Measuring the progress of your SaaS with the right KPI's

If you’re a Software as a Service entrepreneur, or part of the team at an existing startup, then tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) is essential when it comes to measuring your progress. Keeping up-to-date with SaaS KPIs across various areas helps you identify potential opportunities for growth and areas where improvements can be made. The data garnered from any changes implemented will help inform decision making in the future — whether that’s identifying new customers, improving retention rates or increasing revenue.

Knowing which metrics are particularly important in helping founders understand how their software products are performing is key; Failing to monitor them could result in increased competition, lack of visibility into success rates and ultimately customer dissatisfaction. By understanding what they need to measure and having vital stats available throughout each stage of a product's lifecycle, businesses can improve user experience while staying profitable over time. In this blog post we will explore the important saas KPIs every founder and team needs to track for optimal results.

The 14 most important KPI's to track as a SaaS company

1. Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)
   The total amount of recurring revenue from subscription-based services for the current month.
   
   

2. Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)
   The total amount of recurring revenue from subscription-based services for the current year.
   
   

3. Average Revenue per User (ARPU)
   The average amount of revenue generated each month by an individual customer or account.
   
   

4. Churn rate (or cancellation rate)
   The percentage of customers who cancel their subscription or do not renew during a given period of time.

5. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
   The cost associated with acquiring new customers, typically broken down into marketing and sales costs such as advertising, lead generation activities and sales personnel salaries and commissions.
   
   

6. Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)
   The net present value of the future cash flows a customer is estimated to generate over their lifetime with the company.
   
   

7. Average User Session Length
   The average length of time users are logged into your application or platform during each session.
   
   

8. Conversion Rate
   The percentage of visitors to your website who become customers, expressed as a percent (e.g., 30% = 1 out of 3 visitors).
   
   

9. Retention rate (or renewal rate)
   The percentage of customers who keep their subscription after a given period of time, usually measured on an annual basis for SaaS companies.
   
   

10. Net Promoter Score (NPS)
    A measure of customer satisfaction with a product or service, gauged by asking them to rate their likelihood of recommending the company to a friend on a scale from 0 - 10.
    
    

11. Lead-to-Customer Ratio
    The ratio of leads who convert into customers, expressed as a percentage (e.g., 15% = 3 out of 20 leads).
    
    

12. Cost per Acquisition (CPA)
    The cost associated with acquiring new customers through any marketing channel, typically expressed in terms of money spent per individual sale or lead generated.
    
    

13. Daily Active Users (DAU)
    The number of unique users who actively use your product or service on a given day.
    
    

14. Monthly Active Users (MAU)
    The total number of active users who log into the system or application on a monthly basis.

Tracking these important KPIs and SaaS metrics can help SaaS businesses in many ways; from understanding user behaviour and customer lifetime value to increasing revenue and improving user experience — not to mention that it’s also useful for evaluating team performance too. By optimizing and tracking these metrics, founders and teams can identify areas for improvement, set realistic goals and measure progress over time. And if you’re just starting out, then having an understanding of these KPIs can help you establish as well as benchmark performance and set a good foundation for your business.

By tracking the right SaaS KPIs, companies can stay competitive in their respective markets while ensuring that customers are receiving value from their products. Understanding which metrics to measure and having visibility into your data allows teams to make informed decisions about product strategy, investments

SaaS KPI's – Customer Loyalty

Every business wants to keep its customers happy and loyal. But sometimes, despite best efforts, customers end up leaving. This phenomenon is known as "churn." Understanding and tracking churn rate can provide valuable insight into the health of your business. It allows you to see where you may be losing customers and identify trends or patterns.

With this information, you can take action to address the root causes of churn and improve customer retention. By implementing strategies to reduce churn, businesses can save money on customer acquisition costs and increase revenue. So, whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting out, understanding why and how to track churn rate is a critical element of your business strategy.

SaaS KPI's – Marketing Efficiency

Acquiring customers is crucial for a company's success. However, it's equally important to analyze the cost of customer acquisition, also known as User Acquisition Cost (CAC). CAC helps businesses understand how much they need to invest in acquiring a new customer, including marketing, advertising, and sales expenses.

But, the story doesn't end here. It is equally important to analyze the value of acquiring a customer over the long term, known as Lifetime Value (LTV). LTV helps businesses understand the revenue they can generate from a customer over the course of their relationship. By analyzing both these metrics together, businesses can make informed decisions about their marketing strategies, sales tactics, and overall growth plans.‍

SaaS KPI's – Revenue Growth

As a SaaS company, measuring your revenue growth is crucial to understanding the health and success of your business. Two key metrics to focus on are Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) and Average Revenue per User (ARPU). MRR is the measurement of your predictable, recurring revenue on a monthly basis, while ARPU represents the average amount of revenue generated per user.

By paying attention to both metrics, you can identify trends and patterns in your revenue growth and make data-driven decisions to optimize your business. It's important to regularly track MRR and ARPU to ensure your SaaS company is achieving sustainable growth and meeting the needs of your customers.‍

SaaS KPI's – Onboarding Success

Are you noticing low customer activation rates for your business? It's important to assess the success of your user onboarding process. User onboarding refers to the steps a user takes to learn how to use a product or service.

A successful onboarding process can lead to increased customer satisfaction, engagement, and ultimately activation. By analyzing your onboarding process, you can identify areas of improvement and make changes that will lead to a higher activation rate.‍

SaaS KPI's – User Engagement

The success of any business depends on how well it can retain its customers. That's why tracking user engagement and loyalty is critical for maintaining a high customer retention rate. By understanding what motivates customers to keep coming back, businesses can tailor their products and services to meet their needs and expectations.

Investing in customer retention also helps cut down on the cost of customer acquisition, which can be expensive. This is why tracking customer behavior, such as repeat purchases, feedback, and referral rates, is essential for identifying trends, weaknesses, and opportunities to grow. By prioritizing engagement and loyalty, businesses can build long-lasting relationships with customers that benefit both parties in the long run.