game are you playing?
attention transaction productivity

13. Define the game you’re playing
attention
Typical Product North Stars Examples
● Total time spent
engaging with content
● # Users spending > 5
min/day
● # Stories viewed
● # Subscribers streaming
> 60 hrs/mo
hypothetical

14. Define the game you’re playing
Typical Product North Stars Examples
● Total # of Purchases
completed
● Avg # Purchases per
Prime Subscriber
● # Searches completed
● # Seat Upgrades
purchasedtransaction
hypothetical

15. Define the game you’re playing
Typical Product North Stars Examples
● Total # of records created
● % of Emails engaged
● # of messages sent
● # Active Users who
logged/completed a task
productivity
hypothetical

16. The 3 Games of Product
What Makes a Good North Star?
Evolving Amplitude’s North Star
From North Star to
Experimentation
→
→
→
→
Finding Your
North Star

17. 3 attributes
of a good
North Star
metric
Measure product engagement that
is a LEADING INDICATOR of
revenue
Reflect the VALUE that customers
are getting from your product
Represent the core product
outcome you need to ALIGN with
your company strategy
1
2
3

18. The 3 Games of Product
What Makes a Good North Star?
Evolving Amplitude’s North Star
From North Star to
Experimentation
→
→
→
→
Finding Your
North Star

19. Example:
Evolving
our North
Star

20. 2017-2018

21. 2017-2018
Building product is a team sport!

22. ?
As end user adoption increases,
businesses exchange greater value
with Amplitude
Customers get value by asking
questions and sharing learnings
Our unique strategy is to enable
data democracy in companies
1
2
3

23. Weekly
Learning
Users
(learnings shared with > 2 people)
As end user adoption increases,
businesses exchange greater value
with Amplitude
Customers get value by asking
questions and sharing learnings
Our unique strategy is to enable
data democracy in companies
1
2
3

24. Getting closer to customer value
Users that ask a question
(Weekly Querying Users)

25. Getting closer to customer value
Users that share learnings
(Weekly Learning Users)
Users that ask a question
(Weekly Querying Users)
Active and had a learning
shared w/ at least 2 people
in last 7 days

26. The 3 Games of Product
What Makes a Good North Star?
Evolving Amplitude’s North Star
From North Star to
Experimentation
→
→
→
→
Finding Your
North Star

27. Product experimentation to impact your North Star
Hypothesis: More user profile context & relevancy signals will encourage users
to click into Team Space and view team members’ content

28. Product experimentation to impact your North Star
Hypothesis: More user profile context & relevancy signals will encourage users
to click into Team Space and view team members’ content
Control Test

29. Getting started
● Define your product’s (or team’s)
North Star
● Create a hypothesis
● Kick off a new (small) project (or
align a current one)
● Test the hypothesis to see if you
can move the metric!

30. Define which game you’re playing: attention, transaction, or
productivity. Articulate tradeoffs you’re willing to make.
A good North Star reflects customer value, aligns product
teams with your company strategy, and is a leading indicator
of revenue.
Organize product experimentation to move your North Star
metric (or inputs / leading indicators of it).
→
→
→
Takeaways

31. Keep Learning!
For more details on the 3 product games,
ladder of engagement, & loops:
https://amplitude.com/mastering-engagement
Additional reading on North Star metrics:
- https://amplitude.com/blog/evolving-the-
product-north-star-metric
- https://amplitude.com/blog/evolving-the-
product-north-star-metric

32. Thank You! Questions?

33. Appendix

34. Breadth Depth Frequency Efficiencyx x x
# Items
within
Order
# Orders
completed
% Items
Delivered
within time
# Users
placing
Orders each
month
Break the North Star down into actionable input metrics
hypothetical
Total
monthly
items
received
on time

35. Actionable inputs: Efficiency
Breadth Depth Frequency Efficiencyx x x
# Items
within
Order
# Orders
Completed
% Items
Delivered
within time
ML Algorithm
Customer chat
Flash Sales
Notifications
Stock mgt
Recommendations
Shopping Lists
Discount Coupons
New Signups
Express Sub Trials
Trial Conversion
# Users
placing
Orders each
month
Roadmap
hypothetical
Total
monthly
items
received
on time

36. Next Session
Moving Fast, Breaking Things, and Fixing Them
as Quickly as Possible
Lukas Vermeer
Director of Experimentation, Booking.com
Tune in on Twitter: #testandlearn19