WTF is Your Metric Doing to Your Customers? cover image
Customer Relationship Management

WTF is Your Metric Doing to Your Customers?

Explore the impact of metrics on business performance and customer experience.

Vince Law
May 10, 2019 • 19 min read
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Intermediate
Customer Loyalty Management
Customer Success Metrics
Feedback Culture
Organizational Culture
Organizational Strategy
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Summary

This resource delves into the dual nature of business metrics, highlighting their potential to drive performance while also posing risks of unintended consequences. Through real-world examples, it discusses how metrics can lead to undesirable outcomes if not managed carefully. The text offers strategies to mitigate these effects by designing incentives, establishing counter-metrics, and fostering a culture of accountability. It provides actionable insights for product managers and business leaders to ensure metrics align with both business and customer interests.

Takeaways

  • A strong culture of accountability can prevent unethical practices driven by metric-focused goals.
  • Counter-metrics provide a balanced view, ensuring customer interests are not overlooked.
  • Designing effective incentives is crucial to align employee actions with desired goals.
  • Metrics can drive both positive and negative outcomes within organizations.
  • Real-world examples illustrate the potential pitfalls of poorly managed metrics.
  • A typical collection of metrics leans heavily towards the health of the business rather than the health of your customer.
  • Direct incentives establish the norm of what “good” behavior looks like.

    Counter-metrics help consistently measure and align high-level business and customer objectives.

    A culture of accountability reinforces incentives and metrics.
  • You cannot manage what you cannot measure… and what gets measured gets done.

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