Here Be Revenue: Discovering Pirate Metrics for Growth Marketing

⚓ This post is part of a blog series, “Here Be Metrics,” breaking down the primary aspects of the so-called pirate metrics for growth marketing. Keep up with this series and others by subscribing to our blog!

All of the A’s in pirate growth marketing metrics (awareness, acquisition, activation) funnel down to what businesses are really looking for: revenue. We want the booty! 🏴‍☠️ 

Whether after gold galleons or dollar bills, both pirates and businesses share the goal of wanting their customers (or captives) to pay. Businesses rely on marketing and sales to pitch a solution or product that relieves a pain point, unlike pirates who rely on...well, pirating. 

Image Credit: 500 Hat

Revenue Means “Show Me the Money”

Revenue within the marketing system refers to the first time someone pays for a good or service. Call it a tribute, bribe, subscription payment or purchase — the term used depends on your situation and perspective.

All of this is revenue-generating, though, and the first time someone contributes to a company’s top-line revenue is referred to within the marketing conversion cycle as the moment of Revenue (with an excited “R,” pronounced aaarrrr).

Revenue Can Take Multiple Forms

As hinted at, the moment of conversion to revenue can take on many different forms. A few common modern-day examples include when a customer or client:

• Makes an initial purchase at a store
• Signs a contract for a service and clicks "submit"
• Puts down a deposit on a good or service, such as the first payment of a 4 month payment plan
• Pays the first month’s bill on a continued subscription-based service

When those leads in activation convert into money-paying customers, they have reached the point of revenue in the customer lifecycle. 🥳

Image Credit: 500 Hat

Every Company Must Follow Revenue Metrics

However it’s achieved, every crew and company needs to be keeping track of revenue statistics. Depending on what your revenue looks like, you’re likely to need to monitor some of the following:

• Customer acquisition cost
• Trial to paid conversion rate
• Average initial purchase
• Average contract size
• Monthly recurring revenue (MRR)
• Annual recurring revenue (ARR)
• Year over year revenue growth (YOY revenue)
• Customer churn rate

The purchase price and contract size are obviously specific to your business, subscription model, and services. That means you should be asking questions specific to your business when measuring success based on revenue metrics. 

Others, like customer acquisition cost and recurring revenue, are numbers that every business can learn from.

Keep Building from Revenue

Revenue plays a critical role in the pirate metrics system of growth marketing, but it’s not the end. Build up to revenue using the three A’s, and maximize the critical point itself. Don’t stop once you have an initial purchase, though. Keep going onto the last two R’s, which revenue is the key step to unlocking, and which can lead to even more revenue.