Finding and using the One Metric That Matters

Everyone at Dapper profoundly believes in data. We base our every choice on the data we get from (previously) conducted experiments and know exactly which metrics to use to draw the right conclusions. How do we do it? With the One Metric That Matters (OMTM)!

What do marketers mean by the One Metric That Matters?

The OMTM is the metric that Growth Hackers focus on when conducting experiments. The goal is that every performed task and experiment contributes to this number. Of course, this doesn't mean that you never have to look at other metrics again, rather it means that the OMTM you choose has priority over other metrics. OMTMs can be very broadly defined, but this certainly doesn't always have to be the case. Some of the factors this depends on are the size of your business, the industry your business is in and the target audience you are targeting. Examples of OMTMs are the number of website visitors or leads in the past month, your click-through rate, the cost per lead etc.

Why should I use the OMTM?

One of the biggest advantages of the OMTM is that it provides a clear focus! It helps you but also the rest of your team to focus on the same metric and refrain from getting distracted by the other many metrics you can base your success on. Conjoint with this focus also comes speed. Because you don't get distracted easily, you are less likely to get sidetracked and continuously work towards your end goal. In that case, you will achieve it in no time!

How do I find the right OMTM?

By following the next four steps, you will find the OMTM that best fits your company at this moment:

1. Do: Find the bottleneck in your AAARRR funnel

It is important to use the AAARRR funnel to discover in which phase your company can still make big steps to improve growth. Often the point of improvement is the current bottleneck in your funnel.

Do you notice that too few people have heard of your brand? Then take a closer look at your awareness phase and base your OMTM on the number of website visits you've had in X number of days. Do you see that you are losing many customers after they have made their first purchases? Then try to focus on the revenue phase and try to lower the churn rate at all costs.

2. Do: Within your chosen phase in the AAARRR funnel, make it specific

This step is particularly important for larger companies. You can then, for example, segment based on the countries you are active in, the number of website visits in a short time period, etc. The more specific you are, the greater the impact you can make with your chosen metric.

For example, are you and your company active in the Netherlands, Germany and England? Then choose to segment your OMTM by geographical area. For example, in the coming period, look at: number of website visitors in the past 7 days from the Netherlands.

3. Do: Set S.M.A.R.T. targets

To avoid getting distracted and doing tasks that don't directly contribute to your OMTM it's good to set goals that are specific, measurable, acceptable (achievable), relevant and have a clearly defined deadline. In each of these phases, it is relevant to address a number of sub-questions. Below we have listed them for you!

Specific

• What do you want to achieve?
• Who are involved?
• Where are you going to do it?
• When are you going to do it?
• Why do you want to accomplish it?

Measurable

• How much needs to be done?
• How will you measure it?
• What is the end result?

Acceptable

• Are you in full support of your goal?
• Does your employer and/or your colleagues also support the goal?
• Did the goal arise logically from your work or your employer?

Relevant

• Are the steps you need to take towards your goal achievable?
• Do you have enough knowledge and resources to achieve your goal?
• Is the goal not too easy or difficult?

Time-bound

• When will you start?
• When will you be finished?
• When have you met your goal?

4. Do: Prioritize your experiments based on the chosen OMTM

Look over the list of experiments you are currently working on and for each experiment, see if it contributes directly to achieving your OMTM. Does the experiment not contribute directly to your chosen metric? Then place it at the bottom of your list and prioritise experiments that do contribute directly.

One way to prioritise Growth Hacking experiments is by using the ICE framework. You give each experiment a score of 1-5 for the following three elements:

• Impact: how high do you expect the positive impact of the experiment to be on the OMTM?
• Confidence: how confident are you that the experiment will be impactful?
• Ease: how easy is it to conduct the experiment? How much time, effort and resources will the experiment take?

Ultimately, you multiply the three scores and look at each experiment's final total score. The experiment with the highest score ultimately has the highest priority.

It is important to take a critical look at the OMTM you have set up every 2 to 4 months. So go through the above steps regularly to see whether your OMTM has been achieved or needs to be replaced!