I-40

From Oklahoma

Page views or unique vistiors are bad measurements because they focus on abstract metrics instead of the valuable customer behavior that generates those metrics.So, they focus on the check they get at the end of each month, instead of the reason why they get that check. 1 million page views might mean 1 million dollars, but if you're not converting any users, then next month, you might not make a dime.I've been trying to push a meme at work around behavior-driven metrics' with the gist being you have to measure the user behavior that drives the money.So, for a site at work, the business model relies on return vistiors. Where the business wants to focus on unique vistiors per month, I'm trying to push them to focus on return vistiors per month.It seems like an obvious answer to me, but in the end, the business is on the hook for delivering so much money a month. The end-all, be-all for most of the business side will be a metric that tells them how much that check will be.So, my latest thinking is to go for a compromise: track engagement (the user experience) and monetization (the business success).* page views per session (engaged) AND ad views per session (monetization)* video ends (user engaged) AND ads views per video (video monetization)* return vistiors per month (engagement) AND ad views per return visitor per visit (monetization)This is still a problem I'm working through, so I'm kind of thinking out loud here I think number of clicks is better than time on site, but the best metric measures the user behavior you believe is critical to the success of your business model.Is that number of uploads? Do you believe uploads drive the referral traffic that's key to your ad revenue?Is the key behavior number of registrations? Number of slideshow starts? Slideshow completions?Time on site, number of clicks, unique vistiors, whatever. None of those matter if none of them contribute to what makes your business run.