How do you measure the impact of your product releases?

1 Define your objectives and key results

Before you launch a product release, you need to have a clear vision of what you want to achieve and how you will measure it. One of the most popular frameworks for setting and tracking goals is the Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) method. OKRs help you align your product vision with your business strategy and create measurable, actionable, and time-bound outcomes. For example, an objective could be to increase user engagement, and a key result could be to increase the average session duration by 20% in the next quarter.

2 Choose your metrics and data sources

Once you have your OKRs, you need to choose the right metrics and data sources to monitor and evaluate your product release. Metrics are quantitative indicators that show how well your product is performing against your key results. Data sources are the tools and platforms that collect and store the data for your metrics. For example, you could use Google Analytics to track user behavior, Firebase to monitor app performance, or SurveyMonkey to gather user feedback. You should choose metrics and data sources that are relevant, reliable, and easy to access.

3 Set up your dashboards and reports

To measure the impact of your product release, you need to have a way to visualize and communicate your data. Dashboards and reports are the tools that help you do that. Dashboards are interactive displays that show your metrics in real time and allow you to filter and drill down into the data. Reports are static summaries that highlight the key findings and insights from your data. You should set up your dashboards and reports before you launch your product release, and update them regularly during and after the release.

4 Analyze your results and learn from them

The final step of measuring the impact of your product release is to analyze your results and learn from them. Analysis is the process of interpreting your data and finding out what worked, what didn't, and why. Learning is the process of applying your analysis to improve your product and your process. You should analyze your results and learn from them at different stages of your product release cycle, such as before, during, and after the launch, and at regular intervals afterwards.

Measuring the impact of your product releases is not a one-time activity, but a continuous cycle of setting goals, tracking metrics, visualizing data, and learning from feedback. By following these best practices and tools, you can make sure that your product releases are delivering value to your customers and your business, and that you are constantly improving your product and your product management skills.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?