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title: Vanity Metrics
---
## Vanity Metrics

Where Vanity is the value of appearance over quality, Vanity Metrics are measurements that, without context or explanation, are used to make someone or something look good. Eric Ries, posting at <a href='https://hbr.org/2010/02/entrepreneurs-beware-of-vanity-metrics' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Harvard Business Review</a>, suggests metrics should be **actionable**, **accessible**, and **auditable** to have meaning.

![Vanity Metrics](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d4/ea/9a/d4ea9ade0de05a5707e11b325a37d5fb.jpg)

Examples:
- Registered users vs Active users
- User stories accepted vs Value delivered to the customer
- Twitter followers vs Retweets

![Value Matters](https://blog.kissmetrics.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/increasing-pageviews-flat-revenues.png)
_image via kissmetrics_

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#### More Information:
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Fizzle on <a href='https://fizzle.co/sparkline/vanity-vs-actionable-metrics' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Actionable vs Vanity Metrics</a>

Harvard Business Review on <a href='https://hbr.org/2010/02/entrepreneurs-beware-of-vanity-metrics' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Vanity Metrics</a>

Forbes <a href='https://www.forbes.com/sites/sujanpatel/2015/05/13/why-you-should-ignore-vanity-metrics-focus-on-engagement-metrics-instead/#1342fdeb12a9' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Ignore Vanity Metrics and Focus on Engagement</a>

kissmetrics <a href='https://blog.kissmetrics.com/throw-away-vanity-metrics/' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Throw Away Vanity Metrics</a>
