Company
Date Published
Author
-
Word count
928
Language
English
Hacker News points
None

Summary

Determining a good retention rate is a complex task as it varies significantly across different products, industries, and strategies, making comparisons to similar entities more relevant than adhering to a universal standard. Retention rates, defined as the percentage of customers who continue to engage with a company over time, depend on how a business defines actions taken by users and the period over which these actions are measured. Calculating retention involves identifying meaningful user actions, establishing a time frame, and deciding the number of actions that signify retention, with analytics platforms often aiding in these computations. Benchmarking retention can be done internally over time to identify trends or against industry standards, though data from competitors is rarely accessible, so reports like Mixpanel’s can provide useful insights. For example, an eight-week retention rate over 25 percent is elite for media or finance products, while SaaS and e-commerce industries consider over 35 percent as exceptional. Ultimately, product teams should contextualize these benchmarks within their business realities to define what constitutes a good retention rate for them.