Article · ~20 min read

How the Best Companies Measure and Improve Retention

Lenny Rachitsky · Lenny's Newsletter Freemium Intermediate

Concrete retention benchmarks and cohort-analysis methods gathered from dozens of top companies, so you can tell a healthy retention curve from a dying one.

  • Judge retention with cohort curves; a flattening plateau signals real value.
  • A curve decaying to zero means you don't yet have product-market fit.
  • Benchmark retention against your category, not against vanity averages.
Open on lennysnewsletter.com ↗

It answers 4 questions

  1. Why is retention more important than acquisition?
  2. How do I actually improve retention and make my product habit-forming?
  3. When should I build a referral program?
  4. How do I measure and analyze retention properly?

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