Your platform has 1,000 registered partners. Leadership is thrilled. "Our ecosystem is growing!"
But 800 of those partners are inactive. Of the 200 active ones, only 20 drive real customer value.
You're measuring vanity metrics, not ecosystem health.
The Partner Count Trap
What gets announced: "We crossed 10,000 partners!"
What gets hidden: 90% haven't had an active integration in 90 days.
Salesforce AppExchange insight from 2023 Partner Summit:
- Total apps listed: 7,000+
- Apps with 100+ installations: 450 (~6%)
- Apps driving 80% of customer value: ~150 (~2%)
The metric that matters: Not how many partners you have. How many are creating customer value.
AWS's Partner Network Health Framework
AWS tracks ecosystem health across four dimensions:
1. Partner Activity
- Active integrations (not just registered)
- API calls in last 30 days
- Customer deployments
- Revenue generated through platform
2. Partner Growth
- New partners added (with activation threshold)
- Partner tier progression
- Revenue growth per partner
- Customer acquisition by partners
3. Customer Impact
- Customers using partner solutions
- Average partners per customer
- Customer retention with vs. without partners
- NPS impact of partner ecosystem
4. Ecosystem Diversity
- Vertical coverage
- Use case breadth
- Geographic distribution
- Solution overlap/gaps
The dashboard: One number per dimension. Red/yellow/green. Weekly review.
Active vs. Registered: The Critical Split
Don't conflate registration with activity.
HubSpot's partner activation metrics:
Registered partners: Created account, got API keys
Activated partners: Made 1,000+ API calls in last 30 days
Engaged partners: Have 10+ active customer integrations
Strategic partners: Drive measurable customer outcomes
The funnel (HubSpot's 2024 data):
- 100% registered
- 35% activated
- 12% engaged
- 3% strategic
Track movement through this funnel, not just top-of-funnel registrations.
Customer-Centric Ecosystem Metrics
Platform health is ultimately customer health.
Shopify's merchant ecosystem metrics:
Apps per merchant:
- Average: 6 apps installed
- Power users: 15+ apps
- New merchants: 2-3 apps in first 30 days
Merchant success correlation:
- Merchants with 5+ apps: 3.2x higher GMV
- Merchants using platform integrations: 2.8x retention rate
- App-enabled workflows: 40% time savings
The insight: Ecosystem value shows up in customer metrics.
Track: Percentage of customers using partner solutions. Target: 70%+.
Partner Quality Score
Not all active partners deliver equal value.
Stripe's partner quality framework:
Technical quality (40%):
- Integration reliability (uptime, error rates)
- Code quality (security reviews, best practices)
- API usage efficiency
- Update frequency
Customer satisfaction (40%):
- User ratings and reviews
- Support responsiveness
- Churn rate of customers using integration
- NPS specific to partner solution
Business value (20%):
- Revenue impact
- Customer acquisition
- Expansion influence
- Strategic alignment
Score: 0-100. Partners below 60 get improvement plans. Below 40 get delisted.
Ecosystem Concentration Risk
If top 10 partners drive 90% of value, you don't have an ecosystem. You have dependencies.
AWS Partner Network concentration metrics:
Healthy concentration:
- Top 10 partners: 30-40% of ecosystem value
- Top 50 partners: 60-70% of value
- Long tail: 30-40% of value
Unhealthy concentration:
- Top 10 partners: 70%+ of value
- Partner loss = major platform risk
- Limited customer choice
Monitor monthly. If concentration increases, prioritize partner recruitment in gaps.
Time-Based Health Indicators
Ecosystem momentum matters.
Twilio's velocity metrics:
Partner activation velocity:
- Time from registration to first API call
- Benchmark: <7 days
- Reality check: If 30+ days, onboarding is broken
Integration deployment velocity:
- Time from test to production
- Benchmark: <30 days
- Reality check: If 90+ days, too much friction
Partner growth velocity:
- Month-over-month growth in partner-driven revenue
- Benchmark: 5%+ monthly growth
- Reality check: Flat = ecosystem stagnation
Customer adoption velocity:
- Speed of partner solution spreading to customer base
- Benchmark: 10%+ adoption in first 60 days post-launch
- Reality check: <5% = poor solution-market fit
Ecosystem Churn Metrics
Partners leave. Track why and how fast.
