Growth Metrics: implementing a marketing infrastructure to support growth
Lord Kelvin, a British mathematician, coined the phrase "If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it". While it may seem obvious, many businesses, even large corporates, still overlook the importance of setting up the right measurement systems early on.
๐ Tracking key growth metrics isn’t optional — it’s the foundation of sustainable business growth.
Once you’ve got your MVP, or you’re about to launch in the market, it’s crucial to measure how users, or customers, interact with your product. This might seem like an upfront investment, but it’s one that will pay off in the long run as you will be saving money on negative ROI marketing channels, ineffective product fixes & operational overload.
Finding the right growth metric โ
Every marketer is familiar with terms like cost-per-click (CPC), cost-per-install (CPI), and click-through rate (CTR). While these are essential, how do you know which metrics truly matter for your business at this stage? The answer lies in one core concept: the North Star Metric.
You’ve heard the term a million times. But here’s the thing — it’s often misunderstood. A North Star metric isn’t just about sales or conversion rates. It’s about identifying the key action that, once a user takes it, indicates they’ve experienced the core value of your product — and are likely to return..
๐ก For example:
- Slack’s North Star KPI isn’t just about user signups—it’s about teams exchanging 2,000 messages within their channel. They found that when teams hit this threshold, they’re fully invested in the platform, and revenue follows naturally.
- Facebook’s early KPI focused on users with seven or more friends, because they realized that this level of engagement ensured users would keep coming back.
Maria Tsarkova, Head of Growth at Ooredoo Fintech and a co-founder at Solid Water growth marketing agency:
"I still remember a conversation with a consumer lifestyle app. They were about to launch a massive awareness campaign, confident that once they gained market visibility engaged users would instantly follow. But something felt off. Why pour money into awareness if you don’t know your current users' CLV?
In reality, users were signing up but not sticking around. We recommended rethinking their North Star which would change their marketing team's focus to retention mechanisms like in-app messages, emails, promos, and product loyalty features. After running some tests, this strategy would help extract maximum value out of any user who lands on the platform."
Mapping the customer journey
When we think of the customer journey, most of us boil it down to 3 stages:
- awareness to
- consideration to
- Acquisition
Yes, overcoming the hurdle of the first purchase is key. It's when the 'credit of trust' is established, making it simpler to encourage repeat business and build a loyal customer base.
The first purchase has the highest "friction" or resistance. Once that friction is overcome, subsequent purchases face less resistance.
They point here is that the funnel does not stop at acquisition which is often defined as the North Star, especially by early stage startups.
But real customer journeys are messier and much more complex. Customer journey starts before your customers even interact with the brand or the product.
This is the real path your customer goes through.
Marketers' job is to make your product appear in front of the person with need at the right time and guide them smoothly from recognition of the problem to solving it with your product — and then work on keeping the user active for further commercial engagements because it is the existing users that present one of the biggest growth levers,
The key takeaway here is:
Understanding this multi-stage journey helps you target the right channels, optimize your messaging, and remove friction points that might prevent users from progressing ๐ก"
Speak to your customers (yes, real conversations!) ๐๏ธ
Everyone knows how important it is to talk to your customers, but what often gets overlooked is that these conversations can do more than just help you build a great product — they can also enhance your growth marketing and analytics.
We recommend conduct interviews to identify what needs to be measured. This forms the foundation of our marketing infrastructure.
Maria Tsarkova, co-founder at Solid Water marketing agency:
"Our client, a fintech app, was launching a digital marketing campaign targeting a blue-collar segment. Through interviews, it was found that this audience has an inherent mistrust towards financial services and it was creating an invisible barrier for users to make the first transaction. So instead of investing in different channels, we recommended localising messages around trust, transparently showed the platform’s fees, and emphasised user support chat all in the native languages of key customer groups".
Focus on what matters: build a dashboard ๐
Once you’ve identified your North Star KPI and mapped out the customer journey, it’s time to start tracking. You’ll want to focus on the right metrics at every stage — daily, weekly, and monthly — to understand what’s working and where users are getting stuck.
๐ Here’s a quick checklist to get you started:
- Acquisition funnel: Which channels are bringing in high-quality traffic?
- Product engagement: Are users coming back regularly? Are they exploring new features?
- Customer segmentation: Who are your highest-value customers, and how are they interacting with your product?
Having a dashboard that you and your team can refer to every day is crucial to staying aligned and making data-driven decisions.
The wrap-up: the road to growth ๐
Growth isn’t about chasing immediate results or pouring resources into the flashiest marketing tactics. True, sustainable growth comes from understanding your users at a deeper level, tracking the behaviors that truly matter, and building a marketing strategy that fosters long-term engagement and loyalty. And your best friend here is your data.
In the end, growth is a marathon, not a sprint. By building a strategy rooted in real user insights and data that drives decision-making, you’ll position your business for sustainable success — one that grows with your users, not just your metrics.
Authors
Maria Tsarkova
Maria Tsarkova is co-founder of Solid Water growth marketing firm and Head of Growth Ooredoo Fintech, subsidiary of Ooredoo Group, headquartered in Doha, Qatar.
Daria Partas
Daria Partas is co-founder of Solid Water growth marketing firm and founder of Partas Global, London-based boutique communications advisory.