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The first version of your product is finally ready to see the world, and you are gearing up for launch.
The next steps are to define what success looks like for the product launch and monitor it to see whether it is performing as expected.
Without a clear framework of which metrics matter at each stage, you may end up tracking everything, prioritizing nothing, and burning money on systems that don’t provide the results you need.
This guide aims to prevent that. We explore the different metrics you should track at various stages of the product launch journey and help you learn what matters most for your specific use case.
Product launch metrics are defined indicators used to evaluate a product's performance across different stages (pre-launch, launch, and post-launch).
They are known as key performance indicators (KPIs) and help teams measure how much interest the launch generates, how well that interest brings in customers, and whether the launch achieved its goals.
Let’s look at exactly why you need to know which KPIs matter to you and why you should track them.
Product launch metrics matter because they help businesses:
Let’s break down what that means.
Metrics can reveal how successful your product launch is.
They answer questions such as:
Let's say your goal is to encourage existing customers to adopt a new feature: metrics like repeat usage or adoption rate can show whether you’re on track to hitting this objective.
Metrics show how quickly and consistently clients adopt the new product.
Was there just an initial hype after the product launch, or are there new users every day or week? Have they moved beyond initial interest and actually started using the product?
By tracking metrics like adoption rate, activation rate, retention, or feature usage, you can better understand customer behavior.
This way, you can tell where they are, whether they understand the product or feature value, and whether they know how to use it.
Product launch metrics can help you spot issues before they escalate.
If sign-ups or product installations start dropping or customer churn starts rising, they signal to the team that something is wrong.
Your team can then identify and investigate issues fast to prevent further problems.
Tracking metrics like engagement rate, repeat usage (retention), client feedback, or adoption rate can tell you whether customers find the product useful enough to keep using it.
If you have a high number of sign-ups and a high retention rate, that suggests customers find the product valuable.
However, high sign-ups with a high churn rate indicate the product isn’t meeting customer expectations, or there’s an issue causing drop-offs.
One of the best ways to track metrics is to start before the launch, so you can monitor how interest develops, how clients respond when the product goes live, and how the interest turns into long-term adoption.
That’s why we’re covering metrics to watch across the pre-launch, launch, and post-launch stages.
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The pre-launch, or the planning stage, is when the business prepares the product, market, and strategy for a successful release.
It’s where you validate the product idea, do market research, conduct competitor analysis, define your audience, craft marketing materials, define your unique selling point (USP), and select your marketing channels and strategy.
The goal of the pre-launch phase is to create demand, validate interest, and build momentum so the product is ready to launch to an already interested community.
During this stage, track these metrics:
This is the total number of people who join your waitlist before the product launches.
It reveals the level of interest the product is generating and whether you’ll have an audience to market to on launch day.
For this to be a metric you can track, consider creating a waitlist campaign where people are incentivized to share the new-product details with others.
Rewards for these referrals can include in-store credits, early-bird access, or discounts, which referrers receive after reaching specific milestones or when the product launches.
This way, you can build a community of early adopters who may become active users.
This is the percentage of people on your waitlist who become active users after the product launches.
The waitlist-to-launch conversion rate shows how well the pre-launch interest translates into actual adoption once the product is accessible.
Here’s how to calculate it:
(Number of waitlist sign-ups who converted to customers after launch / Total number of waitlist sign-ups) x 100
Example: 5,000 people joined your waitlist and 1,500 became active users or customers at launch.
The waitlist-to-launch conversion rate here is 1,500 / 5,000 x 100 = 30%
When tracking this metric, try to keep it within a set time window so it’s comparable across launches.
This metric indicates how well your social media marketing campaigns are performing and the effectiveness of the social media content.
Here, you want to track:
Use this formula to calculate the engagement rate:
Engagement rate = ((Likes + comments + shares) / Total number of followers) x 100
And this for follower growth rate:
Follower growth rate = ((Number of followers at the end – Number of followers at the start) / Number of followers at the start) x 100
The K-factor (viral coefficient) is a referral marketing metric that indicates the total number of registrations per inviting user.
It measures how effectively existing users generate new users through referrals or invitations, and this is the formula to calculate it:
K factor = Total number of referrals / Total inviting users
Let’s say you decided to launch a refer-a-friend campaign to promote the product launch. Two hundred users participated actively and brought in 50 successful referrals.
The K-factor will be 50 / 200 = 0.25.
This means that each existing user, on average, gives you an extra quarter of a new user through referral.
Invites per user is the average number of people each user invites to join, try, or learn about your product. It measures users' willingness to share your product with others, indicating the potential for referral growth.
This metric is a companion to the K-factor. Where the viral coefficient tells you how many successful referrals you get per user, invites per user shows how actively users share with others.
Here’s how to calculate this metric:
Total invites sent / Total inviting users
Say 100 users sent a combined 600 invites; that’s 600 / 100 = 6, which means each user invites six people on average.
This is the number of visitors and page views your website or product launch landing page gets before the product goes live.
It indicates how much attention the upcoming launch is generating and helps identify which marketing strategy and channel are driving people to your site.
