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Why Every Data Team Needs a “Money Tree”

How this framework rallied my stakeholders behind my work

Image by Matthew Henry from Burst.
Image by Matthew Henry from Burst.

When I joined Square, my product team was tracking a ton of metrics. There was spotty understanding of how they related to each other, and not much alignment on where we should focus our efforts.

My team needed help.

I knew they needed a money tree. 🤑 🌳

What is a Money Tree?

A money tree is a simple diagram that shows how your metrics ladder up from your ‘top of funnel’ all the way to your ultimate goals (usually $$ and users).

Here’s a sample money tree.

A sample money tree. Image by Author.
A sample money tree. Image by Author.

In reality, most businesses are much more complex than this: For example, the shape of my team’s money tree is below.

My team's [redacted] money tree. Image by Author.
My team’s [redacted] money tree. Image by Author.

How is a Money Tree used?

Money trees ensure shared understanding of what’s driving your bottom line and create alignment on your biggest areas of opportunity.

Ensure shared understanding

Most ‘Data people’ have a good sense of how your many metrics ladder up to your ultimate goals. But our less data-intensive stakeholders often don’t share our understanding; they don’t live in the weeds here.

I know when I’ve thrown around statements like ‘processing churn is down’ and ‘average transaction margin is up’, most of my teammates’ eyes gloss over – without our help, they often don’t know why these things are important to them and to our bottom line. And honestly, these metrics aren’t that exciting in isolation.

How a money tree ensures shared understanding. Image by Author.
How a money tree ensures shared understanding. Image by Author.

Create alignment

Most ‘data people’ can probably think of several projects that can improve several metrics. But are you aligned with your team on which is most important? And how would you rally your team behind a growth-focused effort instead of a product feature?

Put differently: why would your product manager choose to A/B test your onboarding flow while there’s a long list of features customers are asking for?

Create alignment with your money tree. Isolate the fundamental behavioral metrics: usually acquisition, conversion, usage, retention. How do these compare to internal benchmarks, external benchmarks, and your gut?

Gain alignment by benchmarking behavioral metrics. Image by Author.
Gain alignment by benchmarking behavioral metrics. Image by Author.

Once you’re aligned on the biggest areas of opportunity, your stakeholders will actually care about putting your analysis findings & recommendations into action.

In summary

No one is going to care about your churn analysis if your retention is best in class.

Map out your metrics with a money tree, benchmark the behavioral metrics, and rejoice in your shared understanding & alignment with your stakeholders. 😌


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