Growth & Metrics
AARRR Pirate Metrics
AARRR (Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Revenue, Referral) is a growth framework that breaks down the customer lifecycle into measurable stages. Each stage has distinct metrics and optimization strategies.
When to Use This Framework
Measuring product growth
Identifying growth bottlenecks
Planning growth initiatives
Calculating LTV and CAC
How to Apply This Framework
- 1
Define Acquisition metrics (channels, CAC)
- 2
Measure Activation rate (first value moment)
- 3
Track Retention (D1, D7, D30 cohorts)
- 4
Calculate Revenue per user and LTV
- 5
Monitor Referral coefficient
- 6
Optimize top bottleneck
Real-World Examples
SaaS companies tracking activation rates
Mobile games optimizing D1/D7 retention
Stripe measuring activation velocity
Strengths
- Simple mental model
- Covers full customer lifecycle
- Actionable metrics at each stage
Limitations
- Oversimplifies growth complexity
- Can miss important nuances per segment
- Referral often overlooked
Related Frameworks
Consider combining this framework with:
Product-Market Fit MatrixRevenue Waterfall AnalysisValue Hypothesis vs Growth Hypothesis
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