Business Outcomes
Business outcomes are metrics that measure the health of the business and move it forward—typically financial metrics like revenue, profit, margin, market share, or customer retention.
How are business outcomes used in product discovery?
Businesses exist to create financial outcomes for their investors. Business outcomes give executives and investors language to track their progress. Common examples include:
- Grow revenue
- Grow profit
- Grow margin
- Grow market share
- Reduce operating costs
- Reduce churn/increase retention
Business outcomes are lagging indicators that product teams don't typically have direct influence over. For example, product teams can't directly control revenue. However, they can influence business outcomes indirectly through product outcomes—changes in customer behavior that ultimately contribute to business results.
Product teams need to translate business outcomes into product outcomes that are within their sphere of influence. This helps teams understand which customer behavior changes will drive the desired business results.
Learn more:
- Empower Product Teams with Product Outcomes, Not Business Outcomes
- Shifting from Outputs to Outcomes: Why It Matters and How to Get Started
Related terms:
- Product Outcomes
- Outcomes
- Lagging Indicators
- Leading Indicators
Last Updated: October 25, 2025