Read the original at Lenny’s Newsletter ↗lennysnewsletter.com · subscriber post
By Lenny Rachitsky · lennysnewsletter.com · @lennysan on X · YouTube · LinkedIn
Lenny explains how to measure retention using cohort charts, and why a curve that flattens signals product-market fit. He then lays out seven levers for improving retention, ranked by expected impact: improving the product, onboarding, stickiness, catching users before they leave, reminders, win-back, and changing the user mix. The post argues that the new-user experience is often the strongest lever.
Subscriber post — summary only01Key takeaways
- Use cohort retention rather than blended churn to see whether users stick around long-term.
- A retention curve that flattens over time indicates a group of users continuing to find value, a key product-market fit signal.
- Improving onboarding often moves retention more than adding features for already-retained users.
- Make the product hard to give up through habits, incentives, annual plans, and deeper workflow integration.
- Audit your acquisition mix, since low-intent paid traffic can drag retention down.
“The standard advice of listening to long-term customers who are already retained, and adding features for them— that doesn't work.”Andrew Chen · Lenny’s Newsletter
“The first principle we learned at Pinterest is that we should get people to the core product as fast as possible — but not faster.”Casey Winters · Lenny’s Newsletter
02Frameworks mentioned
Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.