SaaS Startup Metrics Dictionary

Engagement Rate (ER) is the percentage of Sessions that were Engaged Sessions – it is the inverse of bounce rate. Typically, it measures engagement through a series of predefined behaviours like frequency and duration of usage.

Engaged Users (EUs) measures the number of active users who interact meaningfully with your product over a given period, typically through a series of predefined actions that constitute engagement.

Gross Margin (GM) measures the percentage of revenue that exceeds the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS).

Sales Velocity measures sales expected over a period, usually the next day or month, in dollar terms. It's based on Pipeline, Win Rate, and Average Sales Cycle.

Contraction MRR refers to the reduction in Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) from existing customers due to downgrades or reductions in their subscription fee.

Viral Coefficient measures the rate existing customers refer new customers to a product or service.

Sales Win Rate represents the percentage of closed deals that are won.

Average Resolution Time (ART) measures the time from when a customer support request is received until the issue is resolved.

The Break-Even Point is the number of units sold required to make total costs and total revenue equal, indicating no net loss or gain.

Average Page View Time (APVT) measures the mean duration visitors spend on a single page before navigating away.

Quick Ratio is the ratio of MRR Won to MRR Lost over a period. It's used by SaaS businesses to assess their growth efficiency.

Average Deal Size (ADS) refers to the average revenue expected from each closed deal.

Engaged Sessions (ES) measures the number of sessions that include a meaningful interaction with content on a website.

Booked Sales is the value (or count) of deals marked as certain wins in your CRM.

MRR Won is the total of all positive contributions to MRR, including new customer subscriptions, expansion MRR, and re-activations.

Gross Retention Rate (GRR) is the percentage of MRR which was not Lost over a given period. It measures the portion of recurring revenue retained from existing customers over a period, excluding any upsell or expansion revenue.

Leads represent potential customers that have demonstrated interest in your offerings through engagement like form submissions, content downloads, or event sign-ups.

Monthly Active Users (MAUs) tracks the number of unique users who engage with an app or platform within a 30-day window.

Lead Conversion Rate (LCR) measures the percentage of website visitors or session attendees who take a specific action to become leads. This action could be filling out a form, signing up for a newsletter, downloading a whitepaper, or any other step that moves them from being a casual visitor to a potential customer lead.

Retention Rate is the percentage of users who were retained in the current period out of those who were active in the previous one. It's the inverse of Customer Churn Rate.

Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) is the current annual value of predictable and repeatable income from customers with active subscriptions. It's exclusive of one-time payments or fees.

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) measures the total cost of acquiring a new customer, combining all sales and marketing expenses.

MQLs are leads deemed more likely to become customers compared to other leads based on pre-set criteria. This criteria takes into account engagement levels and specific behaviours that align with your target customer profile.

Lost Deals is the number of deals marked as certain losses in your CRM.

New Visitors is the number of unique individuals that visit your website for the first time.

Net MRR Change is the net difference in MRR between 2 dates.

Net Retention Rate (NRR) is the MRR growth rate excluding revenue from new customers. It measures the revenue retained from existing customers over a specific period, including upsells, cross-sells, downgrades, and churn.

Load Time refers to the duration required for a web page or an application to become fully interactive from the moment a user initiates a request.

Return On Advertising Spend (ROAS) measures the revenue earned for every dollar spent on advertising.

Onboarding Time (OT) measures the duration from a new customer's initial sign-up to when their account is fully operational. It includes account setup, training, and any customisation required.

MRR Lost represents MRR lost from churned customers plus MRR lost from customers that have downgraded their subscriptions.

Customer Support Tickets (CST) tracks the number of requests for help received by your support team.

First Response Time (FRT) measures the duration from a customer's initial inquiry to the initial reply from the service team.

Average Sales Cycle (ASC) measures the average time from deal creation to deal close for won deals.

Email Click-Through Rate (CTR) measures the proportion of email recipients who clicked on one or more links contained in an email.

Average Session Duration (ASD) measures the typical length of a user session on an application or website.

Pipeline measures the total value of active pipeline deals with a pending outcome.

Burn Rate refers to the speed at which you deplete cash reserves before reaching profitability.

Average Lifetime Value (LTV) is a projection of revenue expected to be generated per customer over their entire lifetime.

Sessions measures a group of user interactions on a website that happen within a given time frame. A single session can include page views, clicks, and form submissions. A session begins when a user enters a site and ends after a period of inactivity or when the user leaves the site.

Operating Margin measures the profitability of your core business activities, excluding the effects of interest and taxes.

Feature Adoption Rate (FAR) is the percentage of users who have used a feature compared to the total number of users who have access to that feature.

Power Users (PUs) measures the number of users who use your product extensively and deeply over a given period, typically through a series of predefined actions that constitute power use.

Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) measures customer satisfaction through direct feedback measures, often through post-interaction surveys.

New Customer MRR is MRR gained from customers who have subscribed for the first time.

The LTV:CAC Ratio measures the relationship between Average Lifetime Value (LTV) and Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC).

The DAU/MAU Ratio measures the stickiness of a SaaS product by comparing Daily Active Users (DAU) to Monthly Active Users (MAU).

Page Views represents the total number of times individual pages on a website have been viewed. It does not distinguish between unique and repeat views by the same visitor, so repeated views are included.

Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) is the current monthly value of predictable and repeatable income from customers with active subscriptions, exclusive of one-time payments or fees.

Run Rate is a projection of the next 12 months' revenue based on current data, usually MRR. Unlike Annual Recurring Revenue, it's not limited to recurring revenue and can include one-time sales.

Customer Effort Score (CES) gauges the effort required by customers to interact with your services or products. It is often measured through surveys with a numerical rating.

Daily Active Users (DAUs) quantifies the number of individual users who are active in an app or platform within a 24-hour period.

Average Revenue Per Customer (ARPC) measures the average revenue generated per customer within a specific time frame.

Net Promoter Score (NPS) measures how likely customers say they are to recommend your company to others, typically on a scale of 0-10.

Customer Health Score (CHS) combines several customer success indices into a single, dynamic score.

Customer Churn Rate measures the proportion of customers lost during a specific period.

Re-Activation MRR is MRR gained from customers that resume a paid subscription after having cancelled.

Quota Attainment measures the percentage of sales quota achieved by a sales representative or team over a period.

Email Open Rate (EOR) measures the percentage of recipients that open a sent email.

Pages per Session (PPS) is the average number of unique pages visited by a user in a session.

Runway is the time a startup can continue to operate before it needs additional financing or reaches positive cash flow.

New Sign Ups (NSU) measures the number of users signing up to your site, product, or service for the first time.

Churn MRR is MRR lost from customers that completely cancelled their subscription.

Expansion MRR reflects the additional Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) generated from existing customers through upsells, cross-sells, and upgrades.

Organic Search Traffic refers to website visitors that arrive through unpaid search engine results.