Suppose an airline wants more business travelers, but only 5% of booking inquiries on its site come from business users. Jumping straight to a new feature risks solving the wrong problem. Pirate metrics give stakeholders and delivery teams five ways to ask where people are struggling to engage with the business—and where a change might help. section 4.4.3 section 4.5
Pirate metrics, or AARRR, are Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral, and Return. They apply to an ecosystem of products, services, and actors, not just a sales pipeline or a single application. section 4.4.1 section 4.4.3
Each metric poses a different question:
- Acquisition: How do actors first enter the ecosystem? A small, useful free benefit might attract potential users. section 4.4.1
- Activation: What gets actors to engage and recognize value? This might be a trial, sample, video, or newsletter registration. section 4.4.1
- Retention: What brings people back and sustains the relationship? Return visits and visit frequency are possible measures. section 4.4.1
- Referral: What prompts people to introduce others? Positive reviews or a refer-a-friend program may help. section 4.4.1
- Return: What tangible benefit does each actor deliver toward organizational goals? Revenue is one possible measure, rather than the whole definition. section 4.4.1
In a Pirate Canvas workshop, draw five columns, one per metric. Discuss what is not working in each area, ask the five whys to investigate causes, and identify impediments and ways to measure progress. Start with a broad question about the experience rather than assuming a particular feature is the answer. section 4.4.3
Diagnosing acquisition before choosing a feature
For the airline, the 5% figure points to an acquisition problem: few business travelers reach its site. The team asks why they would choose to visit, rather than immediately specifying a better booking feature. The same canvas can then expose impediments in activation, retention, referral, and return. section 4.4.3
Use the resulting picture alongside Impact Mapping to connect stakeholder behavior and business goals, then decide which goals deserve attention first. The metrics guide discovery and prioritization; they do not, by themselves, prescribe a feature. section 4.5 section 4.4.3
