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analytics-instrumentation skill

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/skills/analytics-instrumentation

This skill helps you design and instrument analytics for data-driven decisions, focusing on key metrics, funnels, and data quality for SaaS.

npx playbooks add skill whawkinsiv/solo-founder-superpowers --skill analytics-instrumentation

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---
name: analytics-instrumentation
description: "Use this skill when the user needs to set up analytics, design event tracking, define key metrics, build funnels, or instrument their SaaS product for data-driven decisions. Covers event naming conventions, tracking strategy, funnel analytics, and data quality."
---

# Analytics & Instrumentation

Track decisions, not dashboards. This skill helps you set up analytics that answer the questions that matter — without drowning in data.

## Core Principles

- Every metric should connect to an action you'd take differently based on the result.
- Instrument events at build time, not as an afterthought. It's 10x easier.
- More data ≠ better decisions. Focus on 5-10 key metrics per stage.
- Data quality matters more than data quantity. One clean funnel beats fifty broken ones.

---

## Choosing an Analytics Tool

You don't need to write code to track events. Pick a tool, add the snippet, and configure in the UI.

### Recommended by Stage

| Stage | Tool | Why | Cost |
|-------|------|-----|------|
| Pre-revenue | **PostHog** | Product analytics, funnels, session replay. Built for SaaS. | Free (1M events/mo) |
| Pre-revenue | **Plausible** | Simple, privacy-first traffic analytics. | $9/mo |
| $0-5K MRR | **PostHog** or **Mixpanel** | Deeper funnel analysis, cohort retention | Free tier or ~$200/mo |
| $5K+ MRR | **Amplitude** or **Heap** | Advanced analytics, experimentation | $500+/mo |

**Recommendation for solo founders:** Start with **PostHog** (free tier). It covers product analytics, funnels, session recordings, and feature flags — all things you'll need.

For basic traffic analytics (where visitors come from), add **Plausible** or **Google Analytics 4** (free).

### Setup

**Tell AI:**
```
Set up PostHog analytics:
1. Create a PostHog project and get the API key
2. Add the PostHog JavaScript snippet to our app (in the <head> or layout component)
3. Verify it's tracking page views by checking the PostHog dashboard
4. Configure: exclude admin/test accounts from tracking
```

---

## What to Track (By Stage)

### Pre-Launch (Just These 3)
1. Landing page visits (traffic source)
2. Waitlist/signup conversions
3. Where visitors drop off

### 0-$1K MRR (Add These)
4. Signup → activation rate (completed key action)
5. Time to activate (hours from signup to key action)
6. D7 retention (% returning after 1 week)
7. Free-to-paid conversion

### $1K-$10K MRR (Add These)
8. Feature adoption (% of users using each feature weekly)
9. Cohort retention curves (track each month's signups over time)
10. Expansion revenue triggers (what behavior precedes upgrades)
11. Churn rate and reasons

---

## Event Naming Conventions

Use a consistent schema so events make sense to anyone reading them.

**Format:** [Object] [Action] in past tense, Title Case.

| Event Name | When It Fires |
|------------|--------------|
| Signup Form Submitted | User completes registration |
| Project Created | User creates their first/any project |
| Dashboard Viewed | User visits the main dashboard |
| Report Exported | User downloads or shares a report |
| Subscription Upgraded | User moves to a higher plan |
| Invite Sent | User invites a teammate |

**Rules:**
- Object first, then action (makes grouping in tools easier)
- Past tense (the event already happened)
- Be specific: "Signup Form Submitted" not "Form Submitted"
- Never include personal data in the event name

### Event Properties

Every event should include context:

```
"Project Created"
  template_used: "blank" | "marketing" | "engineering"
  source: "dashboard" | "onboarding" | "api"

"Subscription Upgraded"
  from_plan: "free"
  to_plan: "pro"
  billing_period: "annual"
  trigger: "usage_limit" | "feature_gate" | "self_serve"
```

**Tell AI:**
```
Set up event tracking for our core funnel:
- Track these events: [list your key events from the table above]
- Include these properties with each event: [relevant properties]
- Set user-level properties on identify: plan, signup_date, role
- Verify events are firing correctly in PostHog/Mixpanel
```

---

## Core Metrics Framework

### The 5 Metrics That Matter

| Metric | What It Tells You | How to Calculate |
|--------|------------------|-----------------|
| **Signup rate** | Is your marketing working? | Visitors → Signups |
| **Activation rate** | Is your onboarding working? | Signups → Completed key action |
| **D7 retention** | Does your product deliver ongoing value? | % of users returning 7 days later |
| **Free-to-paid** | Is your product worth paying for? | Free users → Paying users |
| **MRR** | Is your business growing? | Sum of all monthly subscription revenue |

