15+ Key B2B SaaS Product Metrics, Ideas and Trends for PPC market

KPI examples for 2025 I personally use and seasonal approach

4 min readNov 9, 2024

In 2025, understanding and leveraging product metrics and strategy is essential for B2B SaaS growth. Next metric examples not only offer insights into user behavior but also highlight opportunities to optimize revenue, marketing efficiency, and customer retention.

This guide explores foundational frameworks, and real-world scenarios to help teams forecast performance, adjust strategies, and maximize ROI.

1. Revenue Metrics: GMV and LTV

Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV): Measures total sales before expenses, acting as a benchmark for overall growth.
Lifetime Value (LTV): Forecasts the total revenue a customer generates over their lifecycle, enabling targeted marketing investments.

Case Example: Shopify reported a GMV of $61 billion in Q4 2023, reflecting its scalable business model and ability to attract recurring buyers.

2. Conversion Rates: Tracking Customer Journeys

Conversion rates highlight the percentage of users completing a desired action, such as adding to cart or subscribing.
Segmenting conversions by stage identifies where potential drop-offs occur.

Real Data Insight: Google Ads reports average conversion rates of 3.75% for B2B industries in 2023, emphasizing the need for continuous funnel optimization

3. Retention and Engagement Metrics

Retention Rate: Track day-by-day return rates, cohort-based, to understand user loyalty.
DAU/MAU (Daily and Monthly Active Users): Track active users to gauge engagement, spot seasonal trends, and identify problem areas if there’s a sudden drop.

Market Data: SaaS platforms with a DAU/MAU ratio above 20% are considered highly engaging, based on benchmarks by Amplitude.

4. Seasonal Trends and Auction Pricing in Ads

Advertising platforms like Google Ads operate on auction models where pricing spikes during high-demand periods. Here’s a closer look:

November Surge: Prices rise starting in November due to events like Singles’ Day (11.11), Black Friday, and Cyber Monday. Larger budgets dominate auctions as companies push year-end sales.
December Peaks: Advertisers increase spending to meet annual targets, driving up CPC (cost-per-click).
January Drop: Ad costs drop by 30% compared to December, providing opportunities for cost-effective campaigns.

Data Snapshot:

In 2020, CPM (cost per 1,000 impressions) dropped by 30% from December to January in our ad campaigns.
From 2022–2023, CPC rates increased by 5–10% year-over-year due to rising competition and platform restrictions.

Key Takeaway: January is an ideal time for budget-conscious campaigns as traffic remains available but at a lower cost.

5. Acquisition and Cost Metrics

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Tracks the cost to acquire new users, essential for budgeting.
Traffic Analysis: Breaks down visits by source (organic, paid, referral).

Case Study: SaaS companies aim for a CAC payback period of 12 months or less to ensure sustainable growth.

6. Funnel Analysis for Optimizing Conversions

Funnels map the user journey from awareness to purchase.

Metrics like drop-off rates and click-through performance pinpoint optimization opportunities.

Example: Companies using Google Analytics 4 report a 15% improvement in funnel efficiency through enhanced path analysis tools

7. Forecasting with AI and ROAS Targeting in Bing Ads

ROAS (Return on Ad Spend): Predicts revenue per advertising dollar spent.

AI-powered tools in Bing Ads can dynamically adjust bids based on audience performance and trends.

Insight: Adjusting conversion values for loyalty program members during a warehouse sale can boost ROAS by up to 20%, as tested by Smartly.io

8. Session Duration and Page Depth

Session Duration: Time spent on the platform; a longer duration often signals a high engagement level.
Page Depth: The average number of pages visited per session. A deeper page depth suggests strong interest, but if it doesn’t lead to conversions, investigate potential roadblocks in the user experience.

9. Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Satisfaction Metrics

NPS measures user loyalty and their likelihood to recommend your service.
CES (Customer Effort Score): Evaluates how easy it is for customers to complete desired actions, providing insights into UI/UX improvements.

10. Advanced Cohort Analysis for In-Depth Insights

Segment users by cohorts to track specific behavioral patterns. Whether based on registration month or ad campaigns, cohort analysis reveals which strategies yield the highest retention.

11. HEART Framework for Holistic User Engagement

Happiness, Engagement, Adoption, Retention, and Task Success (HEART): This Google-developed framework helps assess product impact across satisfaction, usage, and success rates, guiding teams to make meaningful UX improvements.

12. AARRR Framework for Revenue Growth

Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral, and Revenue (AARRR): This widely-used startup metric framework tracks user progression from onboarding to long-term revenue generation.

13. Revenue per User (ARPU) and Paying User Metrics (ARPPU)

ARPU gives insight into revenue per active user, ideal for benchmarking against industry standards.
ARPPU focuses on paying users, offering a refined view of monetization success.

14. User Flow Optimization in HotJar

Track each step in the user journey, whether through search or direct navigation, to pinpoint optimization opportunities. An effective user flow should reduce drop-offs at each stage and increase conversions.

15. Dashboards in Looker for Real-Time Monitoring

Dashboards consolidate real-time data into one view. Track KPIs like traffic, conversion, and revenue to make quick, data-informed decisions.

Applying Metrics to Specific Scenarios

Tailor metrics to specific scenarios, such as a product launch, to measure impact. By applying metrics to targeted campaigns, like promotional banners or seasonal offerings, you can determine what works best for future strategies.

Final Thoughts

By regularly monitoring these product metrics, companies can refine marketing strategies, improve user experience, and boost revenue.

From tracking customer journeys to optimizing ad spend, CRM and analytics can turn potential marketing pipelines into sustainable growth.

Start small, track key metrics, and watch your business evolve from a series of black boxes into a streamlined, data-informed operation.

If you found it useful and informative, check other articles I have: