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Also known as: customer retention, user retention

Retention Rate

ConceptualMetricsProduct

Definition

Retention Rate: Retention rate measures the percentage of customers who continue using a product over time. It can be measured at various intervals (daily, weekly, monthly) and cohorts. High retention indicates product-market fit and is essential for sustainable growth.

Example Usage

“Our 30-day retention improved from 25% to 45% after we added personalized onboarding.”

Common Misconceptions

Acquisition matters more than retention. Retention compounds while acquisition requires constant spend.
Retention is binary. Engagement depth and frequency matter, not just whether users return.
High retention means no churn. You can have both high retention in active users and meaningful churn.

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