Winning new customers feels great. But keeping them? That's the real challenge.

Churn and Retention metrics, your early warning system for customer satisfaction and long-term success.

Think of your customer base as a bucket of water. Churn is the leak, while retention is your ability to keep the bucket full. Your goal? Plug the leaks and keep adding water faster than it's draining.

Key Metrics:

1. Customer Churn Rate

2. Revenue Churn Rate

3. Retention Rate

4. Reactivation Rate

Calculating Customer Churn Rate:

Churn Rate = (Customers lost during period / Total customers at start of period) x 100

For example, if you start the month with 1,000 customers and lose 50:

Churn Rate = (50 / 1,000) x 100 = 5%

Why Churn and Retention matter:

Imagine you're running a gym. It's not just about getting new members to sign up; it's about keeping them coming back month after month. Low churn and high retention mean stable revenue, lower acquisition costs, and often, valuable referrals.

Action Steps:

1. Implement a churn prediction model to proactively engage at-risk customers.

2. Set up exit surveys to understand why customers are leaving.

3. Create a retention strategy:

• Onboarding improvements

• Regular check-ins with customers

• Loyalty programs

• Continuous value addition

4. Track cohort retention to see how retention changes over customer lifetimes.

5. Celebrate retention milestones with your customers.

Pro Tip: Not all churn is bad. Sometimes, losing customers who aren't a good fit can actually improve your product and focus your efforts on your ideal user base.

Small course corrections, made consistently, can dramatically change your destination.

Next week: We'll dive into Adoption and Usage metrics, and how to accelerate user onboarding for faster growth.

Observe → Measure → Improve → Repeat