Latest news with #metrics
Forbes
29-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Quantify Or Be Overlooked: The Resume Mistake Costing You Interviews
Stand out among the rest of applicants with adding metrics in your resume It is no secret that we live in a data-driven world. However, when it comes to resumes, many overlook the power of numbers. While there can be many other reasons why your application is rejected, a qualifiable versus quantifiable resume could be a contributing factor. If you want your accomplishments to stand out and resonate with hiring managers, start thinking in metrics. Here's why leaving out numbers on your resume could be costing you interviews. Hiring Managers Will Not Grasp Your Impact Without Metrics The absence of metrics on a resume is rarely intentional. Even in data-heavy roles, we often fail to step back and evaluate our broader impact over time. For some positions, quantifying results can be especially challenging - whether due to complex workflows or a lack of visibility into how individual contributions impact the bigger picture. However, hiring managers do not have access into your daily tasks, nor do they need that level of detail. What they care about is measurable impact. Quantifying your impact means taking the time to step back and analyze how your responsibilities fit within the larger company. Think about: Reflecting on questions like these can help you surface your strengths and make a compelling case for the value you bring in your next role. What Matters To You Now May Not Matter In Your Next Company, And Vice-Versa The work we do often feels significant, especially in high-pressure or toxic workplace environments. But what one company or leader values may not be of importance in a different organization. Conversely, an achievement you consider minor could resonate deeply with a hiring manager elsewhere. Even business units at the same company, for internal transfers, will have distinct focus areas. As such, it is essential to quantify as much as possible on your resume. Think about the scale and scope of your work: How many people did you collaborate with? What was the size and duration of the project? Who saw the results of your efforts? These details help bring context and credibility to your accomplishments. For example, managing a team of five versus thirty requires different, but equally valuable, skill sets. A small, highly collaborative team may require more guidance than a larger group of independent contributors. The key is to communicate those distinctions clearly so your next employer can fully understand your impact. Extensive Resume Reading Time Is Not An Option For Recruiters A 2018 eye-tracking study by careers site Ladders, Inc. revealed that recruiters spend an average of just 7.4 seconds reviewing a resume. With hundreds of applications flooding in for a single job, time is not on your side. Write your resume with clarity, conciseness, and impact recognizing the short read-time of resumes. Neuroscience research emphasizes that our brains process words and numbers using different regions. Words are interpreted primarily by the brain's language centers in the left hemisphere, while numbers activate areas linked to numerical cognition and quantity processing. Basically, numbers grab a reader's attention in a different way. Use this to your advantage and interject metrics often when summarizing accomplishments. By weaving metrics into your resume, you help recruiters understand your value faster. Use concise bullet points that balance descriptive language with quantifiable results. The easier you make it to connect your skills to impact, the more likely you are to stand out. Resumes need to capture attention fast and the most effective way to do that is by clearly demonstrating your impact. Incorporating numbers throughout your resume adds clarity, credibility, and context to your accomplishments. Whether leading teams, optimizing processes, or delivering results, metrics translate your work into a language that hiring managers understand. By expertly quantifying your successes, you will stand out and be more likely to land more interviews.
Forbes
24-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How To Get The Most Out Of Your Early Product Metrics
Pallishree Panigrahi is Head of Data & Insights at Amazon Key. In the early days of a new product, the numbers we track—the metrics—shouldn't be treated as verdicts. They're not there to crown your idea a success or condemn it as a failure. Early metrics are operational breadcrumbs—signals that reveal where users get stuck, what needs fixing and which assumptions need to be rethought. It's easy to confuse early signals with signs of success—especially when dashboards look great on the surface. I've seen this firsthand across multiple launches. On paper, a dashboard can look impressive: thousands of sign-ups, high activation rates, glowing ratings. But if you look closer, what seems like traction is often friction disguised as progress. One example: In our smart access platform, we initially tracked how many times drivers successfully unlocked gates. The numbers were big and reassuring—until we realized many of those 'successful' unlocks were the same frustrated driver clicking over and over because there was no clear confirmation the gate was open. This is why early metrics should be designed to help teams learn, not just look good in an investor update. Five Metrics Every Early-Stage Product Should Track I recommend every product team start with five foundational metrics. None of them declare success. All of them force you to ask better questions. 1. Time To First Value (TTFV) How quickly does a user reach their first meaningful outcome? For an e-commerce platform, it's not when someone signs up, it's when they successfully place an order and receive their first product without issues. This metric reflects how smooth your onboarding, product discovery and checkout experience really are. If users don't get to value quickly, they often don't come back. 2. Activation Rate What percentage of new users hit a milestone that proves they've engaged meaningfully? A good activation metric might be: User adds an item to their cart and checks out within 24 hours of sign-up. This goes beyond passive browsing and captures real purchase intent. A low activation rate could point to friction in product search, unclear pricing, or trust barriers at checkout. 3. Repeat Usage In A Short Window Do users come back quickly to do the same task again? Traditional retention metrics are often too broad or slow to reveal early signals of value. Instead, track whether people return in seven or 14 days to do the same task again. Repeated use in context is a stronger indicator of product-market fit than one-time curiosity. 