Northstar metric
Strategy and planning
Strategy and planning
A northstar metric is the single measure that best reflects the value customers get from your product or service — and predicts your growth over time.
It sits between revenue and shallow numbers: revenue is the result, clicks and visitors say too little. Examples: weekly actively used accounts, delivered orders, or customers who buy a second time.
Pick one and put a handful of steerable metrics underneath it (reach, conversion, retention). That way every team knows what it contributes to instead of chasing its own dashboard.
In practice
Choosing a northstar you can inflate without delivering value, such as sign-ups or pageviews. Pick something that only rises once a customer is genuinely helped.
Related terms
- KPIA KPI is a number you steer on because it links directly to a goal, such as qualified enquiries per month or cost per customer.
- OKROKR is a goal-setting method: one clear objective with two to four measurable key results that prove you achieved it.
- BHAGA BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) is one large, concrete long-term goal — often 10 to 25 years out — that guides all smaller choices.
- RetentionRetention is the share of customers who keep buying over time. Its opposite is churn: the share that leaves.