Counter Metric: a measurement to ensure that you haven’t over-optimized a metric (typically a north star metric) to the detriment of your product and the user experience.

Counter metrics prevent people from gaming the metrics in pursuit of numbers for the sake of the number or bragging rights. They stand as an alternative hypothesis for why a metric has increased. They are a sanity check.

For example:

# of active users daily vs # users taking X action daily

Daily Active users are notoriously over-inflated. A quick login might count as active. So, to make sure you can monitor what is truly impactful for users, we might measure users reading at least 2 minutes per day. If you compare those two numbers and they are wildly different, you might have a problem with, say a new product. If the product team was driven by # of active users without being held accountable to the time reading or time on site, they might want to game the system by devising clickbait leads.

North Star Metric >> Counter Metric

• Users or Traffic >> Conversion Rate

• Session Time >> Avg number of tasks completed

• Items Sold (GMV) >> Unique items sold or Unique inventory listed

You would make sure a daily active user takes a key action before considering them ‘active.’ Defining the key is crucial.

References:

PM & Metrics: Counter Metrics

How do you set metrics?