SaaS metrics
Activation rate
Activation rate is the share of new signups who reach the first moment where your product proves its value.
You choose that moment. For an invoicing tool it might be sending a first invoice. If 100 people sign up and 25 send an invoice in their first week, your activation rate is 25%. People who never activate rarely pay.
At your stage, a better activation rate is often worth more than more signups. Watch 10 new users try the product, find the step where they stop, and fix your onboarding. This lifts your free trial results and lowers churn. Then improve activation one step at a time.
Go deeper
- How to improve activation rateSaaSImprove your activation rate when signups look around once and leave: write down the one action that shows a new user got value, set up a free PostHog funnel, cut every step before it, watch every first session, offer a 15-minute setup call, and fix one step every Sunday.
- How to turn free trials into paying customersSaaSTurn free trials into paying customers when you only have a few dozen trials: list every trial and its first win today, offer every new trial a 15-minute setup call, ask for payment the day the product first works, ask everyone who did not pay why, and fix the biggest drop every Sunday.
- How to write SaaS onboarding emailsSaaSWrite SaaS onboarding emails that get new signups to their first win: pick the one action that shows your product works, send a plain welcome email and four short emails triggered by what each user did from a free Loops account, write by hand to every stuck signup every day, and fix the email where most people stop every Sunday.
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