4. Top Drop-Off Point Where in the journey do most users abandon the process and why? It's not enough to know your overall conversion rate. Pinpoint whether users are dropping off at the product page, after adding to cart or during payment. For instance, a high abandonment rate at checkout could reveal trust issues, hidden costs or UX problems with the payment flow. 5. Qualitative Feedback Volume And Themes What are users telling you, in their own words about what's not working? Numbers show you what happened, but feedback tells you why. Categorize support tickets, surveys and reviews into clear themes. Often, your biggest opportunity hides inside the smallest complaints. These metrics aren't permanent. As your product matures, they should evolve with it. But picking the right metrics is only half the challenge, what really matters is how you interpret them. Discovery Metrics Vs. Validation Metrics One of the most common traps is treating early metrics as validation—proof that your idea is working. But discovery metrics have a different purpose: They break your assumptions so you can build the right thing faster. I ask three questions to tell them apart: 1. Is this metric helping us learn, or is it just there for reporting? 2. What decision will this help us make in the next sprint? 3. Is it tied to a hypothesis we're testing? Daily active users (DAUs), for example, often look like success. But if people aren't completing meaningful tasks, those DAUs are empty calories. A stronger early signal might be the percentage of users who complete a workflow without retrying or contacting support. Discovery metrics influence what you build next. Validation metrics only reassure you that everything's fine. Metrics guide better decisions only if they're designed well. That's where the VET framework comes in. The VET Metrics Framework To design metrics that matter, I use what I call the VET Metrics Framework. It's a simple test: • Value: Does this metric reflect an outcome that matters to users or the business? Counting clicks or pageviews doesn't help if nobody is completing the core task. • Evolvability: Can the metric adapt as your product matures? A KPI that only works in a beta test will quickly become obsolete. • Trustworthiness: Does this metric produce actionable insight? For example, average session time is ambiguous—longer isn't always better. You need clarity, not just data. When we built early KPIs for Amazon Key, we didn't settle for tracking how many times someone pressed the unlock button. We measured the percentage of deliveries completed without intervention—a metric that showed whether the system was truly solving the access problem. Of course, tracking progress is only useful if you're focused on solving the right thing. So how do you know you are? Five Ways To Know If You're Solving The Right Problem No single metric can answer this question, but you can triangulate using five lenses: 1. Repeated Use In Context: Are people coming back to solve the same problem? 2. Feedback Alignment: Do users describe the value in their own words the way you intended? 3. Problem Substitution: What old workaround did your product replace? 4. Tolerance Of Friction: Do users keep going even when parts of the experience are clunky? 5. Value Hypothesis Testing: Can you validate demand and usability before building everything out? These signals give you a clearer picture of real-world fit. Even with the right metrics and mindset, it's easy to fall into common traps, especially when data looks deceptively positive. Measurement Traps That Sink Early Products Even experienced teams fall into familiar pitfalls: • Tracking What's Easy, Not What Matters: Just because you can measure it doesn't mean it helps. • Measuring Too Much, But Learning Too Little: A crowded dashboard is usually a sign of unclear priorities. • Overvalidating And Underexploring: Early KPIs should challenge your assumptions, not confirm them. • Lagging Indicators Masquerading As Insight: NPS and 30-day retention are too slow to guide early decisions. • Ignoring Qualitative Feedback: Pair behavioral data with user comments to see the full story. If your metrics are only telling you everything is fine, you're not measuring deeply enough. Early metrics should make you a little uncomfortable. That's their job. They exist to surface what's not working so you can fix it before you scale. This week, take a fresh look at your dashboard—not just for trends, but for blind spots. If your metrics aren't teaching you something new, you're not measuring deeply enough. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
TechCrunch
22-07-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
Threads adds improved content performance metrics for creators
Threads is introducing enhanced metrics to help users better understand how their posts are performing and where their content is getting discovered, the company announced on Tuesday. Users can now see more detailed information in the platform's 'Insights' dashboard. When they navigate to the 'Interactions' section, they will see engagement by likes, replies, quotes, and reposts. The 'Followers' section shows follower growth with geographic data, including top cities and countries, and demographic information like age range and gender. In addition, users can see how their post performance has changed through a new chart that's designed to showcase trends in their content for a seven to 90-day period. Since eligible Threads posts can be recommended to people on Instagram and Facebook, Threads will now let users see the places where people encounter their content. They can see the percentage of views each app drove for their posts. Image Credits:Threads The Meta-owned platform says the updates are focused on helping creators build audiences, grow their presence, and understand what sorts of content resonates with their followers. The move comes as Threads is growing fast. Recent data from market intelligence provider Similarweb revealed that the platform is catching up to top competitor X in terms of mobile app users. In June 2025, Threads' mobile app for iOS and Android saw 115.1 million daily active users, representing 127.8% year-over-year growth. On the other hand, X reached 132 million daily actives, with its year-over-year growth declining by 15.2%. Techcrunch event Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They're here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don't miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $675 before prices rise. Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They're here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don't miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $675 before prices rise. San Francisco | REGISTER NOW It makes sense for Threads to equip creators on its platform with additional tools to build out their presence on the social network as it continues to take on X and other competitors.
