The SaaS Metrics Founders Should Track from Day One
Recurring revenue, activation, retention, and more: the numbers that show whether your SaaS product is working, and how to capture them.
SaaS businesses generate a lot of data. A small set of metrics tells you most of what you need to know about whether your product and business are healthy. Building the tracking in from the start is far easier than adding it later.
Revenue metrics
- Monthly recurring revenue (MRR): predictable subscription revenue each month.
- Net revenue retention: whether existing customers spend more or less over time, including upgrades and cancellations.
- Average revenue per account: helps you understand which customers your pricing serves.
Customer metrics
- Activation rate: the share of new sign-ups who reach the first meaningful result.
- Retention by cohort: how many customers from each month are still active later.
- Churn rate: the share of customers or revenue lost each period.
Product usage metrics
- Active users daily, weekly, or monthly, depending on how often your product should be used
- Usage of key features
- Time to value for new customers
Efficiency metrics
- Customer acquisition cost: what it costs to win a customer
- Payback period: how long it takes for a customer's revenue to cover that cost
Build tracking into the product
Define the key events, such as sign-up, activation, invite sent, and upgrade, and track them consistently. Connect billing data to product data so you can see how usage relates to revenue.
If you cannot measure activation and retention, you are guessing about your product.
Review regularly
Look at a small dashboard weekly, and dig deeper monthly. Trends matter more than single numbers.
MOKRIN builds product analytics and billing integrations into SaaS platforms, so founders have the numbers they need from the first customer.
