What Is the Product Engagement Score (PES)?

Understanding user interaction with your product becomes essential when considering the Product Engagement Score (PES). PES isn't merely a number; it's a comprehensive metric encompassing adoption, stickiness, and growth, providing a holistic view of user engagement and satisfaction. Monitoring PES allows you to make informed decisions to enhance customer retention and identify areas for improvement. But how do you calculate PES and leverage it effectively? Let's explore the components and methodologies that can transform this metric into a powerful tool for your business.
Definition of PES
The Product Engagement Score (PES) is a vital metric that quantifies user interaction with a product, offering a comprehensive view of overall engagement. By analyzing PES, you gain valuable insights into user engagement efficacy. PES is computed as the average of three critical components: Adoption, Stickiness, and Growth, each contributing a unique perspective on your product's performance.
Adoption measures the average number of Core Events utilized by active users, reflecting how frequently users interact with essential features of your product, thereby indicating their engagement and satisfaction levels. Stickiness is determined by the ratio of daily active users (DAU) to weekly (WAU) or monthly active users (MAU). This ratio provides insight into user retention and how regularly users return to your product, demonstrating their sustained interest and engagement.
Lastly, Growth evaluates the net change in user accounts by comparing new and recovered accounts against churned accounts. This component highlights your product's capability to attract and maintain a user base over time. Understanding these elements allows for a precise assessment and enhancement of your product's performance and user engagement.
Components of PES
To understand the Product Engagement Score (PES), you'll need to grasp its three main components: Adoption, Stickiness, and Growth. Adoption measures how frequently users engage with key features, while Stickiness assesses user retention through daily, weekly, or monthly activity ratios. Growth examines the increase in user accounts by balancing new and re-engaged accounts against those that are lost.
Measuring Adoption Rates
Regularly measuring adoption rates is crucial for understanding user interaction with your product's core features. Adoption rates assess the average number of core events that active users engage with, reflecting their overall interaction with key functionalities. By dividing the total number of core events by the number of active users, you gain valuable insights into feature utilization and the overall user experience.
A higher adoption rate indicates effective user integration and engagement with your product's features. This metric is integral to the product engagement score (PES), aiding in tracking adoption trends and making data-driven decisions to enhance user experience.
Regular monitoring of adoption rates can help you:
- Identify underperforming features that need improvement
- Enhance user experience by focusing on frequently used features
- Boost engagement by promoting lesser-used functionalities
- Make informed decisions for future product development
- Evaluate the effectiveness of updates and new feature implementations
Calculating Stickiness Ratios
Understanding how often users return to your product is essential for gauging its stickiness. To measure stickiness, you'll compare the ratio of Daily Active Users (DAU) to Weekly Active Users (WAU) or Monthly Active Users (MAU). This stickiness percentage offers a snapshot of user engagement frequency over different periods.
Calculating this ratio is straightforward. For a short-term perspective, divide the number of DAUs by WAUs. For a long-term view, divide DAUs by MAUs. The result will range from 0 to 1, where values closer to 1 indicate high stickiness and strong user engagement. A higher stickiness ratio signifies that users are returning more consistently, correlating with improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Monitoring this metric over time is crucial for understanding trends in user engagement and the effectiveness of your strategies. A high stickiness ratio can enhance your Product Engagement Score (PES), reflecting well on the overall health of your product. Conversely, lower values might indicate potential disengagement, prompting you to reassess and improve your user engagement tactics. Focusing on stickiness will better equip you to amplify user retention and satisfaction, ultimately driving your product's success.
Evaluating Growth Metrics
When evaluating growth metrics as part of the Product Engagement Score (PES), focus on the net increase of visitors or accounts using a quick ratio approach. The quick ratio is calculated by dividing the sum of new and recovered accounts by dropped accounts. A quick ratio greater than one indicates positive net growth, while a ratio below one signifies negative growth.
Tracking growth metrics is essential for recognizing trends and formulating product improvement strategies to boost engagement and user retention. By monitoring this ratio, you gain insights into your product's performance in attracting and retaining active users. Effective growth typically ranges between 0.5 and 5, with a median quick ratio of 1.5 serving as a useful benchmark.