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Musk Vs Zuckerberg: Two Richest Men Battle Over Daily Social Media Users
Billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg almost ended up in a cage fight over their competing social media platforms. Musk may not want to look at the latest metrics from X rival Threads, or he could be proposing a cage match again. What Happened: Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) launched Threads in 2023 and was viewed as a potential X killer and a new social media platform to lure users from Musk's platform. Threads has grown to more than 350 million registered users and according to new metrics, is nearing X in one category. In June, Threads had 115.1 million daily active users on the mobile app, according to data from Similarweb shared by TechCrunch. That total was up 127.8% year-over-year and also came closer to X than in past months. Trending: GoSun's Breakthrough Rooftop EV Charger Already Has 2,000+ Units Reserved — X had 132 million daily active users on mobile in June, which was down 15.2% year-over-year. Bluesky, another social media rival, trailed both with 4.1 million daily active users on mobile in June, but that figure was up an impressive 372.5% year-over-year. For U.S. users, the data was also close. X had 33.1 million daily active users for mobile in June, while Threads had 15.3 million daily active users. Bluesky had around 1.1 million daily active users for U.S. mobile in June. The data shows that Threads is seeing an increase in mobile usage while X is seeing declines. The lines of daily active users are getting closer together, at least for mobile. This comes as Meta said it passed the 350 million monthly active users milestone for Threads recently and is working on further monetizing this user base. X, which is no longer public, had 600 million monthly active users in 2024, according to data from It's Important: While Threads is closing the gap for mobile daily active users in the latest data, it still has a long way to go for web visits. Similarweb data showed that X had 145.8 million daily web visits in June, compared to only 6.9 million daily web visits for Threads. Bluesky was even lower at 5.3 million daily web visits. The data for the U.S. region was similar, with X having 33.1 million daily web visits in June, with Threads having 985,200 daily web visits and Bluesky having 2.4 million daily web visits. This shows that X still ranks as one of the most visited social media platforms and gets significantly more web traffic than Threads. Threads was set up as a mobile app, with the web version launched later. Add it up, and X is still dominant over Threads, but it should be worried about mobile growth for Threads and usage decline on its platform. While there is room for many social media platforms, users in the U.S. and around the world only have so much time to commit to each platform, and X and Threads both want to get as much usage and monetization opportunities as possible. The battle between X and Threads comes with Musk and Zuckerberg are also the two richest people in the world at this time. Musk is the world's richest person, worth $349 billion according to Bloomberg. Zuckerberg ranks second with $254 billion. Similar to their mobile usage trajectory, Musk is on the decline and Zuckerberg is on the rise. Musk's net worth is down $83.9 billion year-to-date in 2025, while Zuckerberg's wealth is up $46.9 billion. This comes, of course, with Tesla stock down 22% in 2025 and Meta stock up 22% in 2025. Read Next: Named a TIME Best Invention and Backed by 5,000+ Users, Kara's Air-to-Water Pod Cuts Plastic and Costs — And You Can Invest At Just $6.37/Share These five entrepreneurs are worth $223 billion – they all believe in one platform that offers a 7-9% target yield with monthly dividends UNLOCKED: 5 NEW TRADES EVERY WEEK. Click now to get top trade ideas daily, plus unlimited access to cutting-edge tools and strategies to gain an edge in the markets. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? This article Musk Vs Zuckerberg: Two Richest Men Battle Over Daily Social Media Users originally appeared on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Entrepreneur
27-06-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Here's Why You Shouldn't Obsess Over Metrics
