Vanity metrics look impressive in presentations but provide little actionable insight for product decisions. These deceptive numbers often grow naturally with time or marketing spend, creating an illusion of progress without revealing true business health.^[1]

Common examples of vanity metrics include:

• Total page views or website visits
• Total impressions
• Active users
• Social media followers or likes
• Raw download counts
• Registered user totals (without activity qualification)
• Cumulative customer count (ignoring churn)

These metrics fail the crucial test: "Does this information help us make better decisions?" For instance, knowing you have 10,000 app downloads looks impressive, but if only 500 users become active and just 50 convert to paying customers, the download number alone misleads more than it informs. Instead, focus on metrics that reveal user value and business impact, such as active user retention, feature adoption rates, conversion percentages, and revenue per user. These metrics connect directly to business health and suggest specific actions.