When tracking traffic metrics, pay attention to the audience’s origin — paid or organic.
Organic traffic includes visitors who reach your page through sources such as search engine-optimized (SEO) content, social media channels, or word of mouth.
Paid traffic, on the other hand, is people who visit your website after interacting with paid ads, e.g., PPC or social media ads.
Knowing the traffic’s origin helps you evaluate how effective your current marketing strategy is.
The launch phase is when the product goes live and becomes accessible to customers or the public.
The goal shifts from building awareness to driving sign-ups, purchases, product adoption, and engagement.
Here are metrics to track during the product launch:
Lead generation is the number of potential customers you attract during the launch and how they move on to become active users.
Beyond monitoring the number of people the product has attracted, you also want to focus on:
Number of customers / Number of leads x 100
If you generate 1,000 leads during the launch and 200 become customers, the lead-to-customer rate is: 200 / 1,000 x 100 = 20%.
This can be calculated using this formula:
(Number of PQLs / Total number of leads) x 100
Say that 300 of 1,000 leads take actions that indicate strong buying intent. The PQL percentage is: 300 / 1,000 x 100 = 30%.
Conversion rate measures the percentage of people who have completed a desired action, like signing up, purchasing, or starting a trial, out of a total group of visitors or users.
It reveals how well your launch turns traffic and interest into measurable actions.
This can be calculated using a simple equation:
Conversion rate = (Number of conversions / Number of website visitors) x 100
Say 5,000 people visit your website, and 3,350 sign up for the product; the conversion rate is: 3,350 / 5,000 x 100 = 67%.
While monitoring this metric, it’s equally important to measure how long it takes prospects to move from their first interaction with your product to completing the desired action.
This is known as time-to-conversion, and it’s calculated with this formula for each user:
Time-to-conversion rate = Conversion date - First interaction date
If a visitor checks out your product for the very first time on July 5th and becomes a user on August 15th, the time-to-conversion rate is 41 days.
Another metric to track in this category is conversion rate by channel. It helps measure the percentage of visitors or leads from each marketing channel who complete the desired action. This way, you can identify the most effective channels and double down on them.
Here’s how to calculate it:
Channel conversion rate = (Number of conversions from the channel / Total number of visitors from the channel) x 100
If you had 5,000 people visit your product landing page via paid LinkedIn ads and 1,150 converted to customers, the conversion rate for LinkedIn paid ads would be: 1,150 / 5,000 x 100 = 23%.
If you run email marketing campaigns for the product launch, these are probably two of the important metrics to track.
Email open rate measures the percentage of delivered emails that recipients open. Calculate it as follows:
Email open rate = (Number of opened emails / Number of delivered emails) x 100
Let’s say you send 5,000 emails; 4,500 are delivered, but only 500 were opened. Your email open rate would be = 500 / 4,500 x 100 = 11.11%
Click-through rate (CTR) on the other hand, is the ratio of users who click a specific link to the total number of users who view an email campaign.
Click-through rate = (Number of clicks / Number of opened emails) x 100
If 400 people out of the above-mentioned 4,500 delivered emails click the product link in your email, the CTR would be: 400 / 500 x 100 = 80%.
These metrics show how well your email campaigns capture attention and motivate recipients to take action.
Tracking launch costs measures how much is spent to acquire leads and customers during the product launch.
This helps you understand whether the launch is profitable and whether your marketing spend is sustainable.
Considering costs is a broad term. You want to specifically monitor:
Customer acquisition cost (CAC): The average amount spent to secure one new customer. It can be calculated using this formula:
CAC = Total sales and marketing costs / Number of new customers acquired
If the total marketing spend is $5,000 and brings in 20 customers, the CAC is: $5,000 / 20 = $250.
This means you spend $250 for each new customer you get.
Cost per lead (CPL): The average amount spent to generate one new lead.
CPL = Total lead generation costs / Number of leads generated
Example: A lead generation campaign costs $2,000 and brings in 4,000 leads. The CPL here is: $2,000 / 4,000 = $0.50.
For each lead you get, you spend $0.50 on average.
This last phase comes after your product has hit the market, and it’s about understanding how customers use and respond to the product over time.
The focus here is on ongoing adoption, retention, customer satisfaction, and revenue.
Here are KPIs that can provide the insights you need:
Tracking trials and demos measures how many users actively engage with your product through trial periods or guided demo sessions.
It also helps determine how many have transitioned or are considering becoming active users or paying customers.
So, what should you focus on here?
Click-through rate (CTR): The number of people who have clicked on the Book a trial or Demo call-to-action (CTA) button on your website.
Trial-to-paid-conversion rate: The percentage of users who start a product trial and eventually become paying customers. It can be calculated using this equation:
(Number of trial users who become paying customers / Total number of trial users) x 100
Example: You have a pool of 500 trial users. One hundred and fifty of them become active customers.
Trial-to-paid conversion rate is then: 150 / 500 x 100 = 30%.
Demo attendance: Percentage of people who schedule a demo and show up to the call.
