North Star Metric

For ReserveEasy

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What is a North Star Metric?

Your North Star Metric (NSM) is the single most important metric that best captures the core value your product delivers to customers.

Characteristics of a good NSM:

• ✅ Measures customer value (not just revenue)
• ✅ Reflects product usage and engagement
• ✅ Leads to revenue (but isn't revenue itself)
• ✅ Simple to understand and communicate

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ReserveEasy's North Star Metric

Monthly Completed Bookings (MCB)

Definition: Total number of restaurant reservations that were made AND the diner showed up in a given month.

Why this metric?

• Represents value to BOTH sides of the marketplace:
  • Diners: Successfully got a table
  • Restaurants: Filled seats, earned revenue
• Directly correlates with our commission revenue
• Excludes cancelled bookings and no-shows (which create no value)

Formula:

MCB = COUNT(bookings WHERE status = 'completed' AND MONTH(booking_date) = current_month)

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North Star vs Other Metrics

Metric	Why NOT North Star?
Total Signups	Vanity metric - users might never book
Gross Booking Value ($$)	Focuses on revenue, not core product value
Restaurant Partners	Supply-side metric, doesn't measure usage
Pageviews	Doesn't reflect actual bookings
Booking Conversion Rate	Important but doesn't capture scale

Our NSM captures both SCALE (total volume) and QUALITY (completed, not cancelled).

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North Star Decomposition

NSM = visitors × booking conversion × show-up rate

Monthly Completed Bookings =
    (Monthly Website Visitors) ×
    (% who book) ×
    (% who show up)

Example:
100,000 visitors × 5% booking rate × 95% show-up rate = 4,750 MCB

Lever Analysis:

1. Increase visitors: SEO, paid ads, partnerships
2. Increase booking conversion: Simplify flow, trust signals
3. Increase show-up rate: Deposit system, SMS reminders

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Current Performance

Month	MCB	Growth MoM
Jan 2026 (Launch)	1,200	-
Feb 2026	3,500	+192%
Mar 2026	5,000	+43%
Apr 2026 (Target)	7,500	+50%

Year 1 Goal: 15,000 MCB by December 2026

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Supporting Metrics (Input Metrics)

These metrics drive the North Star:

Acquisition

• Monthly Unique Visitors
• Traffic Sources (organic, paid, referral)
• Cost per Acquisition (CPA)

Activation

• % of visitors who search
• % of searchers who view a restaurant
• % of viewers who check availability

Conversion

• Booking Conversion Rate (bookings / restaurant views)
• Form Abandonment Rate
• Payment Success Rate

Retention

• Show-Up Rate (95% target)
• Repeat Booking Rate (% who book again within 30 days)
• Monthly Active Bookers (MAB)

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Dashboard Query

-- North Star Metric: Monthly Completed Bookings
SELECT
    DATE_TRUNC('month', booking_date) AS month,
    COUNT(*) AS monthly_completed_bookings
FROM bookings
WHERE status = 'completed'  -- Diner showed up
  AND booking_date >= DATE_TRUNC('month', CURRENT_DATE - INTERVAL '11 months')
GROUP BY month
ORDER BY month DESC;

-- Output:
-- month       | monthly_completed_bookings
-- ------------+---------------------------
-- 2026-04-01  | 7200
-- 2026-03-01  | 5000
-- 2026-02-01  | 3500
-- 2026-01-01  | 1200

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How We Track It

Daily Dashboard:

• Real-time MCB counter (current month)
• Projection: "On track to hit 7,500 MCB this month" (based on daily run-rate)

Weekly Review:

• Compare to last week, last month
• Analyze drop-offs in funnel (which lever to pull?)

Monthly Business Review:

• MCB vs target
• Decomposition: Which input metrics drove growth?
• Action items for next month

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North Star in Decision-Making

Example 1: Feature Prioritization

Should we build "Table Preferences" (window seat, booth) vs "SMS Reminders"?

• Table Preferences: Improves satisfaction, but unclear impact on MCB
• SMS Reminders: Reduces no-shows → directly increases show-up rate → increases MCB

Decision: Ship SMS reminders first (clearer NSM impact)

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Example 2: Marketing Channel

Should we invest in Instagram ads vs Google Search Ads?

Channel	Cost	Expected Visitors	Booking Conversion	MCB Impact
Instagram	$10k	50,000	2% (lower intent)	+950 MCB
Google	$10k	20,000	8% (high intent)	+1,520 MCB

Decision: Google Search Ads (higher MCB per dollar)

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Avoiding North Star Pitfalls

Pitfall 1: Gaming the Metric

Bad: Incentivize restaurants to mark no-shows as "completed" → inflates MCB falsely

Prevention: Cross-check with payment data, audit random bookings

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Pitfall 2: Ignoring Quality

Bad: Drive MCB growth with low-quality restaurants → High no-show rates, poor reviews

Prevention: Track secondary metric "NPS" (Net Promoter Score) to ensure quality

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Pitfall 3: Short-Term Focus

Bad: Run aggressive promotions to spike MCB this month, but no retention

Prevention: Track "Repeat MCB" (bookings from users who booked before)

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Related Metrics Framework (AARRR)

NSM fits into the broader pirate metrics:

Stage	Metric	Target
Acquisition	Monthly Visitors	100,000
Activation	% who complete first booking	20%
Retention	% who book again in 30 days	35%
Revenue	Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)	$120k
Referral	% of bookings from referred users	15%

North Star (MCB) primarily measures Activation + Retention.

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