> activation rate = [users who hit your activation milestone] / [users who completed your signup flow]. … > Why such variance in activation rates? > Mostly d

> activation rate = [users who hit your activation milestone] / [users who completed your signup flow]. … > Why such variance in activation rates? > Mostly due to the milestone definition, and how much effort it takes to get there. Yup. If you invent an arbitrary metric and call it “activation rate” and then make a song and dance about how your arbitrary metric compares to the arbitrary metrics from some other company… …well, you clearly wouldn’t be the only one doing it, but it’s also totally meaningless. Internal metrics are good for presentations and for internal year-on-year comparisons. Activation rate is a loaded term that means different things to different people, for the obviously stated reasons in the article. Don’t use that term for your metrics; be precise and unambiguous. (Imagine if you just invented some random crap related to your incoming/outgoing and called it “revenue”. Yeah.)