By Tom Dewhurst, Co-founder, Growth Division · Updated October 2026
A North Star Metric (NSM) is the single number that best captures the value your customers get from your product, and that predicts long-term revenue when it grows. It gives every team one shared definition of growth. Beneath it sit three to five input metrics that the team can move week to week. The idea is associated with Sean Ellis and was popularised further by Amplitude's North Star Playbook.
At Growth Division we set a North Star before we spend a pound on media. Every experiment is scored against it and every weekly report starts with it. Here is how to pick a good one.
What is a North Star Metric?
A North Star Metric counts how often customers reach the moment where they get real value. It is not revenue, although it should lead to revenue. It is not a vanity metric, although it should be easy to understand.
Without one, every channel owner optimises for their own number. The paid team chases clicks, the content team chases traffic and nobody owns the outcome. With one, trade-offs become visible: when two experiments compete for budget, you pick the one more likely to move the North Star.
Three widely cited public examples show the pattern:
- Airbnb: nights booked. It counts value for both guests and hosts.
- Spotify: time spent listening. It counts how much listeners use the product.
- Slack: messages sent. It counts teams actually communicating.
Each one rises only when customers get more of what they came for.
What makes a good North Star Metric?
A good North Star passes six tests. If a candidate fails two or more, keep looking.
- It reflects customer value. It counts something the customer would recognise as a benefit, not something you extract from them.
- It leads revenue. When it rises, revenue follows within a quarter or two. If it can rise while revenue falls, it is the wrong number.
- It is measurable weekly. A metric you can only read quarterly can't steer a two-week sprint.
- The team can move it. Marketing, product and customer success can each name an experiment that would shift it.
- It is easy to explain. Anyone in the company can say what it is and roughly where it stands.
- It is hard to game. "Accounts created" can be inflated with junk sign-ups. "Accounts that completed setup and returned in week two" can't.
What is the difference between a North Star Metric, input metrics and OKRs?
These three are often confused. They work together, at different levels.
| North Star Metric | Input metrics | OKRs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | One number that measures customer value delivered | 3–5 numbers that drive the North Star | Time-bound goals with measurable key results |
| How many | One | Three to five | A few objectives per quarter, each with 2–4 key results |
| Time horizon | Stable for 1–3 years | Reviewed weekly | Set quarterly |
| Who moves it | The whole company, indirectly | Specific teams, directly | The team that owns the objective |
| Example (B2B SaaS) | Weekly active accounts | New activated accounts; % of accounts using a core feature; week-4 retention | "Lift activation": raise setup completion from 40% to 55% by end of Q1 |
| Main risk | Picking a vanity metric | Tracking too many | Goals that don't connect to the North Star |
A simple way to hold it: the North Star says where you are going, input metrics say which levers move it, and OKRs say which levers you will pull this quarter and by how much.
What are North Star Metric examples by business model?
The right North Star depends on how your customers get value. These are starting points, not answers.
| Business model | Example North Star | Typical input metrics | Public example |
|---|---|---|---|
| B2B SaaS | Weekly active accounts (accounts doing the core action at least once a week) | New activated accounts; core-feature adoption; seat expansion; logo retention | Slack: messages sent |
| Marketplace | Completed transactions per week | New buyers; new active sellers; search-to-booking rate; repeat-buyer rate | Airbnb: nights booked |
| Ecommerce / DTC | Orders from repeat customers per month | First-order volume; 90-day repeat rate; average order value; subscription take-up | Keep generic |
| Fintech | Monthly transacting (funded and active) accounts | Sign-up to verified rate; time to first deposit; transactions per account; 3-month retention | Keep generic |
| Media / content | Time spent consuming content per week | New subscribers; sessions per user; completion rate; return visits | Spotify: time spent listening |
Two patterns stand out. Marketplaces need a metric that counts value on both sides. Ecommerce businesses should avoid "total orders" as a North Star, because heavy discounting can lift it while margin collapses. Repeat orders are a better signal of value.
How do you choose a North Star Metric?
- Find the value moment. Ask: at what point does a customer first get what they paid for? For an invoicing tool, it is an invoice paid on time. For a recruitment platform, it is a hire.
- List three to five candidates. Each should count how often that moment happens. Include a time window (per week, per month) and a quality bar (e.g. "active" defined precisely).
- Test each against the six criteria above. Drop any that fail two or more.
- Check the link to revenue. Pull historical data. Did customers with more of this metric in month one retain and pay more by month six? If the data is thin, use cohort comparisons rather than waiting for certainty.
- Map the input metrics. Break the North Star into the three to five drivers that multiply or add up to it. Each input should have an owner.
- Write the counting rules. Define exactly what counts, which tool is the source of truth and how test accounts are excluded. Many disputes later trace back to a vague definition. Our 9 data-driven marketing tactics post explains why tracking comes second only to the North Star itself.
- Baseline it and review annually. Record the current value, chart it weekly, and revisit the choice every 12 months or after a major change in business model.
What does a North Star Metric look like in practice?
Here is an illustrative example for a B2B invoicing tool. Its North Star is invoices paid through the product per week, because a paid invoice is the moment the customer gets value.
The North Star breaks down into three inputs:
North Star = active accounts × invoices sent per active account × % of invoices paid through the product
Today: 500 active accounts × 5 invoices × 80% paid = 2,000 invoices paid per week.
Now compare three experiments, each aimed at one input:
| Experiment | Input it moves | Change | New North Star | Lift |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paid search on high-intent terms | Active accounts | 500 → 550 | 550 × 5 × 80% = 2,200 | +10% |
| Recurring-invoice templates | Invoices per account | 5 → 6 | 500 × 6 × 80% = 2,400 | +20% |
| One-click card payment on invoices | % paid through product | 80% → 88% | 500 × 5 × 88% = 2,200 | +10% |
Without a North Star, the paid search test looks like the obvious growth move because it brings new customers. With one, the team can see that a product feature for existing accounts has twice the effect. That is the decision a North Star is meant to surface.
How does the North Star drive our weekly reporting at Growth Division?
The North Star is the first line of every report we send.
- Bullseye picks the channels. We use the Bullseye Framework to choose 3–6 channels to test. Each channel's early indicators are mapped to an input metric so we can see which ones feed the North Star.
- ICE scores against it. Impact in our ICE scoring means expected lift in the North Star, not in clicks or traffic. GREX AI, our AI growth operating system, scores each experiment with ICE, and a named senior strategist reviews every score.
- Two-week sprints. Experiments run in two-week sprints with a pre-agreed scale, iterate or kill rule.
- A weekly 45-minute review. Same agenda every week: where is the North Star and what moved it; which experiments finished and what we decided; what is live and blocked; which two ideas from the backlog run next. GREX pulls live metrics from tools like HubSpot and PostHog and scores each week's results by their contribution to the North Star, so the review starts with facts rather than opinions.
The growth experimentation framework we run starts with exactly this step.
What are the common mistakes with North Star Metrics?
- Choosing revenue. Revenue is an outcome, not a measure of value delivered. It lags, and the team can't move it directly within a sprint.
- Choosing a vanity metric. Sign-ups, downloads and followers can grow while the business stalls.
- Having two North Stars. If there are two, teams pick whichever suits them. Keep one and put the other underneath as an input.
- No definition. "Active user" means something different in every tool. Write it down.
- Setting it and never reporting it. If the North Star isn't on the first slide of the weekly review, it isn't steering anything.
FAQs
What is a North Star Metric in simple terms?
It is the one number that shows whether customers are getting more value from your product. If it goes up, the business should be healthier in a quarter's time. Everyone in the company works to move it.
Can revenue be a North Star Metric?
Usually not. Revenue lags behind customer value and can be lifted in ways that hurt long-term growth, such as price rises that increase churn. Pick the value metric that predicts revenue, then track revenue alongside it.
How many input metrics should sit under a North Star?
Three to five. Fewer, and you can't see which lever moved it. More, and the weekly review turns into a dashboard tour.
How often should you change your North Star Metric?
Rarely. Review it once a year or after a major change, such as moving from self-serve to sales-led. Changing it every quarter defeats the point of a shared direction.
Is a North Star Metric the same as an OKR?
No. The North Star is stable and measures customer value. OKRs are quarterly goals, and good ones target the input metrics that move the North Star.
Not sure what your North Star should be? Book a free 1-hour Bullseye Strategy Session → /contact-us. We'll help you pick one, map its inputs and shortlist the channels most likely to move it.
Related reading: what is the AARRR framework? · building a growth marketing framework that scales your startup
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