(Number of demos attended / Total number of demos scheduled) x 100
If 200 prospects scheduled a demo but only 30 show up to the calls, your demo attendance rate is 30 / 200 x 100 = 15%.
Customer retention rate shows the percentage of users who keep using or paying for your product over a defined time period.
You can track this metric over any number of days to know how many users remain active after spending that period using the product.
Say you want to measure retention rate after 30 days; you can use this formula:
((Number of customers at the end of the period – Number of new customers acquired during the period) / Number of customers at the start of the period) x 100
Example: You start the 30-day period with 300 active customers, acquire 200 users during this period, and end it with 315.
Your retention rate after 30 days will be: (315 – 200) / 300 x 100 = 38.33%.
Churn rate shows the percentage of customers who have stopped using or paying for the product during a defined time period.
Churn rates reflect the number of users who aren't getting much value from the product and, as a result, don’t see the need for it.
You can calculate it with this:
(Number of customers lost during the period / Number of customers at the start of the period) x 100
If you start a 30-day period with 400 users and lose 150 within that time period, your churn rate is: 150 / 400 x 100 = 37.50%.
Referral marketing is a great tool for new products. It lets you incentivize existing customers with rewards like discounts and exclusive access, when they prompt their networks to try the product through word-of-mouth marketing.
Tracking referral metrics helps you measure how effectively existing users recommend your product and bring in new users.
Here, you want to use referral tracking tools like Viral Loops to monitor the number of active users referring others.
You also want to track:
Referral conversion rate: Percentage of people who are referred to your product and then complete a desired action, like signing up or making a purchase. It’s calculated with this formula:
(Number of conversions from referrals / Total number of referred visitors or leads) x 100
Let’s say that 500 people click a referral link from your campaign and 50 convert. Your referral conversion rate is: 50 / 500 x 100 = 10%.
Percentage of customers acquired via referrals: Measures the share of your new customers who came through a referral.
(Number of customers acquired via referrals / Total number of new customers) x 100
If you get 500 new users and 150 came from referral links, your percentage will be: 150 / 500 x 100 = 30%.
Revenue metrics track whether product adoption translates into meaningful revenue and is financially successful.
You can track this at the individual-user level or as predictable monthly income, using two key sub-metrics.
Average revenue per user (ARPU): Measures the average amount of revenue generated per user within a specific period.
ARPU = Total revenue during the period / Average number of users during the period
Example: Your product has generated $50k in revenue over a specific time, and you have 5,000 active users. In that case, your ARPU will be: $50,000 ÷ 5,000 = $10 per user.
Monthly recurring revenue (MRR): Measures the predictable recurring revenue generated each month from active subscriptions.
MRR = Total number of subscribers x Average revenue per user
Using the same metrics as for our ARPU example above, the MRR would be: 5,000 x $10 = $50,000 per month.
The Net Promoter Score (NPS) typically involves asking customers to rate how likely they are to recommend your product on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0-6 grouped as detractors, 7-8 as passives, and 9-10 as promoters.
Once you get your score for each customer, you can calculate your NPS:
NPS = % of promoters - % of detractors
If your survey shows that 60% of users say they’ll promote the product and 30% say they won’t, the NPS is 30.
Other metrics to track in this category include:
Customer satisfaction score (CSAT): Measures the percentage of how satisfied customers are with your product or overall experience.
CSAT = (Number of satisfied responses / Total number of survey responses) x 100
Example: Let’s say that 80 out of 100 customers give a ‘satisfied’ rating.
CSAT would then be: (80 / 100) x 100 = 80%.
Customer effort score (CES): Shows how easy or difficult it is for customers to find and complete a specific task or interest with the product.
CES = Sum of customer effort ratings / Total number of survey responses
If 100 customers give a total effort score of 350, CES is then: 350 / 100 = 3.5.
Keep in mind that each industry has its own metrics that work best for its purposes.
The options we’ve listed above cover a wide range of cases. You need to choose the ones that best work for your business and product.
And if you choose to go down the referral marketing path, we can help you there.
With our tool, you get access to customizable templates to launch referral programs, with built-in analytics to track waitlist sign-ups, referral shares, the viral coefficient (K-factor), milestone completions, and leaderboard engagement.
This way, you can organically raise awareness and build a community of early adopters.
Want to see how this happens?
Book a demo with Viral Loops today.
The most important KPIs to track during a product launch include:
Start by deciding which metrics are the most important for you. Then set the right processes and monitor the metrics that show your progress, as well as whether you should make any changes.
Launch metrics are time-bound and measure how well the pre-launch, launch, and immediate post-launch phases performed.
Ongoing product KPIs, on the other hand, measure the product’s long-term growth or health. They track retention, churn rate, lifetime value, or MRR growth, answering the question ‘Does this product still work?’
Several tools can track product launch KPIs. Here are some of them:
Some common mistakes to avoid include:
Written by:
Nikitas is responsible for growth at Viral Loops and also helps customers on 1-on-1 basis to reach success with their referral campaigns. Let's connect on LinkedIn
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