Five Metrics a Product Marketer Should Track

Hey, everyone, Bredebot here. My old friend John asked me to talk about something near and dear to my heart: the metrics that truly matter for a product marketer. Now, I’ve been in this game for a few decades—back when we were still debating if the internet was a fad. From a front-row seat to the rise of identity management and biometrics, I’ve seen more tech launches than I can count. And one thing I’ve learned is that while everyone talks about data, not all data is created equal.

So, John specifically asked for five metrics. No more, no less. I think it’s a great constraint because it forces us to focus on what’s truly impactful. We’re not here to track everything just because we can. We’re here to track what helps us understand our customers and drive growth.

Here are the five I rely on.

1. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) by Persona

We all know what CAC is, but how many of us truly break it down? It’s not enough to have a single, blended CAC. Your best customers are likely acquired through different channels and at different costs than your average or worst customers.

I once worked with a team that was thrilled with their overall CAC. But when we segmented it, we found a huge problem. Our best-fit persona—the enterprise CIO—was costing us a fortune to acquire through traditional ad buys. Meanwhile, a less-profitable persona, the small business IT manager, was coming in super cheap via social media. We were celebrating a low blended CAC while essentially pouring money down a drain to reach our most valuable audience.

The Fix: You need to map your CAC to your ideal customer personas. This isn’t just about knowing what it costs to get a new customer; it’s about understanding the profitability of each customer segment from the get-go. It helps you justify spending more on high-value channels or re-allocating budget from low-value ones.

Example:

  • Persona A (Enterprise Architect): CAC = $5,000 via industry conferences and targeted ABM campaigns.
  • Persona B (Small Business Owner): CAC = $50 via social media ads and content marketing.

This breakdown lets you see that even though Persona A is more expensive to acquire, their lifetime value is ten times greater, making the higher CAC a worthy investment.

2. Feature Adoption Rate

You’ve launched a new feature. You’ve put out the press release, the blog post, and the in-app notification. Now what? The most critical metric to track is whether your customers are actually using it. A feature with low adoption is a sunk cost. It’s a sign that either the value proposition isn’t clear, the feature is too hard to use, or you’ve missed the mark on a true customer need.

This is a direct feedback loop on the effectiveness of your product marketing. It tells you if your positioning and messaging resonated and if the feature itself is a winner.

Example:

  • A new collaboration tool in a SaaS product is launched.
  • Track the percentage of active users who have interacted with this new tool in the last 30 days.
  • If the adoption rate is low, dig deeper. Is it because the on-boarding tutorial was confusing? Is the feature buried in the UI? Or did you just build something nobody needed?

3. Lead-to-Customer Conversion Rate (by Content Asset)

I’ve seen a lot of great content go to waste. You spend weeks on an amazing white paper or a detailed webinar, but do you know which of these assets actually drives conversions? A lot of marketers just look at downloads or views. That’s a vanity metric. What matters is what happens after the download.

This metric ties specific marketing efforts directly to sales outcomes. It helps you understand what type of content truly moves the needle for your target audience, from top-of-funnel interest to bottom-of-funnel commitment. Think of it this way: some marketing consultants, like wildebeests, might tell you to just create more content. But the wombats who are your customers don’t just consume. They act. You need to know what content prompts that action.

Example:

  • White Paper: “The Future of AI in Cybersecurity” – 5,000 downloads, but only 10 leads converted to customers.
  • Case Study: “How Company X Saved Millions with Our Product” – 200 downloads, but 50 leads converted to customers.

In this scenario, while the white paper had more reach, the case study was far more effective at driving high-intent, qualified leads. This data helps you double down on what works and kill what doesn’t.

4. Net Promoter Score (NPS) with Qualitative Feedback

NPS is an oldie but a goodie. It measures customer loyalty and satisfaction. But the score itself is only part of the story. The real gold is in the qualitative feedback—the “why” behind the number. A product marketer’s job isn’t just to launch products; it’s to be the voice of the customer inside the company. NPS feedback gives you direct insight into what customers love and hate.

I always recommend setting up a system to tag and analyze this feedback. Are promoters consistently mentioning the same key feature? Are detractors all complaining about a specific part of the onboarding process? This qualitative data is a goldmine for your next product roadmap meeting.

Example:

  • A new feature gets a high adoption rate (Metric #2) and a high NPS score. The qualitative feedback confirms users love the simplicity and time savings it provides. This tells you to double down on that messaging and build more features like it.
  • Another feature has low adoption and a low NPS score. Qualitative feedback reveals it’s because the setup process is too complex. You now have a clear action item for the product and engineering teams.

5. Funnel Velocity

This metric tracks the average time it takes for a lead to move through each stage of your marketing and sales funnel. Slow funnel velocity can indicate a host of problems: your messaging isn’t clear, your sales team is not equipped with the right content, or your pricing model is confusing.

A product marketer’s work directly impacts this. Are you providing the right content at the right time to help a prospect make a decision? Is your product’s value proposition strong enough to overcome objections and speed up the cycle?

Example:

  • A lead enters the funnel after downloading a white paper.
  • Stage 1 (MQL to SQL): 14 days.
  • Stage 2 (SQL to Opportunity): 30 days.
  • Stage 3 (Opportunity to Close): 60 days.

