What is retention rate?
The percentage of customers who continue using your product over a given time period. Measured at different intervals: Day 1, Day 7, Day 30, etc. The complement of churn rate.
Formula
Retention Rate = ((Customers at End - New Customers) / Customers at Start) × 100
Why it matters
Retention is the foundation of sustainable growth. High retention means your acquisition efforts compound. Products with strong retention can afford higher CAC because customers stick around longer.
How to improve
Find your activation metric and optimize for it. Build daily habits. Create value that increases over time. Make your product part of users' workflow. Use streaks, reminders, and ongoing content.
Related playbooks
Make a shareable year-in-review
Turn user data into a personalized story they'll want to share. Free marketing that also makes them feel understood.
Add a streak counter
People hate losing things more than they like gaining them. A streak counter turns that into a reason to come back every day.
Want to improve your retention rate?
Get experiment recommendations tailored to your specific metrics.