In this article, you\u2019ll learn about:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Product usage metrics and why they matter.<\/li>\n
- Ways to measure product usage.<\/li>\n
- Metrics to track within your product.<\/li>\n
- Using tools to track product usage metrics and more.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Product usage metrics – quick summary<\/h2>\n
- \n
- Product usage is the data that represents how and when your customers are using your product.<\/li>\n
- Product usage metrics allow you to ensure that your product team is getting the right insights into user activity.<\/li>\n
- The purpose of tracking product usage metrics is to learn how users engage with your product, <\/a>where they get stuck, and what features make them stick around for longer.<\/li>\n
- The product onboarding engagement<\/a> rate measures how many users engage with your in-app and mobile onboarding<\/a>.<\/li>\n
- Product activation rate<\/a> = (number of users who reached the activation milestone\/ number of users who signed up) x 100<\/li>\n
- The product adoption journey<\/a> stages reflect the steps a user goes through on their path to product adoption, which can be summed up with the product adoption flywheel.<\/a><\/li>\n
- Time-to-value<\/a> measures the time it takes for a user to reach the \u201cAHA! Moment\u201d.<\/a><\/li>\n
- The number of key user actions per session relates to your product core action usage.<\/li>\n
- Customer engagement score (CES)<\/a> = total event value #1 + total event value #2 + total event value #3 + …<\/li>\n
- Feature usage means the number of users utilizing a specific feature of your product.<\/li>\n
- Product usage stickiness is your daily active users divided by your monthly active users or DAU\/MAU.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
What is product usage?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Product usage is the data that represents how and when your customers are using your product. Product usage data is a crucial resource for any business, as it can help you understand your consumer better. These insights can help you make better business decisions and optimize your marketing campaigns.<\/p>\n
Why do product usage metrics matter?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Chasing the wrong metrics is a common pitfall for product teams, which can lead to flawed user behavior analysis. Tracking the right metrics can help fuel innovation as it can identify the consumer needs that surface-level data couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
So, how can you ensure that your product team is getting the right insights on user activity? Enter: product usage metrics.<\/p>\n
Tracking product usage metrics helps product teams make sense of product usage data and be constantly aware of key aspects of the product.<\/p>\n
Product usage metrics can help you figure out:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Which product features different user segments<\/a> engage with most.<\/li>\n
- How effective your in-product engagement strategies are.<\/li>\n
- Overall product performance and stickiness.<\/li>\n
- How engaged your users are in your product.<\/li>\n
- How A\/B testing<\/a> is impacting user behavior in adopting the product.<\/li>\n
- Make data-informed decisions for improving the product.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
How do you measure product usage? Metrics to track in your product<\/strong><\/h2>\n
While measuring product usage, make sure to avoid<\/strong> vanity metrics. For instance, the number of logins per day tells you nothing about the usage of your product. To look at it from another angle, tracking the average time in applications tells you nothing if your product is an invoicing software that’s used based on users\u2019 use case (a freelancer might spend 5 mins in-app per month to issue 3 invoices, while a marketing agency might spend 1 hour invoicing their clients).<\/p>\n
The purpose of tracking product usage metrics is to learn how users engage with your product, where they get stuck, and what features make them stick around for longer.<\/p>\n
To get these right, let\u2019s take a look at the top 8 product usage metrics:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Product onboarding engagement rate<\/a><\/li>\n
- Product activation rate<\/a><\/li>\n
- Product adoption<\/a><\/li>\n
- Time to value<\/a><\/li>\n
- Number of key user actions per session<\/a><\/li>\n
- Customer engagement score<\/a><\/li>\n
- Feature usage<\/a><\/li>\n
- Product usage stickiness<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Product onboarding engagement rate<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The product onboarding engagement rate measures how many users engage with your mobile onboarding<\/a> and in-app onboarding<\/a>. Although most SaaS businesses focus only on the primary onboarding stage, there are actually three stages of onboarding in every product:<\/p>\n
![\"user](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/user-journey-stages-product-usage-metrics_3a72cf464d22dbf200caca64b74bd8d6_800.png\")
<\/picture><\/figure>\n- \n
- Primary onboarding<\/a>:<\/strong> The initial onboarding stage focuses on getting users to the activation point by engaging with key product features.<\/li>\n
- Secondary onboarding<\/a>:<\/strong> The next onboarding stage focuses on introducing users to secondary features for repeated value delivery.<\/li>\n
- Tertiary onboarding: <\/strong>The last onboarding stage focuses on creating product advocates and driving account expansion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Measuring product onboarding engagement rate and continuously testing in-app experiences to improve engagement will directly impact your product adoption and retention.<\/p>\n
While calculating the product onboarding engagement rate, you need to look at each stage of the onboarding journey separately and track user engagement.<\/p>\n