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Here's a fun thing that happens in product management. You wake up one morning and your daily active users are down 15%. Your conversion rate, though? Up 8%. Customer satisfaction scores just hit an all-time high, but your churn rate is creeping upward. Your metrics dashboard looks like a Jackson Pollock painting, except instead of paint splatters, it's conflicting signals that make you question everything you thought you knew about your product. The thing about metrics is that they're like teenagers. Sometimes they're telling you something important. Sometimes they're just being dramatic. The trick is figuring out which is which before you make a decision you'll regret. Let's start with a fundamental truth: Not all metrics deserve equal attention at all times. This sounds obvious until you're in a meeting where someone is freaking out because time-on-page dropped by 12 seconds. Is that bad? Maybe. Or maybe you just made your product more efficient. According to research from McKinsey, companies that excel at data-driven decision making are 23 times more likely to acquire customers. Great. But here's what they don't tell you: Being data-driven doesn't mean reacting to every data point like it's a fire alarm. If you were driving a car and every warning light demanded immediate action, you'd never get anywhere. Some lights matter more than others. Some can wait. The same principle applies to product metrics. Yet somehow, we've created a culture where every metric fluctuation triggers a crisis meeting. Related: 5 Steps to Creating Metrics That Matter for Your Company Decision framework So, when should you actually panic? Here's a framework that's served me well. First, look for metric combinations that tell a story. Single metrics lie. When daily active users drop but session duration increases, that's not necessarily bad. Maybe you're shedding casual users while your core audience becomes more engaged. That could actually be progress. The real warning signs come in clusters. Declining user growth plus increasing churn plus dropping engagement? Now you've got a pattern worth investigating. It's like medical symptoms. A headache alone might mean nothing. A headache with fever and sensitivity to light? Time to see a doctor. PayPal discovered this the hard way in its early days. They were obsessing over user acquisition metrics while missing the bigger picture: Their fraud rates were climbing faster than their legitimate transaction volume. The metrics were all there, but nobody was looking at them together. Second, distinguish between leading and lagging indicators. Some metrics predict the future. Others just confirm what already happened. Confusing the two is like using your rearview mirror to navigate forward. Customer support ticket volume? That's often a leading indicator. When it spikes, something is broken. Revenue? Usually lagging. By the time revenue drops, the problem started months ago. Netflix figured this out when it noticed password sharing complaints increasing before subscriber growth stalled. The complaints were the canary in the coal mine. The growth stall was just the inevitable result. Third, understand your metric's natural volatility. Some metrics are drama queens by nature. They fluctuate wildly as part of their normal behavior. Others are steady until something's genuinely wrong. Ecommerce conversion rates can swing 30% day to day based on traffic sources, time of month and even weather patterns. A single day's dip means nothing. But if your enterprise software's monthly recurring revenue suddenly drops? That's not normal volatility. That's a customer jumping ship. Spotify learned this when it initially panicked over daily listening hour variations. Turns out, people just listen to less music on Tuesdays. Once they understood the natural patterns, they could spot actual anomalies. Fourth, consider the cost of being wrong. What happens if you ignore this metric and you're wrong? What happens if you panic and you're wrong? Sometimes the cost of overreacting exceeds the cost of waiting. Imagine redesigning your entire onboarding flow because new user activation dropped for a week. You spend months on the project, only to discover the drop was seasonal. Other times, waiting is catastrophic. When security breach indicators spike, you don't wait for statistical significance. You act immediately because the downside of being wrong is minimal compared to the downside of being right but slow. Related: Use the Metrics That Really Matter in Your Business Metric hierarchy Here's my advice. Build yourself a metric hierarchy. At the top, put the three to five numbers that genuinely predict your business's health. These get daily attention. Everything else? Check weekly or monthly. More importantly, train your team to think in stories, not statistics. When someone comes to you with a metric panic, ask them to tell you the user story behind the number. What's actually happening to real people using your product? The truth is, most metric movements are noise. The signal is rare, which is precisely why it's so valuable when you find it. The best product managers I know have developed an almost intuitive sense for which metrics deserve attention. Until you develop that intuition, remember this: Your metrics are tools, not masters. They should inform your decisions, not make them for you. Sometimes, the wisest decision is to close the dashboard and talk to an actual user. Because at the end of the day, products succeed when they solve real problems for real people. No metric, no matter how sophisticated, changes that fundamental truth. Related: Why Focusing on KPIs Too Much Can Backfire
