Definition
A north star metric is the primary metric your team uses to represent delivered customer value over time.
It should be tightly linked to both customer outcomes and business outcomes, not just short-term activity.
The north star is not a vanity metric—it represents real value delivered to customers that correlates with revenue.
Examples of north star metrics
Slack: Messages sent per week (represents team communication value).
Airbnb: Nights booked (represents value to both hosts and guests).
Figma: Weekly active editors (represents design collaboration value).
Your north star should capture the core value exchange between your product and your users.
The role of a north star metric in PLG
In PLG, a clear north star metric helps align product, growth, and sales teams around the same definition of success.
Activation, time-to-value, and expansion metrics often support the north star metric as leading indicators.
Teams can focus on improving input metrics that ladder up to the north star.
How to choose your north star metric
It should measure value delivered, not just activity (e.g., "analyses run" not "logins").
It should be measurable and movable—your team should be able to influence it.
It should be leading (or at least correlated with) revenue and retention.
Using Skene to support your north star metric
Skene turns onboarding journeys and milestones into measurable events, which can be rolled up into your north star metric.
As you refine your journeys, Skene keeps the measurement layer in sync so your north star stays grounded in real usage.
Implementation notes
- Your north star should be stable over time—do not change it frequently or teams lose focus.
- Break the north star into input metrics that different teams can own and influence.
- Review north star progress weekly or monthly, not daily—it is a lagging indicator.