For example, during primary onboarding, you can use an in-app checklist that guides users to perform key actions in your product to experience value. You can then track the percentage of users that finish the checklist<\/a> in a given period over the number of users who start engaging with it.<\/p>\n
What you measure in each stage is totally up to you. Here are some examples of what you can measure to get you started on measuring onboarding engagement:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Users who complete the onboarding process\/ users who start the onboarding process (%).<\/li>\n
- Users who achieve all onboarding goals within 24 hours after signup\/ users who go through the entire onboarding process (%).<\/li>\n
- The median value of key tasks completed\/ number of key onboarding tasks to complete.<\/li>\n
- The average time it takes for users to accomplish all the onboarding tasks.<\/li>\n
- Rate of progress through each onboarding step (%).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"calculate](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/calculate-onboarding-engagement_188a97595745e06044f31fcc1db4c15f_800.png\")
<\/picture><\/figure>\nProduct activation rate<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Product activation rate accounts for the number of users reaching the activation<\/a> point in the user journey. This metric is different for every product. Product activation rate depends on the key points of your product that a user must engage with to experience the value in your product.<\/p>\n
Your primary onboarding influences the product activation rate. Here\u2019s how you calculate it:<\/p>\n
Product Activation Rate = (number of users who reached the activation milestone\/ number of users who signed up) x 100<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
![\"product](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/product-activation-rate-product-usage-metrics_e5776986d8abab11a5e99eafffc1fc3f_800.png\")
<\/picture><\/figure>\nProduct adoption<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The product adoption<\/a> journey stages (similar to the user journey stages) reflect the steps a user goes through on their path to product adoption. We call this the product adoption flywheel<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The adoption flywheel has 7 stages (yes, we like to focus on the details). Understanding these stages can help you nudge customers forward in their journey and strengthen their level of adoption.<\/p>\n
![\"user](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/userpilot-user-adoption-flywheel_9e4f5a17c10a821616ea71fce85cb8ea_800.png\")
<\/picture><\/figure>\n1. AHA moment<\/strong><\/p>\n
The \u201cAHA! moment<\/a>\u201d is the moment a user realizes the value of your product for resolving a pain point.<\/p>\n
2. Activated<\/strong><\/p>\n
The next step of the journey is User Activation<\/a>. It occurs when the user experiences value by engaging with key features.<\/p>\n
3. Selected<\/strong><\/p>\n
\u201cSelected\u201d is when a user decides your product works best for them and stops using other products.<\/p>\n
4. Paid<\/strong><\/p>\n
At this stage, the users decide your product is worth paying<\/a> for so that they can keep using it.<\/p>\n
5. Basic<\/strong><\/p>\n
When the user likes your product and uses some of its features but isn\u2019t utilizing it to its full potential, this is the basic stage.<\/p>\n
6. Pro<\/strong><\/p>\n
At this stage, the users are called Pro users or Power Users<\/a>. They are actively maximizing value from your product, having fully bought into it.<\/p>\n
7. Advocate<\/strong><\/p>\n
Advocates are the users who get so much value from your product that they go out of their way to recommend it to others.<\/p>\n
If you want to measure product adoption, you need to determine and track each point in the journey and then calculate how many users reach it. Please note that this is not a single metric to track but several that will give you an in-depth understanding of your product usage.<\/p>\n
Time to value<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Time-to-value<\/a> measures the time it takes for a user to reach the \u201cAHA! Moment\u201d. This is when users start experiencing value from your product. Your goal should be to decrease time-to-value as much as you can.<\/p>\n
By reducing the time-to-value, the more you\u2019ll increase product adoption. This can also improve your onboarding flow and guide users towards the \u201cAHA! Moment\u201d smoothly.<\/p>\n
![\"time](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image_607eb2cf84567a4db17d00583d24cab5_800.png\")
<\/picture><\/figure>\nNumber of key user actions per session<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The number of key user actions per session takes your product core action usage into account. For example, if your product is an email marketing automation tool, your product core usage key actions might be:<\/p>\n
- \n
- scheduling an email automation campaign<\/li>\n
- checking email campaign performance<\/li>\n
- tweaking email campaign<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
You\u2019ll want to track if the user performs key actions. This will tell you if users are getting value from your product. If they do, you\u2019ll see the churn rates drop in no time.<\/p>\n
Customer engagement score<\/strong><\/h3>\n
If you\u2019re tracking key user actions, you\u2019ll find the customer engagement score relevant.<\/p>\n
Customer engagement score assigns a number that denotes the level of engagement of your customers and free trial prospects. Each of your customers gets a score based on how they are using your product. Happier customers usually have higher scores.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how you calculate it:<\/p>\n
