Defining healthy baselines

Healthy baselines are standard patterns of product usage that indicate customer success. Think of them as vital signs for your product — just like a doctor knows normal heart rate ranges, you need to know what "normal" looks like for different types of customers.

Creating accurate baselines starts with customer segmentation. Enterprise customers typically show different patterns than small businesses — an enterprise might have 50 active users daily, while a small business has 5. Similarly, new customers’ usage looks different from mature ones. For example, new users might spend more time in tutorials, while experienced users focus on advanced features.

To set meaningful baselines, analyze your most successful customers in each segment. Look at specific metrics like login frequency (daily vs. weekly), feature usage (which tools they use most), and task completion rates (how often they achieve key goals). These patterns become your benchmark for health. For instance, if successful enterprise customers typically have 80% of their team active weekly and use at least 3 core features daily, that becomes their health baseline.