Six SaaS metrics every founder should track and optimise

Executive overview

Most SaaS founders track too many numbers or the wrong ones. Six KPIs cover what matters: three you push down, three you push up. These metrics are often in tension — a lower cost to acquire usually means lower annual contract value, and vice versa.

The job is not to maximise each metric in isolation but to understand the trade-offs and make deliberate choices.

Three metrics to keep low

• Cost to acquire a customer (CAC) drops when you enter a market where customers are actively fleeing a flawed incumbent — buggy software, high prices, a bad sales process create ready-made demand.
• Organic search (SEO, YouTube, app-store ranking) is the most scalable low-CAC channel; paid ads raise CAC significantly.
• Spaces with active online communities (forums, Facebook groups) and existing audience owners (podcasters, bloggers) covering your problem also reduce CAC.
• Sales effort — number of touchpoints plus cycle length — stays low when customers can self-serve signup and onboard without a call.
• A one-call close is achievable when a single decision-maker controls the purchase; committee decisions always increase sales effort.
• Churn is the Achilles heel of SaaS. The two distinct phases: first 60–90 days (onboarding quality) and long-term (product–market fit).
• Get customers to the minimum path to awesome (MPA) — the fastest route to tangible value — to cut early churn.
• Easy setup (one-click import, no consultant needed) removes friction before product–market fit can even help.
• Continuous product innovation prevents you from becoming the stodgy incumbent that competitors will poach from.

Three metrics to push high

• Annual contract value (ACV) rises when you sell to businesses rather than consumers, and to larger businesses where possible — though this increases CAC and sales effort.
• Price on a value metric (e.g. number of subscribers for an ESP, seats for a CRM) so revenue scales automatically with customer value.
• Raise prices over time; inflation and product improvement both justify it.
• Expansion revenue is the cheat code inside the SaaS cheat code: as customers get more value, they naturally move to higher tiers or pay more.
• Use a value metric, feature gating, or both to capture willingness to pay from your highest-value segments.
• Referrals and word of mouth can become one of your highest-converting acquisition channels over time.
• Built-in virality is best — when recipients of a SavvyCal invite or a Signwell document see the product and want it for themselves.
• If virality isn't possible, trigger an automated referral request at 60–90 days post-onboarding, once customers have reached their aha moment.