Lesson 01 / 8·7 minFree
What Analytics Actually Tells You
The difference between vanity metrics and decisions — and which numbers actually matter
Most analytics dashboards are filled with numbers that feel important but do not help you make a decision. Pageviews tell you someone visited. They do not tell you whether what they saw was useful, whether they came back, or whether they paid you money. This lesson maps out which numbers matter and why.
Vanity metrics vs actionable metrics
- Vanity: Total pageviews — Actionable version: Pageviews on /pricing (conversion intent), or pages that drive trial signups
- Vanity: Sessions this month — Actionable version: Sessions from organic search (SEO health) vs direct (brand awareness)
- Vanity: Bounce rate — Actionable version: Drop-off rate at step 3 of your onboarding funnel (specific fixable problem)
- Vanity: Average session duration — Actionable version: % of trial users who reach the "aha moment" in the first session
The three questions analytics should answer
- Where are people coming from? — Traffic sources — organic, paid, referral, direct. Tells you which acquisition channels are working.
- What are they doing? — Pages visited, events triggered, time spent. Tells you if your product/content is working.
- Where are they dropping off? — Funnel analysis — where do people leave before they convert or activate. Tells you what to fix.
Web analytics vs product analytics
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Web analytics is a store door counter. Product analytics is security cameras.
A door counter tells you how many people walked in. That's web analytics (Plausible, GA4). Security cameras tell you what each person looked at, which aisle they lingered in, and why they left without buying. That's product analytics (PostHog, Mixpanel). Most products need both.