Making metrics matter in journey management 

What good are your metrics if they don’t drive change?

In TheyDo’s latest Coffee Chat, Senior Customer Success Manager Ellen Joris tackled one of journey management’s trickiest questions:

How do we make metrics not just visible — but truly valuable? 

The session brought together CX leaders and practitioners from the Journey Management Community for a lively exploration of what makes metrics meaningful: cutting through the noise, aligning across teams, and turning measurement into momentum.

Missed it? Read on for your to-go cup.

From vanity to value  

“Most teams are drowning in data,” Ellen emphasized, “but it’s unclear what to focus on, what to act on, and how to use that data in the context of a journey.” To help teams move from noise to insight, she introduced a simple yet powerful distinction: signal metrics versus success metrics—or, as she put it, leading indicators versus lagging indicators.

Signal metrics appear throughout the journey and act as early warning signs. These might include:

• Abandonment rates

• Task completion time

• Channel switching

• Complaints

Success metrics, by contrast, measure the outcome. They help determine whether the journey ultimately delivered value for the customer and the business. Examples include:

• NPS

• Customer satisfaction

• Conversion rates

• Retention

By mapping both types of metrics across the journey, teams can identify friction points more quickly, understand their impact more clearly, and make more informed decisions. “Not every metric deserves your full attention,” Ellen said. “Focus on the ones that guide decisions and tie back to both customer and business goals.”

The takeaway? Map what matters.

Use signal metrics to spot friction early and success metrics to measure outcomes—then connect both to the journey to drive smarter decisions.

When no one owns the journey

Another challenge raised during the session revolved around ownership. One participant shared that their teams only own slices of the journey, not the full end-to-end experience — which makes aligning on metrics really tough.

Another attendee added that the metrics often don’t travel beyond the project. Without leadership buy-in, they rarely make it into the organization’s operating system.

In other words: when there’s no one guiding the journey holistically — and no executive sponsor championing the work — metrics often stay isolated and fail to create long-term impact.

Ellen pointed out how TheyDo addresses this challenge during the early stages of implementation:

“We begin the metrics conversation during the pre-sales phase—before a company even officially starts using TheyDo,” she explained.

“We clarify which use cases they want to tackle, what KPIs matter, and who the executive sponsor is. So by the time they roll out journey management internally, they already have the structure and support needed to succeed.”

The takeaway? Start early.

Align on metrics before rollout by identifying business goals, defining journey-level KPIs, and securing executive sponsorship. Whether you’re using TheyDo or another platform, make alignment foundational—not an afterthought.

Data literacy, alignment, and action

Another core theme that emerged was the need for data literacy and access. “When we don’t train people to explore data themselves, they’re stuck requesting reports,” said Daniel Santos, CX and Product Consultant. “That limits experimentation and slows decision-making.” 

To help teams move past surface-level reporting and into meaningful analysis, Ellen shared a set of simple, guiding questions:

• What decision will this metric help us make?

• Is it a signal or an outcome?

• Who owns it?

• Does it tell a real story—or just make us feel good?

And her no-nonsense litmus test? “If a metric doesn’t guide a decision, it’s just noise. Use it only if it helps drive change.”

The takeaway? Build data literacy across teams.

Empower people to understand, question, and use metrics—not just report on them.

Tell the story

Whether you're refining an enterprise-wide KPI strategy or just starting to embed metrics into your first journey map, the goal is the same: connect the dots between signals, outcomes, and action.

Define what matters. Align your teams. And use metrics to tell the story of the journey.

Timestamps

• 0:00 Welcome and intro

• 02:07 Icebreaker: If you could keep only one CX metric, what would it be?

• 04:36 Common challenges with journey metrics

• 05:31 What makes a metric “vanity”?

• 08:07 Why journey-level metrics matter

• 10:22 Signal vs. success metrics explained

• 12:53 Examples from insurance, pharma, government

• 14:12 What would you like to be able to measure?

• 20:01 Aligning metrics across teams

• 23:16 Common blockers: data, ownership, and misalignment

• 24:11 The role of executive sponsorship (Adriana’s perspective)

• 27:21 What if no one owns the end-to-end journey?

• 29:16 When the right metrics aren’t available

• 30:03 Misaligned objectives + data maturity issues

• 32:08 Literacy and cultural resistance to changing metrics

• 36:15 Metrics as a common language

• 37:45 Guiding questions for picking meaningful metrics

• 40:39 Q&A: Should you define metrics at every stage?

• 42:09 Wrap-up + invite to next session

Want more?

Join our Journey Management Community on Slack to explore weekly Coffee Chats, swap ideas with CX leaders, journey managers, practitioners, and get early access to sessions like this one.