### Setting Up Your Dashboard

**Tell AI:**
```
Create an analytics dashboard with these 5 charts:
1. Daily signups (line chart, last 30 days, by source)
2. Activation rate (% of signups who [completed key action], last 30 days)
3. D7 retention (% of each week's signups who returned 7 days later)
4. Free-to-paid conversion rate (last 30 days)
5. MRR (line chart, all time)

This should be the first thing I see when I open analytics.
```

---

## Funnel Instrumentation

Define your core funnel and track every step:

```
Typical SaaS funnel:
  1. Landing Page Viewed
  2. Signup Form Viewed
  3. Signup Form Submitted
  4. Onboarding Started
  5. [Key Activation Action] Completed
  6. Second Session (returned next day/week)
  7. Upgrade Page Viewed
  8. Subscription Created
```

**The biggest drop-off between steps = your biggest opportunity.** Fix that first.

**Tell AI:**
```
Instrument our conversion funnel:
- Track these events in order: [list your funnel steps]
- Build a funnel visualization showing drop-off between each step
- Set up an alert if any step's conversion drops below [X]% week-over-week
```

---

## Privacy and Compliance

Add these before you launch:

- [ ] Add analytics tool reference to your Privacy Policy
- [ ] Add cookie consent banner if required (depends on tool and geography)
- [ ] Enable "anonymize IP" in your analytics tool
- [ ] Exclude admin/test accounts from tracking
- [ ] Never track PII (email, name) in event properties without consent
- [ ] Allow users to opt out of tracking
- [ ] Respect Do Not Track (DNT) browser settings

**Tell AI:**
```
Add privacy compliance for analytics:
- Add a cookie consent banner that loads analytics only after consent
- Exclude users with DNT enabled
- Add an "opt out of tracking" toggle in account settings
- Ensure no PII is sent in event properties
```

---

## Common Mistakes

| Mistake | Fix |
|---------|-----|
| Tracking everything from day one | Start with 5 metrics. Add more when you have questions they can't answer. |
| No analytics until post-launch | Add the snippet during build. Track from first user. |
| Dashboard but no actions | Every metric should have an "if this drops, I'll do X" response |
| Ignoring data quality | Check that events are firing correctly once a week for the first month |
| Paying for expensive tools too early | PostHog free tier handles most needs until $5K MRR |

---

## If You Can't Set Up Analytics Right Now

Track these manually in a spreadsheet until you can:

| Week | Signups | Activated | Retained (D7) | Paid | MRR |
|------|---------|-----------|---------------|------|-----|
| Week 1 | | | | | |
| Week 2 | | | | | |

Even rough manual tracking beats flying blind. Graduate to a real tool as soon as you can.

Overview

This skill helps founders set up analytics and instrument their SaaS product to make data-driven decisions. It focuses on event naming, tracking strategy, funnel instrumentation, and defining the 5–10 core metrics that actually drive action. Use it to avoid noisy dashboards and get clean, actionable data from day one.

How this skill works

The skill guides you through choosing the right analytics tool for your stage, adding the tracking snippet, and verifying events. It prescribes an event naming convention, required event properties and user-level identify attributes, and a core funnel to instrument. It also defines the five core metrics and shows how to build a minimal dashboard and alerts for regression.

When to use it

During initial build to instrument events before launch
When defining or cleaning up your core conversion funnel
Before launching paid plans to track free-to-paid conversion
To design retention and cohort tracking for growth analysis
When you need audit-ready data quality and privacy controls

Best practices

Instrument events at build time, not after launch
Use a consistent naming schema: [Object] [Action] (past tense, Title Case)
Track only 5–10 key metrics per stage and connect each metric to an action
Include context properties on events and set user-level properties on identify
Exclude admin/test accounts, anonymize IPs, and never send PII without consent

Example use cases

Set up PostHog with pageview and funnel events for a pre-revenue SaaS MVP
Design an activation funnel and measure signup → key action conversion rate
Add properties to feature events to understand adoption by template or source
Create a dashboard with daily signups, activation rate, D7 retention, free-to-paid, and MRR
Configure alerts for sudden drops in funnel conversion or activation rate

FAQ

Which analytics tool should I start with as a solo founder?

Start with PostHog (free tier) for product analytics and funnels, and add Plausible or GA4 for basic traffic sources if needed.

What are the five metrics I must always track?

Signup rate, activation rate, D7 retention, free-to-paid conversion, and MRR.