Book Image

API Analytics for Product Managers

By : Deepa Goyal

Book Image

API Analytics for Product Managers

By: Deepa Goyal

Overview of this book

APIs are crucial in the modern market as they allow faster innovation. But have you ever considered your APIs as products for revenue generation? API Analytics for Product Managers takes you through the benefits of efficient researching, strategizing, marketing, and continuously measuring the effectiveness of your APIs to help grow both B2B and B2C SaaS companies. Once you've been introduced to the concept of an API as a product, this fast-paced guide will show you how to establish metrics for activation, retention, engagement, and usage of your API products, as well as metrics to measure the reach and effectiveness of documentation—an often-overlooked aspect of development. Of course, it's not all about the product—as any good product manager knows; you need to understand your customers’ needs, expectations, and satisfaction too. Once you've gathered your data, you’ll need to be able to derive actionable insights from it. This is where the book covers the advanced concepts of leading and lagging metrics, removing bias from the metric-setting process, and bringing metrics together to establish long- and short-term goals. By the end of this book, you'll be perfectly placed to apply product management methodologies to the building and scaling of revenue-generating APIs.

Preface

Who this book is for

What this book covers

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Conventions used

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Part 1:The API Landscape

Part 1:The API Landscape

The pandemic effect

Great for business

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Chapter 1: API as a Product

Chapter 1: API as a Product

Building with APIs

Software-as-a-Service

Establishing APIs as products

Business models for API products

Who builds APIs and who uses them?

Notable API products that are shaping the API landscape

Defining success for a product

Chapter 2: API Product Management

Chapter 2: API Product Management

The role of the product manager

Types of product management roles

The responsibilities of an API product manager

Chapter 3: API Life Cycle and Maturity

Chapter 3: API Life Cycle and Maturity

The API product life cycle

Chapter 4: Building and Managing API Products

Chapter 4: Building and Managing API Products

APIs in the digital value chain

Leading with the API strategy

The API development team

Managing an API as a product

The API proposal

Starting with an MVP

Building and releasing APIs in an iterative way

Building long-term and short-term roadmaps

Chapter 5: Growth for API Products

Chapter 5: Growth for API Products

Understanding what growth means for APIs

Product-led growth

Community-driven growth

Low-code and no-code integrations

Chapter 6: Support Models for API Products

Chapter 6: Support Models for API Products

The producer and consumer life cycle

Designing customer feedback loops

Customer feedback at scale

Setting customer expectations of support and SLAs

Scale-based support models

Support metrics

Part 2: Understanding the Developer

Part 2: Understanding the Developer

Walking in customers’ shoes

Meet the customers where they are

Chapter 7: Walking in the Customer’s Shoes

Chapter 7: Walking in the Customer’s Shoes

Prioritizing user research

Establishing user personas

Mapping the developer’s journey

Determining customer touch points

Identifying the points of friction and conversion

Chapter 8: Customer Expectations and Goals

Chapter 8: Customer Expectations and Goals

Conducting qualitative and quantitative research

Creating user empathy maps

Identifying customer use cases

Identifying customer pain points

Aligning stakeholders

Chapter 9: Components of API Experience

Chapter 9: Components of API Experience

Industry standards for API experience

Creating API documentation

Developer portal

Integration guides and tutorials

Providing developer tools

Instrumenting support mechanisms

Part 3: Deep Dive into Key Metrics for API Products

Part 3: Deep Dive into Key Metrics for API Products

Translating touchpoints to measurable metrics

A holistic approach to analytics

Chapter 10: Infrastructure Metrics

Chapter 10: Infrastructure Metrics

Key success factors (KSFs) for APIs

Infrastructure as the foundation for API analytics

Performance metrics

Uptime and availability

Reliability metrics

Chapter 11: API Product Metrics

Chapter 11: API Product Metrics

Defining product metrics

Chapter 12: Business Metrics

Chapter 12: Business Metrics

Defining business metrics

Measuring revenue

Adoption tracking

Optimizing for growth

Measuring operations’ efficiency

Part 4: Setting a Cohesive Analytics Strategy

Part 4: Setting a Cohesive Analytics Strategy

Short-term and long-term goal setting

Strategic roadmapping

Chapter 13: Drawing the Big Picture with Data

Chapter 13: Drawing the Big Picture with Data

Setting the data strategy

Methods for analyzing data

Interpreting data

Goal setting with data

Chapter 14: Keeping Metrics Honest

Chapter 14: Keeping Metrics Honest

Mixing qualitative and quantitative feedback

Validating your insights

Defining the right product metrics

Framework for storytelling with data

Chapter 15: Counter Metrics to Avoid Blind Spots

Chapter 15: Counter Metrics to Avoid Blind Spots

Establishing counter metrics

Avoiding gameable metrics

Avoiding cannibalizing metrics

Aligning incentives

Avoiding cognitive biases

Chapter 16: Decision-Making with Data

Chapter 16: Decision-Making with Data

Bringing it all together

Short-term goals

Long-term goals

Writing a product one-pager

Sample strategy document

Strategic storytelling

Leading the team to success

The API Analytics Cheat Sheet

The API Analytics Cheat Sheet

Index

Other Books You May Enjoy

Other Books You May Enjoy

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API as a Product

Most application programming interfaces (APIs) are sets of rules and protocols that allow different software applications to communicate with each other. They allow different software programs to interact with each other by exposing the functionality and data through a set of defined interfaces.

APIs are important because they allow different software programs to share data and functionality, which can greatly increase efficiency and reduce development time. They also allow for the integration of new technologies and services into existing systems, making it easier to add new features and capabilities.

APIs are becoming increasingly important in today’s digital economy as they allow companies to share data and services with partners and third-party developers to create new products and services. They also allow for the automation of business processes and the creation of new revenue streams.

In this chapter, you will learn how to think about APIs as products. We will cover the following topics:

Building with APIs
Software-as-a-Service
Establishing APIs as products
Types of APIs
Business models for API products
Who builds APIs and who uses them?
Notable API products that are shaping the API landscape
Defining success for a product

By the end of this chapter, you will have learned about how you can think of APIs as products, how APIs are establishing themselves as a category of products, and some of the most prominent API products.