AARRR pirate metrics
Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Revenue, Referral as five lanes with the one metric to own in each.
How this funnel works
Dave McClure's pirate metrics as a canvas. Each lane holds the step that defines it and a note with the metric to report. It is the fastest way to give a SaaS or app team a shared picture of where users are lost, and the referral loop back to acquisition shows why retention work compounds.
Benchmarks
Low, typical, and high values a marketer would recognize. The forecast preset uses the typical column.
| Step | Low | Typical | High |
|---|---|---|---|
Visitor to sign-up (acquisition) Conversion rate · blended traffic to a free sign-up | 2% | 5% | 10% |
Sign-up to activated Conversion rate · reached the core value moment | 25% | 40% | 60% |
Activated to retained (30 days) Conversion rate | 30% | 45% | 65% |
Retained to paying Conversion rate | 5% | 12% | 25% |
Paying to referred a user Conversion rate | 5% | 12% | 25% |
Setup checklist
In the app, items flip to done when the Setup Assistant verifies the matching node.
- 1Sign-up captured as a form event and identify
- 2Activation milestone sent as a custom event
- 3Return visit or weekly active sent as a custom event
- 4Subscription created sent by webhook as a purchase
- 5Referral invite sent and accepted sent as custom events
- 6Referral links carry utm_source=referral
More frameworks templates
All in this category5-point optimization checklist
Five stages to audit any funnel in order, each with a checklist note, laid over a reference funnel.
Acquisition and retention momentum loop
Attract, convert, deliver, retain, and refer as one loop, so retention feeds the next round of acquisition.