Quick answer
A product engagement score (PES) is a composite 0–100 metric that averages adoption (breadth of core feature use), stickiness (how often users return, e.g. DAU/MAU) and growth (new and returning versus lost users) to summarize product usage health.
Formula: PES = (adoption + stickiness + growth) ÷ 3
What is a product engagement score?
A product engagement score (PES) combines several engagement signals into a single 0–100 number that summarizes how broadly, how often and how healthily a product is being used. The best-known version, popularized by Pendo, averages three parts: adoption, stickiness and growth.
PES = (adoption + stickiness + growth) ÷ 3The value of a composite score is trend-watching: one number to check weekly or monthly, which you then break back into its parts when it moves.
The three parts
| Part | Question | Typical calculation |
|---|---|---|
| Adoption | How much of the core product do active users use? | Average number of core features or events used per active user, as a share of the core list |
| Stickiness | How often do users come back? | DAU ÷ MAU, DAU ÷ WAU or WAU ÷ MAU, as a percentage |
| Growth | Is the active base growing or shrinking? | A user quick ratio: (new + resurrected users) ÷ dormant users, mapped to 0–100 |
Definitions differ between tools, so a PES of 40 in one product and 40 in another are not comparable. Compare a product with itself over time.
Worked example
TapCub's version, with sample numbers for one month:
Adoption. Five core events are defined (create project, invite member, build report, set alert, export). Active users use on average 2.1 of the five: 2.1 ÷ 5 × 100 = 42.
Stickiness. Daily actives average 1,800 against 10,000 monthly actives: 1,800 ÷ 10,000 × 100 = 18.
Growth. 900 new and 300 resurrected users against 800 who went dormant: quick ratio = (900 + 300) ÷ 800 = 1.5. TapCub maps a quick ratio of 0.5 or less to 0, 1.5 to 50 and 5 or more to 100, linearly in between, so growth = 50.
PES = (42 + 18 + 50) ÷ 3 = 36.7.
The following month PES drops to 33. Looking at the parts: adoption and stickiness are unchanged, growth fell to 40 because more users went dormant. The problem is retention of recent sign-ups, not depth of use.
Choosing core events
Adoption is only as good as the core list:
- Pick events that represent value, such as creating, sharing or completing something, not pageviews or logins.
- Keep the list short: 3–10 events. A long list pushes adoption down for everyone.
- Use the same list for long enough to see trends; changing it resets comparability.
Strengths and limits
Strengths: a compact health indicator, works per account in B2B, and the parts point to different fixes (onboarding for adoption, habit loops for stickiness, acquisition and retention for growth).
Limits:
- It hides trade-offs: a rise in growth can mask a fall in adoption.
- Stickiness suits daily-use products; weekly tools look bad on DAU/MAU, so use WAU/MAU.
- It does not include revenue; pair it with retention and revenue metrics.
In TapCub
All-platform analytics › Business › Product engagement shows the score by site, by platform or by account, with each part separately. You can pin up to 10 core events (otherwise TapCub infers them from industry templates or business events), choose the stickiness ratio (DAU/WAU, DAU/MAU or WAU/MAU) and exclude weekends for products that are quiet on Saturdays and Sundays. A part that cannot be computed is left empty rather than counted as zero. See DAU, WAU and MAU, activation rate and run RFM analysis.
Sources
- Pendo. Product Engagement Score (PES).
- TapCub documentation. Product engagement score.
- Hamid, M. (2015). The quick ratio as a measure of growth efficiency.
Was this explanation clear?
We use your answers to fix and expand this page.
Couldn’t send. Please try again in a minute.
Thanks for the feedback. We’ll use it to improve this page.You’ve already sent feedback on this page. Thanks.
Product Adoption Consultant
Explores customer onboarding, live conversations, and self-service, turning common usage questions into practical guidance and improvements.