How do you prove that your digital product is successful?

Every product team wants to build that unicorn they can sell for a billion dollars.

Most won’t.

Some won’t even make a penny.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean they haven’t been successful.

So what determines success?

How will you know when you’ve achieved it?

And how will you prove its success to the powers-that-be?

While there’s no hard and fast formula, success is measured by the value a product adds to an organisation. Success isn’t just about revenue – it’s about retention, efficiency, and sustained adoption. User experience analytics offer a data-driven way to measure impact, helping product teams move beyond assumptions and demonstrate real business value.

What does success actually look like?

Defining success is the first step in proving it. The most effective product teams understand that success isn’t just about revenue – it’s about retention, efficiency, and sustained adoption.

The challenge is identifying the right metrics to track and ensuring that every data point contributes to a larger understanding of how users interact with the product and how the business benefits from those interactions.

Some key indicators of success include:

• Increased customer retention and engagement
• Improved operational efficiency
• Strong user adoption and satisfaction
• Enhanced brand perception and credibility

There’s no room in this world for products that can’t prove why they exist.

Without measuring impact, how do you know which products to focus on, push, and grow?

Failure to prove product success

Without clear, tangible proof, companies risk misallocating resources, losing customer trust, and making product decisions that fail to align with market needs. As digital experience platforms continue to grow – expected to reach nearly $16 billion by 2025 – leveraging analytics has never been more critical.

But data alone isn’t enough. Interpreting it correctly, aligning it with business goals, and integrating qualitative insights make the difference between surface-level reporting and meaningful, actionable improvements. The most successful digital products are those that continuously evolve based on deep user insights and strategic decision-making.

Four ways to measure the value and success of your product

1. Direct Value – what does the bank account look like?

Simply put, does your product make or save your company money?

When most organisations invest in a product, they want to see a return in the form of revenue or efficiency gains. This is particularly relevant for startups that need to demonstrate revenue value to their investors. But revenue alone doesn’t define success.

A great example is Basecamp, created by 37 Signals back in 1999. Originally a web design agency, 37 Signals built Basecamp to replace email for project management. Clients loved the new tool and wanted to use it too, so they polished it up and launched it as a product. Within a month, they had 100 paying customers. Within a year, they were generating enough revenue to shift their focus entirely to building products.

It’s worth mentioning that SaaS or subscription-based products may take a year or more to generate direct value. You need to factor that in when tracking revenue. More importantly, track profit rather than just income. Many startups fall into the trap of spending more on acquiring users than those users will ever generate in revenue.

2. Additional Value – the impact beyond direct revenue

Sometimes the true value of a product goes beyond its direct financial return. Some products create a ripple effect, generating revenue indirectly by building credibility, awareness, or demand for other services.

For example, Event Safety Plan developed a niche tool for managing safety plans and risk assessments for events. It wasn’t a massive revenue driver, but it served as an entry point – many customers who bought this tool went on to book higher-value consultancy packages, significantly increasing the company’s overall revenue.

Similarly, internal tools such as project estimation platforms or process automation software may not generate direct revenue but can drive efficiency and cost savings across an organisation.

3. Influence Value – the power of an engaged audience

As we all know, millions of eyeballs don’t equate to millions in revenue. But influence matters.

In the startup world, influence value is often crucial in the early stages. Companies like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter built their empires not by generating revenue immediately but by proving their ability to capture and engage users.

Even outside social networks, influence value holds sway. Thought leaders such as Ash Maurya and Simon Sinek have built thriving businesses by creating communities around their insights, later launching products and tools on the back of their influence.

For digital products, influence value can be measured by tracking:

• Engagement rates – Are users actively participating in your platform?
• Organic growth – Are users referring others or advocating for your product?
• Community-driven expansion – Is there a strong, vocal user base defending and promoting your product?

If your product is fostering an engaged, vocal user base that actively promotes it, you have a strong foundation for long-term success.

4. Innovation Value – creating a culture of experimentation

Not all product success is tied to revenue or engagement. Some of the most successful product teams measure value based on their ability to innovate and experiment.

Take Slack, for example. The team behind it originally built a multiplayer game. The game didn’t take off – but the internal messaging system they had built to collaborate during development became the foundation for Slack. The product leadership skills they developed through failed projects eventually led to a billion-dollar success.

A culture of experimentation leads to long-term success, even if the first product doesn’t hit the mark. To measure innovation value, track:

• How many experiments lead to usable insights
• Whether product iterations improve internal processes
• How product leadership evolves through experience

Products that continuously improve based on user research and experimentation have a far greater chance of staying relevant in a shifting market.

Proving digital product success requires more than just tracking engagement. A truly successful product consistently delivers measurable user and business value.

By leveraging user experience analytics, customer journey analysis, and UX research methodologies, product teams can make informed decisions that go beyond assumptions and vanity metrics. As businesses increasingly rely on data-driven decision-making, those who invest in analytics are seeing significantly stronger performance.