Amplitude north star
Definition
The Amplitude North Star Playbook is Amplitude's structured framework for product strategy, defining a north star metric (the single most important measure of product value) and three to six input metrics that break down how the north star moves.
Amplitude (the product analytics company) published their North Star Playbook as both a methodology document and a practical guide for product teams. While the general 'north star metric' concept predates Amplitude, they systematized it, documented it, and promoted it through their customer base and content — making 'Amplitude north star' a shorthand that many product teams use to refer to the entire framework.
The Amplitude North Star framework has a specific structure:
The north star metric sits at the top. It answers: what is the one number that, if it goes up, means our customers are getting more value and our business is growing? It must capture value, not just activity.
Input metrics (typically 3-6) sit below the north star. They represent the controllable factors that drive the north star. Amplitude recommends decomposing the north star by breadth (how many users), depth (how engaged they are), frequency (how often they use it), and efficiency (how well the product serves them). Not every dimension applies to every product.
Work items sit below the input metrics — the specific features, experiments, and improvements that teams believe will move the inputs.
Amplitude's own reported north star metric: Weekly Learning Users (WLUs) — the number of users who experience at least one learning moment in Amplitude's product each week. Their inputs include new user activation, breadth of features used, and frequency of return visits.
The Amplitude North Star Playbook is available free from Amplitude's website and is widely used as a workshop resource for product strategy sessions.
Examples
- Amplitude's own north star: Weekly Learning Users (users who experience a learning moment in the product each week)
- Input metric decomposition for a streaming service: north star = hours streamed; inputs = % of users who started a title (breadth), avg hours per session (depth), sessions per week (frequency)
- B2B SaaS: north star = weekly active companies; inputs = activation rate (breadth), feature adoption depth, weekly active days per company (frequency)
- Marketplace: north star = successful transactions per month; inputs = buyer breadth, seller breadth, match rate (efficiency)
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