Customer engagement score (CES) = total event value #1 + total event value #2 + total event value #3 + …<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
![\"customer](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/calculating-customer-engagement-score_f91c04a523e1f5bbef124045cf01a705_800.png\")
<\/picture><\/figure>\nCES gives you an overall view of your product usage. You can identify friction points by tracking unengaged users with a low customer engagement score and cross-referencing it with other product usage analytics. You can then improve your product by acting on these friction points.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, tracking highly engaged users and cross-referencing data with product usage analytics can help you identify areas for customer expansion.<\/p>\n
Feature usage<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Feature usage means the number of users utilizing a specific feature of your product. It offers you a more in-depth view of how your product is being used.<\/p>\n
To calculate the feature adoption<\/a> rate, divide the number of feature monthly active users (MAUs) by the number of user logins in a given period, and multiply it by 100.<\/p>\n
![\"feature](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/feature-usage-rate-product-usage-metrics_192a9758493828a7c8c88b67ff5a22d5_800.png\")
<\/picture><\/figure>\nIt\u2019s best to track feature usage based on cohorts<\/a> when you\u2019re trying to understand product usage. This offers you insights on which features matter for which type of user persona. You can then use this to improve onboarding by guiding users to discover features relevant to them through personalized onboarding<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Product usage stickiness<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Stickiness is your daily active users divided by your monthly active users or DAU\/MAU.<\/p>\n
![\"stickiness](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/stickiness-metric-calculation_4661baad402263ba5ea6a4a511cdc0b3_800.png\")
<\/picture><\/figure>\nHere\u2019s how you can utilize product usage stickiness to measure product health:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Identify your product\u2019s natural cadence: <\/strong>Figure out if DAU\/MAU is the right level of granularity for your product. This completely depends on the type of product you\u2019re offering.<\/li>\n
- Identify users showing the most stickiness:<\/strong> To accomplish this, you need to compare multiple cohorts and find a pattern. You can segment your users based on their in-app behavior to gain a better understanding. While doing so, you might find a correlation between a certain behavioral segment with more usage. This can help you shape your user retention strategy<\/a>.<\/li>\n
- Put the insights to work: <\/strong>Identifying the user segments with more product usage, along with the features that elicit more usage, can offer you valuable insights that can help you optimize your user acquisition programs. You can also streamline your in-app feature adoption campaigns as well as your entire onboarding process.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Tracking the right product usage metrics allows you to make the most of user data. You can gain valuable insights that you can use to constantly improve your product and grow your SaaS business.<\/p>\n
Product usage metrics like product onboarding engagement rate, activation rate, adoption, and more help you understand crucial aspects of your product, including product health.<\/p>\n
If tracking these metrics may seem quite a hectic thing to do, you can put your trust in Userpilot to make it easy and efficient.<\/p>\n
- Identify users showing the most stickiness:<\/strong> To accomplish this, you need to compare multiple cohorts and find a pattern. You can segment your users based on their in-app behavior to gain a better understanding. While doing so, you might find a correlation between a certain behavioral segment with more usage. This can help you shape your user retention strategy<\/a>.<\/li>\n
- Identify your product\u2019s natural cadence: <\/strong>Figure out if DAU\/MAU is the right level of granularity for your product. This completely depends on the type of product you\u2019re offering.<\/li>\n
- Secondary onboarding<\/a>:<\/strong> The next onboarding stage focuses on introducing users to secondary features for repeated value delivery.<\/li>\n
- Product activation rate<\/a><\/li>\n
- The product onboarding engagement<\/a> rate measures how many users engage with your in-app and mobile onboarding<\/a>.<\/li>\n
![\"user](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/user-journey-stages-product-usage-metrics_3a72cf464d22dbf200caca64b74bd8d6_800.png)
<\/picture><\/figure>\n![\"calculate](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/calculate-onboarding-engagement_188a97595745e06044f31fcc1db4c15f_800.png)
<\/picture><\/figure>\n![\"product](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/product-activation-rate-product-usage-metrics_e5776986d8abab11a5e99eafffc1fc3f_800.png)
<\/picture><\/figure>\n![\"user](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/userpilot-user-adoption-flywheel_9e4f5a17c10a821616ea71fce85cb8ea_800.png)
<\/picture><\/figure>\n![\"time](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image_607eb2cf84567a4db17d00583d24cab5_800.png)
<\/picture><\/figure>\n![\"customer](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/calculating-customer-engagement-score_f91c04a523e1f5bbef124045cf01a705_800.png)
<\/picture><\/figure>\n![\"feature](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/feature-usage-rate-product-usage-metrics_192a9758493828a7c8c88b67ff5a22d5_800.png)
<\/picture><\/figure>\n![\"stickiness](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/stickiness-metric-calculation_4661baad402263ba5ea6a4a511cdc0b3_800.png)
<\/picture><\/figure>\n