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Why your favorite metrics might be lying to you (and what to track instead)

Original: What Are Vanity Metrics and How to Stop Using Them - John Cutler | Amplitude

June 2, 2025
15 min read
Framework
Intermediate
What Are Vanity Metrics and How to Stop Using Them - John Cutler

Summary

Learn about vanity metrics - what they are, how to identify them, and how to replace them with more meaningful KPIs that drive business impact. Understand the difference between vanity metrics and actionable metrics, and get tips for choosing the right metrics to track.

Who This Is For

Product Analysts
Marketing Analysts
Product Managers

Key Takeaways

  • Learn to spot vanity metrics by checking if they lack context, have unclear intent, or don't guide actionable decisions
  • Use The Vanity Metric Test framework to evaluate whether your current KPIs are actually meaningful
  • Replace surface-level metrics like page views and DAUs with contextual measurements that connect to business outcomes
  • Understand how marketing, sales, and product teams can fall into vanity metric traps and how to avoid them
  • Build better data storytelling skills by always providing context, ratios, and counterbalancing information

Tools & Technologies

Amplitude Analytics platforms (general) Web analytics tools Product analytics dashboards

Topics Covered

vanity-metrics kpis metrics-analysis product-analytics