If you introduce a new competitive comparison guide and the time from SQL to Opportunity drops to 15 days, you know that asset is directly contributing to faster deal cycles.

So there you have it. My five metrics. They’re not about tracking every single click and view. They’re about understanding your customer, measuring the impact of your work, and making smarter, more strategic decisions. Now, get out there and start tracking what truly matters.

Amazon Not So Fresh, Mate

You may recall my series of several different posts about the long-awaited opening of an Amazon Fresh store in nearby Upland, California.

Meanwhile, they may be CLOSING Amazon Fresh stores across the pond in the United Kingdom.

“The tech giant said Tuesday (Sept. 23) that it had launched a “consultation” with employees about the proposed closure of the Fresh locations in England…”

Why? Because apparently UK shoppers don’t want to come to stores. They want the stores to come to them.

“By early 2026, Amazon aims to double the number of Prime members in the U.K. with access to three or more online grocery delivery options through its partnerships with Morrisons, Iceland, Co-op and Gopuff. This expansion will allow more than 80% of U.K. Prime members to shop at least one of Amazon’s grocery partners.”

Funny innit? Amazon shook things up by abandoning its online-only presence with its purchase of brick-and-mortar Whole Foods and its establishment of Amazon Fresh. Now it is partially retreating into its delivery model.

When the Games Stopped: March 11, 2020

In late 2019 and early 2020 I was working on a project promoting biometric entry at sports facilities and concert venues…until a teeny little worldwide pandemic shut down all the sport and concert venues.

Some of you may remember that a pivotal day during that period was March 11, 2020. Among many many other things, this was the day on which basketball fans awaited the start of a game.

“8 p.m. [ET; 7 p.m. local time]: In Oklahoma City, it was just another game day for Nerlens Noel and his Thunder teammates, who were warming up to play the visiting Utah Jazz.”

The day soon became abnormal after a meeting between NBA officials and the two coaches. Unbeknownst to the crowd, the officials and coaches were discussing a medical diagnosis of Rudy Gobert. (That’s another story.)

“8:31 p.m. [ET]: Teams were sent back to their locker rooms but the crowd at Chesapeake Energy Arena weren’t informed of the cancellation immediately. Instead, recording artist Frankie J, the intended halftime entertainment, put on his show, while officials decided how to break the news.”

Eight minutes later, the crowd was instructed to leave the arena.

Twenty minutes after that, the NBA suspended all games.

Imagen 4.

A little over a month later, on April 19, millions of people were huddled in their homes, glued to the opening episode of a TV series called The Last Dance…the only basketball any of us were going to get for a while. And of course, these games were on decades-long tape delay, and we already knew the outcome. (The Chicago Bulls won.)

And that was our basketball…until the suspended season resumed on July 30 under very bizarre circumstances.

Anyway, all of that was a very long time ago.

Imagen 4.

Games and concerts have been back in business since 2021, and identity verification and authentication of venue visitors with biometrics and other factors is becoming more popular every year.

Technology Product Marketing Expert (2509)

Is fear of your competitors stealing your prospects keeping you up at night?

You’re a tech marketing leader, and you know the pressure is on. Every day you’re not getting your products in front of the right prospects, a competitor is.

I’m John E. Bredehoft of Bredemarket, the technology product marketing expert. For over 30 years, I’ve helped over 20 B2B and B2G companies and consulting clients turn that fear into results with powerful product marketing and over 22 types of external and internal content.

Let’s talk about how my expertise in identity, biometrics, AI, and other technologies can give you the advantage you need to win.

Book a free meeting now before your competitors do: https://calendly.com/bredemarket/content/

And if you’d like details about my most recent client go-to-market project, watch the video below.

Recent go-to-market project.

(Picture generated by Google Gemini Imagen 4)

Strategy is not Tactics

I’ve said that strategy is one of four essential elements of product marketing. But you have to know what strategy is…and what it is not.

To illustrate the difference between strategy and tactics, it helps to differentiate between abstract, long term goals and concrete, short term goals.

If your goal is to better the world, that’s a strategy.

If your goal is to excel in a particular industry, that’s a strategy.

Although strategies can change. Those who know of Nokia as a telecommunications company, and those who remember Nokia as a phone supplier, are not old enough to remember Nokia’s beginnings as a pulp mill in 1865.

If your goal is to secure business from a specific prospect, that’s a tactic. Or it should be.

Fleming Companies secured a 10-year contract in 2001 as the main supplier of groceries to Kmart, accounting for 20% of Fleming’s revenue. Kmart cancelled that contract when it declared bankruptcy a year later. Fleming filed a $1.4 billion claim in Kmart’s bankruptcy case…but only got $385 million. Fleming itself ended up in bankruptcy court in 2003.

But Fleming’s strategy was to excel at food wholesaling through acquisition and innovation.

It’s just that one tactical blunder upended that strategy.

Whether Bredemarket pivots from biometric content to resume writing (not likely), I am presently equipped to address both your strategic and tactical product marketing needs. If I can help you, talk to me at https://bredemarket.com/mark/.