Acquisition is the work of drawing actors into an ecosystem of products and services. An acquisition metric makes that aim observable: it shows whether more of the people or organizations you need are arriving. The relevant actors may include customers, suppliers, and partners, not just end users. Offering a small but useful free benefit can give them a reason to engage in the first place. section 4.4.1
Business travelers who do not visit
An airline finds that business users account for only 5% of booking inquiries on its site. A Pirate Canvas discussion moves beyond “we need more interest” to ask why travelers would visit: they may value opportunities to do business during a trip more than another travel site. The team turns this acquisition bottleneck into a goal of increasing site visits from business travelers by 300%. An online community that helps travelers identify potential customers or partners on their flights is a proposed way to change behavior, not the metric itself. section 4.4.3 section 4.4.4
To choose a useful acquisition metric, identify whom you want to attract, ask what prevents them from arriving, and specify the observable change that would indicate progress. Discuss the pain point before committing to a campaign or feature. The metric then connects a business goal to candidate deliverables, while keeping the proposed solution distinct from the result it must produce. section 4.4.3 section 4.4.4
