The AARRR metrics fascinate us with simplicity and effectiveness. That is why we have been exploring them and demystifying them to you, the e-commerce entrepreneurs who need to be using them.

We have reached the last metric in the framework – Revenue. Although it doesn’t always come last, it is the ultimate prove that all four other metrics work.

After you acquire potential customers and activate them, after you manage to keep them coming back and they tell their friends how cool you are, it is time to collect the earnings.

We’re continuing with the AARRR Metrics for eCommerce. So far, we’ve explained the first 3 – acquisition, activation and retention. This week it’s Referral time! (For a quick recap, see this infographic.)

What’s referral as an AARRR metric?

Dave McClure, who coined the framework, doesn’t set strict limitations on what it is and what it isn’t.

In his original presentation of the concept, he puts it broadly: it’s when someone refers someone else to your website and the new visitor takes some action. Just that. They don’t have to be a customer to do the referral, and the action is not necessarily a purchase.

In our AARRR framework series, we explore all five steps Dave McClure outlined on the way to improving the bottom line in terms of eCommerce business. We already talked about Acquisition and Activation, and now it’s time to discuss Retention.

What is retention?
It’s your ability to keep customers coming back for repeat purchases. Although conversion is an ultimate goal in e-commerce, one-time customers are more pain than gain.

As we announced, we’re starting a series of articles on the popular framework of metrics created by Dave McClure called AARRR Funnel or Pirate Metrics (watch his presentation of the AARRR funnel).

They include acquisition, activation, retention, referral, and revenue.

We already demystified the first one – Acquisition. For an overview of all five, check out our article AARRR Metrics For eCommerce Stores: The Holy Grail of Growth.

Here, we’re going to talk about AARRR Activation, the second step in the AARRR funnel – why is it important and how it can be influenced.

Ecommerce growth hacking is still something many don’t believe in. Growth hacking is one of those terms that everybody’s using and nobody can really define.

So we decided to put together some examples of what it means for eCommerce – and, hopefully, give you ideas how you can growth hack your own online store.

Sean Ellis came up with the phrase “growth hacker” in 2010 when he needed to better explain what he was doing for startups. In early stage, startups, e-commerce included, don’t need traditional marketing – they need to grow (in customer base) and grow fast.

We’re starting a series of articles on the popular framework of metrics created by Dave McClure called AARRR Metrics or Pirate Metrics (watch his presentation of the AARRR metrics concept).

The name imitates pirate talk and is an acronym for the five essential metrics an eCommerce should keep an eye on: acquisition, activation, retention, referral, revenue.

For an overview of all five, check out our article, AARRR Metrics For eCommerce Stores: The Holy Grail of Growth.