In the world of design, where creativity meets business, metrics are the bridge that links design efforts to tangible outcomes. Designers must move beyond aesthetics and usability, measuring the value they bring to the business.
Design and DesignOps metrics are a complex and key topic. While there are countless resources on design KPIs, product metrics, design thinking impact, and data-driven design approaches, many design leaders struggle to effectively demonstrate their team’s impact on business outcomes.
The effectiveness of any metrics system ultimately depends on how design is positioned within an organisation. Design can either drive innovation as a strategic discipline or function as a mere execution arm delivering screens and pixels. Numerous studies, including McKinsey’s report and Maeda’s Design in tech Reports, have shown a clear correlation between business performance and design maturity.
This positioning both influences and is influenced by the metrics used and the narrative they create. That’s why a systemic approach to metrics is essential: one that links design performance to business outcomes with intermediate measurements that highlight impact.
Leading design organisations like Spotify, Miro, Figma, the D-Thinking academy, and Superside show that true effectiveness isn’t just about speed or flawless execution — it’s about creating experiences that drive lasting competitive advantage and scale impact.
This article builds a compelling case for design’s strategic role in driving business impact, showing how a strong DesignOps strategy goes beyond outputs to demonstrate real business value.
Identifying the driving model
To effectively connect design efforts to business objectives, it’s key to adopt a model that categorises metrics and highlights the relationships between effort, actions, results, and impact. The input/output/outcome model provides a valuable framework for this purpose.
Originally developed by Wassily Leontiev in the late 1930s, this model has since been widely applied across various fields, including Government evaluations, to explaining product marketing performances, and in project management.
The model defines three types of metrics: input, output, and outcome. Each of these plays a unique role in demonstrating how design impacts the business and optimising user experience.
A business Metrics Taxonomy
1. Outcome metrics: measuring strategic impact
Outcome metrics focus on the ultimate results or impacts of a program, activity, or process. They are typically linked to long-term business success, capturing the value delivered by an initiative. These high-level indicators are typically owned by C-executives and are intrinsically linked to financial performance.
Focus: Long-term business successCharacteristics: Aligned with revenue, retention, and growthExamples: Revenue growth, customer retention, market share expansion
Impact: Outcome metrics provide a high-level view of whether the initiatives undertaken by a business are moving the needle in terms of financial or strategic goals.
These metrics demonstrate the strategic value of design to the business. For instance, a 10% increase in customer lifetime value linked to UX enhancements showcases design’s strategic role in profitability and customer loyalty.
2. Output metrics: the experience ecosystem
Output metrics measure the more immediate results that are delivered by an activity. They are specifically focused on how well certain touchpoints or elements of an experience perform and they are divided into three categories to provide a comprehensive view of user experience:
Experience Driver metrics (Owned by Marketing/Product): Track foundational elements like brand sentiment, feature adoption and user engagement rates that shape user perception and drive users to experience the product.Experience Performance metrics (Owned by Design/Product): Measure E2E user joirney experience quality with indicators like task success rates and Net Promoter Score (NPS), Product Recommendation Score (PRS), or Customer Effort Score (CES).Experience Touchpoint metrics (Owned by Design): Offer insights into specific interaction points, such as click-through rates on CTAs, feature specific error rates, or conversion rates at decision points.
Impact: By evaluating the driving factors, performance, and touchpoints, businesses can assess where their design and user experience strategies are succeeding and where improvements are necessary.
For example, a higher task completion rate in the checkout process could lead to increased sales conversions, directly impacting business outcomes.
These metrics are especially important for tracking short-term design outcomes and ensuring they are aligned with longer-term business goals.
3. Input metrics: building an operational foundation
Input metrics track the resources, time, and effort invested in the design process. Managed by designOps, these metrics help optimise productivity and process efficiency.
Input metrics can be divided into 2 groups:
Quantitative Input metrics: Measurable aspects of the design process like design cycle time, number of design iterations, resource utilisation, and Design System’s component reuse rates.Qualitative Input metrics: Qualitative input metrics focus on the descriptive aspects of the design process. They capture information about the quality of design work, such as team satisfaction, quality of research insights, efficiency of cross-functional collaboration, and adherence to design principles.
Impact: Input metrics improve the design process itself and are key for ensuring that design efforts are well-directed and resource-efficient. Quantitative data helps teams track their productivity, while qualitative data ensures that the design process is delivering high-quality insights and outputs.
For example, dedicating more time to user research can lead to a design that’s 30% more intuitive, enhancing both user satisfaction and conversion rates. Input metrics lay the groundwork for impactful output and outcome metrics.
Design metrics practice: a path from Inputs to Outcomes
Let’s consider the journey of a team redesigning a mobile banking app’s money transfer feature:
Input to Output:
A team increases their user research time (quantitative input) from 2 to 4 weeks to increase the number of exploratory sessions and quality and confidence of insights (qualitative input).
This leads to a redesigned product page (touchpoint — output) with a 30% higher click-through rate on key features (performance — output).
Output to Outcome:
The improved product page (output) results in a 15% increase in product adoption (experience driver). This, in turn, contributes to a 5% growth in overall revenue (outcome).
By investing in exploratory approaches (input), the design team creates a more cohesive user journey (performance output), leading to a 20% increase in customer satisfaction scores (driver metrics) and ultimately a 10% boost in customer retention (outcome).
Aligning these three levels of metrics — Outcome, Output, and Input — creates a clear line of sight from design efforts to business results. By optimising both quantitative and qualitative inputs, teams can ensure they are driving effective outputs (experience performance, touchpoint success), which in turn lead to positive business outcomes.
This alignment helps businesses make informed decisions at every stage of a project, from resource allocation to assessing long-term success.
Implementing this three-tiered approach to design metrics creates a powerful narrative that connects operational efficiency to user experience quality and, ultimately, to business success.
Conclusion
Incorporating a well-structured metrics taxonomy into the design and evaluation process allows organisations to link their design efforts to tangible business outcomes. By focusing on the right input, output, and outcome metrics, companies can ensure their projects not only deliver an exceptional user experience but also contribute to broader business success.
As the importance of user-centered design continues to grow, having a clear understanding of how to measure and optimize these metrics is key to staying competitive and delivering value to both users and stakeholders.
The design metric evolution: from inputs to outcomes was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
