Business Intelligence (BI) dashboards are essential tools for product teams, but not all metrics are created equal. While dashboards can show vast amounts of data, product teams focus on a few key areas that drive decisions and impact outcomes. Understanding what these teams actually watch helps clarify how to build actionable dashboards that avoid noise and support product growth.
This post outlines the core metrics product teams prioritize, why they matter, and best practices to keep dashboards clear and useful.
What Makes a Dashboard Useful for Product Teams?
Product teams need dashboards that go beyond vanity metrics or raw data dumps. They want:
- Clear signals about user behavior
- Insights into feature performance
- Alerts to product health issues
- Easy drill-downs for root-cause analysis
A dashboard filled with dozens of KPIs can overwhelm rather than guide. Focus and clarity are key.
Core Metrics Product Teams Track
While each product and company differs, product teams commonly monitor metrics across four main categories:
1. User Engagement
Understanding how users interact with the product is crucial. Engagement metrics show if features are used and if users derive value.
- DAU/MAU (Daily/Monthly Active Users): Indicates active user base size and trends
- Session Length and Frequency: Measures stickiness and habitual use
- Feature Usage: Tracks adoption rates for new or key features
2. Conversion and Retention
Conversion funnels and retention rates show how well the product moves users through key steps and keeps them coming back.
- Onboarding Completion: Percentage completing initial setup or tutorial
- Conversion Rate: From sign-up to paid customer or desired action
- Churn Rate: Percentage of users who stop using the product
3. Revenue and Monetization
For commercial products, revenue-related KPIs gauge financial health and growth potential.
- ARPU (Average Revenue Per User): Revenue generated per user, indicating monetization efficiency
- LTV (Lifetime Value): Total value expected from a user over time
- Refund or Chargeback Rates: Indicators of customer dissatisfaction or fraud
4. Product Health and Quality
Maintaining product stability and usability is essential to prevent user drop-off.
- Crash Rates: Frequency of app or system failures
- Response Times: Speed of UI or server responses
- Support Tickets and Bug Reports: Volume and severity tracked over time
How Product Teams Use Dashboards
Dashboards are not just static reports—they’re interactive tools used daily to:
- Monitor health and catch regressions quickly
- Evaluate impact after feature launches or A/B tests
- Identify drop-offs in user flows and investigate causes
- Align cross-functional teams around common goals
Checklist: Building a Dashboard Product Teams Will Use
- Prioritize actionable metrics over vanity numbers
- Organize KPIs by user journey or product area
- Provide clear visualizations—use charts, not tables when possible
- Enable filtering by segment, time range, or cohorts
- Highlight outliers or anomalies automatically
- Avoid clutter by limiting visible metrics to a manageable set
Final Takeaway: Keep It Focused and Relevant
Product teams rely on BI dashboards to make quick, informed decisions. Overloading dashboards with data dilutes focus. Instead, track core engagement, conversion, monetization, and health metrics clearly and regularly.
A well-built dashboard isn’t just informative—it’s a compass that keeps product development aligned with user needs and business goals.