Signups
The top of the funnel — a denominator for every rate below it, and a vanity number on its own.
What is it?
Signups is the raw count of new accounts created in a period — the very top of your funnel. It captures intent to try, before any qualification, activation or payment.
On its own it is a vanity metric: a spike in signups means nothing if none of them activate or convert. Its real value is as a denominator — every downstream rate, from activation to trial-to-paid, is measured against it.
How to calculate?
Count the account-created events in the period. The only real decisions are what counts as a signup — a verified email, a completed profile, or simply a created record — and how you deduplicate, so one person creating two accounts does not inflate the number.
Always pair signups with the rates below them. Rising signups alongside falling activation usually means you are buying lower-intent traffic, not growing.