Names and aliases
completion rate, confirmed-to-completed rate
Formula
completed_outcomes / confirmed_outcomes × 100%
Metric card
| Unit | % |
|---|---|
| Data source | Confirmation events, completion events, the fulfilment-window definition, and cancellation and failure logs. |
| Frequency | By confirmation cohort after the fulfilment window closes. |
| Segments | micro-market, category, fulfilment method, payment method, seller type, cohort |
Interpretation errors
- Treating the metric as the mirror image of cancellation rate: cancellation, technical failure, and expiry without completion are distinct events and need not sum to one hundred percent.
- Using created rather than confirmed interactions in the denominator.
- Closing a cohort before its fulfilment window ends, which understates recent cohorts.
Example
Illustrative example: 216 of 240 confirmed interactions complete successfully, producing a 90% rate. The numbers describe no real platform.
Use
Define the completion event and the fulfilment window before analysis and record both in the metric definition; without them, comparisons across periods and categories are invalid. Report the metric together with cancellation rate and failed transaction rate — together they account fully for what happens after confirmation, while each alone describes a single outcome. Keep open cohorts visible and never merge them with closed ones.
Anti-example
Completion rate rises after confirmation rules are tightened, because difficult interactions no longer enter the denominator. The market did not become better at honouring commitments; part of demand simply stops short of the stage the metric observes.
Limitations
- The completion event is platform-specific: payment capture, handover, service delivery, and dispute closure yield different values on identical data.
- A high completion rate says nothing about participant satisfaction and is not evidence of match quality.
- The metric observes the final leg of the journey and cannot see demand and supply that never reached confirmation.
Related metrics
cancellation-rate, failed-transaction-rate, fill-rate, qualified-response-rate
Context sources
These works provide two-sided-market context; the formula above remains an author-defined working definition.
- Jean-Charles Rochet, Jean Tirole. Platform Competition in Two-Sided Markets (2003).
- Mark Armstrong. Competition in Two-Sided Markets (2006).