Retention metrics are a measurement layer — they tell you what is happening, not what to do about it. Used well, they point you at the right problem before you spend time fixing the wrong one. Used badly, they become a vanity dashboard that nobody acts on.
The core retention metrics
- Customer retention rate — the percentage of customers still active at the end of a period. The simplest health number.
- Churn rate — the inverse: percentage of customers lost in a period. Useful for talking about loss, especially in financial conversations.
- Repeat-purchase rate — for one-time-purchase ecommerce: percentage of buyers who place a second order.
- Cohort retention curve — what percentage of each signup cohort is still active at 30, 60, 90, 180, 365 days. The single most useful retention view.
- Average customer tenure — average months a customer stays subscribed. Useful for LTV math.
- Net revenue retention (NRR) — for B2B: revenue retained from existing accounts including expansion and contraction. Above 100% means existing accounts are net growing.
- Gross revenue retention (GRR) — revenue retained without counting expansion. The honest churn metric.
Action vs. vanity
An "action" metric tells you what to do next. A "vanity" metric just makes you feel good or bad. Action metrics for retention:
- 30-day retention by cohort, segmented by acquisition channel.
- Cancel reason distribution.
- Save-flow conversion rate.
- Failed-payment recovery rate (a huge lever — see dunning management).
Vanity-leaning metrics: aggregate annual retention rate quoted as a single number, NPS without segment cuts, "active subscribers" without churn context.
How often to look at retention metrics
Live dashboard for the basics — retention rate, active subscribers, churn rate. Weekly review of the moving cohorts. Quarterly deep dive into the curves and cohort comparisons. Yearly board-level revenue retention numbers.