The secret of experience metrics

How to connect your design work to real-world outcomes and drive growth? Finally, there's a clear guide.

Ever wondered how to track your impact on users and business? We asked Kate Pincott , Product Design Manager at Cleo to share insights on how their company, an AI assistant for personal finance with over 7-million users, doubled their revenue every year since 2020.

Kate Pincott shared with us how to increase data maturity of the company and set up experience metrics in 5 steps. Let's dive into this below.

"Every company needs to get closer to real world outcomes based on user behaviour – not only top funnel vanity metrics." - shares Kate with Future London Academy team.

When developing a product, it's tempting to focus on quick wins and short-term gains. However, research shows that this isn't always the best strategy in the long run. Companies that prioritise user experience alongside financial goals tend to grow more steadily and keep their customers happier.

As McKinsey & Company notes, aggressive cost-cutting or high-pressure sales tactics might boost short-term revenue but can lead to customer frustration and attrition over time. Google's research supports this—prioritising user happiness alongside financial goals sets you up for long-term success.

Experience metrics are tools that measure how well a design performs in real-world use and will help you to track your impact.

What Are Experience Metrics?

Experience metrics combine user and product metrics to show how users interact with and perceive your product, capturing the nuances of user behaviour, satisfaction, and engagement.

User Metrics include:

🟡 Behavioural: Task success rate, error rate, time-on-task, navigation paths, feature usage
🟡 Usability: Both behavioural and attitudinal aspects
🟡 Attitudinal: Net Promoter Score (NPS), System Usability Scale (SUS), Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)
🟡 Loyalty: Metrics that track user loyalty over time

Product Metrics include:

🟡 Performance: Page load time, error rates, system downtime, responsiveness
🟡 Engagement: Page views, bounce rate, session duration, frequency of use
🟡 Conversion: Conversion rate, abandonment rate, churn rate


Simply: Experience Metrics = User Metrics + Product Metrics

PS: Watch out - balance is key. Managing product, business, and user metrics requires a delicate balance. Each provides unique insights, and when combined, they offer a holistic view of your product’s performance.

How to set up your experience metrics?

Step 1. Link your current design work to key outcomes.

Identify how specific design elements contribute to customer outcomes, business outcomes, and ultimately, financial outcomes. For example:

🟡 UX Outcomes (e.g., Improved signup page)
🟡 User Outcomes (e.g., Reduced cognitive load)
🟡 Company Outcomes (e.g., Increased conversion rate)
🟡 Financial Outcomes (e.g., Increased revenue)

Step 2: Define what your current metrics might be missing.

For instance, while A/B testing provides insight into immediate changes in user behaviour, it doesn’t offer much about shifts in user sentiment, which could influence long-term retention. 

Similarly, NPS (Net Promoter Score) measures overall sentiment towards the entire customer experience, but it's a broad indicator that doesn't drill down into specific issues, like the usability or visual appeal of your app.`


Step 3. Formulate Current and Desired States

Start by understanding where you currently stand and where you want to go. Begin by mapping out what you know about your users' attitudes and behaviours, both within the app and beyond it. Use these insights to clearly describe your present situation, identifying any gaps in your data that need attention. This will give you a solid foundation to define your desired destination and the steps needed to reach it.

Step 4: Select metrics that offer a balance of broad insights, deep dives, and minimal user disruption. Consider these categories:

🟡 Breadth of Insight: NPS, CSAT for broad user satisfaction and loyalty
🟡 Depth of Insight: SUPR-Q for a comprehensive view of usability, trust, aesthetics, and loyalty
🟡 User Effort: SUS for detailed usability insights


Step 5: Tie Metrics to Outcomes

Ensure your chosen metrics are linked to customer outcomes, business outcomes, and financial outcomes. This alignment helps ensure that your efforts translate into tangible business success. Choose actionable metrics: select metrics that not only measure performance but also guide improvements.

Want to get more hands-on and learn how to shape the roadmap and boost growth through design? Check out our Product design Strategy Course curated by VP of Product Design & Research at Headspace.

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