Key points to remember:
- Quick ratio calculation: (New + Recovered Accounts) / Dropped Accounts.
- Positive net growth: Quick ratio > 1.
- Negative growth: Quick ratio < 1.
- Effective range: 0.5 to 5, with a median of 1.5.
- Balanced scoring: Ratios below 0.5 yield a growth score of 0, while those at 5 or higher are capped at a score of 100.
These growth metrics are integral to calculating your Product Engagement Score (PES), enabling informed decisions to enhance user engagement and retention.
Calculating PES

To calculate the Product Engagement Score (PES), use the formula: (Adoption + Stickiness + Growth) / 3. This metric is crucial for understanding comprehensive user engagement with your product.
Breaking Down the Components
- Adoption: This measures the average number of Core Events adopted by active users. Core Events are key actions that reflect the primary use of your product, indicating how well users are utilizing its features. High adoption signifies deep user engagement with the product.
- Stickiness: Stickiness is determined by the ratio of daily active users (DAU) to weekly active users (WAU) or monthly active users (MAU). This metric shows how frequently users return to engage with your product. A higher stickiness ratio suggests that users consistently find value and keep coming back.
- Growth: Growth is calculated as the net increase in accounts. Use the formula: (New accounts + Recovered accounts - Dropped accounts) / Total accounts. Growth highlights your product's ability to attract new users and retain them over time.
Importance of PES
Understanding how to calculate the Product Engagement Score (PES) highlights its critical role in assessing user interaction. PES provides a comprehensive view of user adoption, retention, and growth within your product. This insight is essential for identifying low engagement levels, diagnosing issues, and uncovering strategic opportunities for product enhancement.
The value of PES extends beyond just user engagement; it directly impacts customer retention and satisfaction. A higher PES signifies that users derive significant value from your product, fostering loyalty and long-term business success. By tracking PES, you can make data-driven decisions, adapt to evolving user behaviors, and continuously enhance the overall product experience.
Consider the following benefits of a high PES:
- Boosted customer retention: Highly engaged users are less likely to churn.
- Enhanced customer satisfaction: Greater engagement typically indicates higher user satisfaction.
- Improved feature adoption: PES insights can highlight underutilized features.
- Targeted product improvement: Focus on areas with low engagement for strategic enhancement.
- Informed decision-making: Leverage PES data to guide your product roadmap effectively.
Improving PES

To enhance your Product Engagement System (PES), begin by analyzing key metrics to identify which features drive user engagement and which are underutilized. Optimize your user onboarding process to ensure new users quickly grasp the value of your product, leading to higher adoption rates. Continuously refine these strategies based on user feedback to keep your product aligned with user needs.
Evaluate Key Metrics
When evaluating key metrics to improve your Product Engagement Score (PES), it is essential to focus on a few critical areas. Start by examining the average number of Core Events utilized by active users. Core Events are significant actions that reflect meaningful engagement with your product.
To measure product engagement effectively, consider tracking these key metrics:
- Active Users: Monitor daily active users (DAU), weekly active users (WAU), and monthly active users (MAU) to understand user activity and stickiness.
- Growth Trends: Assess new and recovered accounts versus dropped accounts to ensure a net growth ratio greater than one.
- Customer Feedback: Regularly gather and analyze customer feedback to adapt product features based on user needs.
- User Activity: Track the frequency with which users engage with high-value features to gauge their overall engagement.
- In-App Messages: Implement targeted in-app messages to guide users toward significant features, enhancing their experience and increasing PES.
Stickiness is another vital metric, measured by the ratio of DAU to WAU or MAU, which indicates how often users return to your product. By focusing on these key metrics, you can create engaging user experiences that encourage frequent use and continuous improvement in your PES.
Enhance User Onboarding
Evaluating key metrics provides a solid foundation for understanding product engagement, but enhancing user onboarding can significantly improve your Product Engagement Score (PES). By focusing on user onboarding, you can offer new users immediate value and reduce the time to their initial meaningful interaction. Implementing guided tours and interactive walkthroughs during onboarding can increase feature adoption rates, directly impacting the adoption metric of PES.
