Analyze like a pirate!

The other day, we stumbled upon a simple yet insightful guide by AIBY helping measure the success of acquisition and monetization through the AARRR framework (also known as ‘pirate metrics’). Supposedly, it works for any product, no matter what your success criteria are. What matters is taking the right steps at certain stages.  

Let’s see how it operates!

AARRR Framework

The funnel stages are as follows, each coming with a very precise, to-the-point question:

What did AIBY twist the scheme? They matched certain metrics with each AARRR phase to spot the ways to engage users more effectively. Here are the key takeaways:

Acquisition

Ad CTR – testing various ad concepts gives you an understanding of your product drawbacks and your users’ preferences based on CTR.

Store conversion – shifting the location of the first promo screenshots in the store helps you detect the best performing combination (checking out the competitors’ screenshots helps, too).

Activation

Onboarding - Find the moment when the users interrupt their onboarding. It’s frequently where they face problems.

Build the user onboarding - Focus on the choices made by users after the first target action. This is a great signpost to elaborate the features aimed at improving retention.

Retention

Identify and analyze your core feature — the one that makes the user return to your app and performs great both activation and retention-wise. Reward them for the actions taken (but don’t give the game away at once) and create rewards according to the user’s value: social rewards (likes, etc.), hunting-gathering rewards (collecting clues to secret knowledge) or personal reward (certificates, medals, and the like).

Revenue

Traditionally, it’s the final stage of the AARRR framework. But for most businesses, it appears more reasonable to place it above Referral. This step allows you to understand whether your efforts pay off properly. Increase the Customer Lifetime Value and decrease the Customer Acquisition Cost. A good CLV to CAC ratio is at least 20%. 

Referral

This is, perhaps, the most amazing and the least predictable AARRR stage where your users become your ambassadors thus boosting your product growth for free. Track NPS to gauge customer loyalty and their willingness to share the product. Of course, you can “bolster” both in various ways:

• Refer a friend and get X days of Premium for free
• Gift certificates
• Add watermarks with the app logo and name when the user shares images

All above done, you’ll have a deeper understanding of your product. Put the insights and weaknesses you have spotted in the AARRR funnel again, prioritize them, and go to it!  

For more information, including a set of genuinely useful recommendations, explore the original research.