Salesforce's partner churn framework:
Voluntary churn: Partners who leave platform
Involuntary churn: Partners delisted for violations
Dormancy churn: Partners who go inactive (no API calls 90 days)
Benchmark (from Salesforce 2024 Partner Report):
- Healthy ecosystem: <10% annual partner churn
- Warning signs: 15%+ churn
- Crisis: 25%+ churn
Exit interviews: When strategic partners leave, understand why. Common reasons:
- Platform limitations
- Better competitive platform
- Business model change
- Acquisition/pivot
Partner ROI Metrics
Partners invest time/money in your platform. Are they getting ROI?
Shopify App Partner economics:
Investment to build:
- Average dev time: 200-400 hours
- Opportunity cost: $20K-40K
Revenue timeline:
- Month 1-3: $0-500 (beta testing)
- Month 4-6: $1K-3K (initial traction)
- Month 7-12: $5K-15K (growth phase)
- Year 2+: $20K-100K+ (if successful)
The metric: Time to positive ROI. Shopify tracks this. Target: <12 months for 60% of partners.
If partners aren't making money, they'll leave.
Ecosystem Coverage Metrics
Do you have the integrations customers need?
HubSpot's ecosystem gap analysis:
Coverage by use case:
- Email marketing: 47 apps
- Analytics: 31 apps
- Sales automation: 68 apps
- Customer support: 23 apps ← Gap identified
Coverage by vertical:
- SaaS: Strong
- E-commerce: Strong
- Healthcare: Weak ← Recruitment priority
- Financial services: Weak ← Recruitment priority
Customer request tracking:
- "I wish you integrated with X": Log every request
- Most requested missing integrations: Prioritize recruitment
- Requests for existing integrations: Measure discoverability gap
Developer Engagement Metrics
For API platforms, developer activity predicts health.
Stripe's developer engagement dashboard:
API health:
- Daily active integrations
- Average API calls per integration
- Error rate trends
- New endpoint adoption
Documentation engagement:
- Docs page views
- Search queries
- Feedback ratings
- Time-to-first-success
Community activity:
- Stack Overflow questions
- Discord activity
- GitHub issues/PRs
- Office hours attendance
Leading indicator: Docs engagement predicts integration 30 days later.
Ecosystem Revenue Metrics
Platform success = partner revenue success.
AWS Marketplace metrics:
Partner revenue:
- Total marketplace GMV
- Revenue per active partner
- Growth rate month-over-month
- Average deal size
Platform economics:
- Platform take rate
- CAC for partner-acquired customers
- LTV of partner-enabled customers
- Expansion revenue through ecosystem
The target: Partner ecosystem should grow faster than direct sales.
AWS 2024 data: Marketplace growing 30%+ YoY vs. 15% for direct sales.
Monthly Ecosystem Health Scorecard
Compile into single scorecard:
Growth (30%):
- New active partners (not just registered)
- Partner tier progression
- Customer adoption of partner solutions
Quality (30%):
- Average partner quality score
- Customer satisfaction with ecosystem
- Integration reliability metrics
Engagement (25%):
- API activity trends
- Developer community growth
- Time-to-value improvements
Business Impact (15%):
- Revenue through partners
- Customer retention lift
- Support deflection from partners
Score each dimension 0-100. Overall health = weighted average.
Salesforce target: 80+ overall score = healthy ecosystem.
Red Flags to Watch
These signal ecosystem problems:
Declining metrics:
- Active partners down 2+ months in a row
- API call volume trending down
- Partner churn >15% annually
Concentration risk:
- Top 10 partners >50% of value
- Single partner >15% of ecosystem
Quality issues:
- Average partner rating <4.0/5.0
- Customer complaints about partners rising
- Security incidents from partners
Stagnation:
- Same top partners for 12+ months
- No new use cases emerging
- Customer adoption rate flat
Measuring What Matters
Ecosystem health isn't about partner count.
It's about:
- Active, engaged partners creating value
- Customers successfully using partner solutions
- Partners building profitable businesses on your platform
- Continuous innovation in your ecosystem
- Diversified, resilient partner network
The weekly question: "Is our ecosystem more valuable to customers this week than last week?"
If yes, you're healthy. If no, find out why.
Track metrics that answer that question.