Personalized onboarding experiences lead to a 50% increase in user retention within the first month, positively affecting both stickiness and the overall PES. Utilize in-app messaging to guide users toward high-value features, thereby improving their engagement. Regularly evaluating and optimizing the onboarding process based on user feedback ensures it aligns with user needs, leading to a more effective onboarding experience and higher PES.
| Strategy | Benefit | Impacted Metric |
|---|---|---|
| Guided Tours | Increased Feature Adoption | Feature Adoption |
| Personalized Onboarding | Higher User Retention | Stickiness |
| In-App Messaging | Improved User Engagement | Growth Metrics |
Continuously refine these strategies to ensure users find immediate value from your product. This approach not only enhances engagement but also solidifies a higher Product Engagement Score (PES).
Key Metrics for PES
Understanding the key metrics for the Product Engagement Score (PES) is crucial for assessing user interaction with your product. PES is calculated using three primary metrics: Adoption, Stickiness, and Growth. These metrics provide a comprehensive measure of user engagement.
- Adoption: This metric measures the average number of Core Events that active users engage with, reflecting effective product usage.
- Stickiness: This is determined by the ratio of Daily Active Users (DAU) to Weekly Active Users (WAU) or Monthly Active Users (MAU). It indicates how often users return and interact with your product, thus showing user retention.
- Growth: This is evaluated through the quick ratio, which calculates the number of new and recovered accounts divided by the number of dropped accounts. A quick ratio greater than one signals positive growth and increasing user engagement.
Regularly monitoring these key metrics helps identify trends, improve user experiences, and enhance overall product engagement. Here are the key points to focus on:
- Adoption: Average Core Events engaged by active users.
- Stickiness: Ratio of DAU to WAU or MAU, indicating user retention.
- Growth: Quick ratio of new/recovered to dropped accounts.
- Daily Active Users (DAU): Number of users engaging daily.
- Weekly/Monthly Active Users (WAU/MAU): Number of users engaging weekly/monthly.
Strategies for Engagement

Improving your Product Engagement Score (PES) requires strategic efforts that directly address user needs and behaviors. Start by identifying and promoting high-value features within your product, ensuring users are not only aware of these features but also utilizing them effectively. This approach can greatly boost user engagement.
Use in-app messages to guide users through these valuable features, increasing the likelihood of product adoption and enhancing product stickiness. Thoroughly evaluate your onboarding process; a smooth, informative onboarding experience helps new users see immediate value, elevating initial engagement metrics.
Ensure your product aligns with user workflows. Seamless integration into their daily tasks makes users more likely to become active users, thereby increasing the frequency and depth of engagement.
Continuous improvement is essential. Regularly monitor customer feedback to identify pain points and opportunities for development. This iterative process ensures your product evolves in ways that keep users engaged and satisfied.
Additional Resources
To boost your Product Engagement Score (PES), leverage the comprehensive resources provided by Pendo. These tools are designed to help you understand and enhance your PES strategies effectively, leading to increased product engagement, growth in active users, and an improved customer experience.
Access a dedicated hub that offers deep insights and best practices for interpreting and enhancing your PES. The hub includes a variety of educational materials, such as articles, webinars, and interactive quizzes, all tailored to help you master the intricacies of product performance and customer retention.
Key resources to explore include:
- Articles: Detailed pieces covering various aspects of PES and product engagement.
- Webinars: Sessions with experts sharing strategies to enhance PES, available live and on-demand.
- Interactive Quizzes: Tools to evaluate your current PES strategy and pinpoint areas for improvement.
- Case Studies: Real-world examples showcasing successful PES implementation and its impact on customer retention.
- Continuous Learning Opportunities: Regular updates on the latest trends and strategies in product engagement.
Additionally, tracking supplementary KPIs alongside your PES can provide a more comprehensive view of your product's performance and user engagement, ensuring you consistently deliver exceptional customer experiences.




