{"id":18160,"date":"2023-01-09T15:50:24","date_gmt":"2023-01-09T15:50:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whatfix.com\/blog\/?p=18160"},"modified":"2026-02-04T12:29:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T12:29:32","slug":"user-retention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatfix.com\/blog\/user-retention\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is User Retention? How to Measure & Improve It"},"content":{"rendered":"

User retention rates for digital products are notoriously low. One month after downloading a mobile app, the average retention rate<\/a> is just over 40%. By month three, it’s down to 30%<\/p>\n

User retention is a critical metric for product teams. While sales or downloads can cause temporary spikes in user activity or market fit, user retention represents how effective your user onboarding flow is and how fast users experience value.<\/p>\n

Building a product that delivers real value to new users is the recipe for retaining customers, creating loyal customers, expanding accounts, driving renewals, and earning referrals. Customer retention and account expansion are often a downstream effect of world-class experiences, from support resolution, onboarding, product education, and customer care.<\/p>\n

In this article, we’ll define customer and user retention, explain how to measure it, analyze areas of friction causing dropoffs, and provide examples of how to create better experiences and stickier products that grow your retention rates.<\/p>\n

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What are the best strategies for improving user retention?<\/h2>\n
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  1. Create a simple, guided onboarding experience<\/li>\n
  2. Use cohort analysis to understand your app\u2019s value<\/li>\n
  3. Design a simple, intuitive UI<\/li>\n
  4. Use engagement hooks in your app<\/li>\n
  5. Prompt users to return to your app<\/li>\n
  6. Gather feedback from churned and active users<\/li>\n
  7. Use product analytics to identify areas of user friction<\/li>\n
  8. Resolve technical and glaring UX issues<\/li>\n
  9. Enable users with on-demand support<\/li>\n
  10. Send regular progress reports to your users<\/li>\n
  11. Target your activated users with upsell and account expansion opportunities<\/li>\n
  12. Build product-focused communities<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n

    What Is User Retention?<\/h2>\n

    User retention is the number of users interacting with your product over a given period. User retention is often used for B2C products and services, mobile apps, and freemium apps.<\/p>\n

    You calculate user retention over a defined period that you determine. For example, you can audit your user retention rate based on a recurring monthly or quarterly schedule or choose a specific period to examine.<\/p>\n

    You can calculate user retention for your app or focus on specific features. If you\u2019re measuring user retention for your overall product, you can look at the number of logins over time. For specifics, focus on the number of users interacting with a particular feature over your timeframe.<\/p>\n

    User retention vs. customer retention<\/h3>\n

    User retention measures individual users who log into or use a product (this is a usage metric for product teams). In contrast, customer retention<\/a> measures overall accounts paying for a product (this is a financial or customer success metric).<\/p>\n

    Customer retention refers to companies’ ability to retain new customers and turn them into repeat buyers. It is often used instead of user retention for B2B products with larger, multi-year contracts.<\/p>\n

    Customer retention can indicate whether your marketing product matches your customer expectations. It can also highlight low-quality experiences and pain points customers may face in the customer lifecycle, from poor support to bad onboarding.<\/p>\n

    User retention vs. churn<\/h3>\n

    Your churn rate<\/a> shows the number of users you\u2019ve lost over a given period of time \u2014 essentially, it\u2019s the opposite of your user retention rate. This could include customers who have canceled their subscriptions (or decided not to renew) or users who have deleted your app.<\/p>\n

    A high churn rate indicates your users don\u2019t see the value in your product. High churn is also a red flag for vulnerability \u2014 it means that your product isn\u2019t meeting users\u2019 needs, which shows there is an opportunity for a competitor to creep into your customer base.<\/p>\n

    Related Resources<\/p>\n

    Importance of User Retention<\/h2>\n

    User retention is a critical aspect of any business, regardless of size or industry. It refers to the ability of a company to keep its existing users engaged and satisfied with its products or services over an extended period of time.<\/p>\n

    Acquisition is more expensive than retaining current customers due to marketing and advertising costs. Companies can reduce these costs by retaining existing customers while still generating revenue. Retained users are more likely to make repeat purchases, increasing each customer’s lifetime value. Satisfied users are also more likely to recommend your product or service to others, leading to new customers and increased revenue.<\/p>\n

    Consistently providing a positive user experience can create strong brand loyalty, leading to long-term relationships with your customers. Loyal customers are more likely to forgive minor mistakes, like a delay in delivery or a minor product issue, and continue to support your business. They may also become advocates for your brand by promoting it to others through word-of-mouth recommendations.<\/p>\n

    Retained users also provide valuable feedback on your company’s product or service. This feedback can help identify areas for improvement and refine offerings to better meet customers’ needs. Companies that listen to their users and incorporate their feedback are more likely to build products or services that better align with their customers’ needs. To support these efforts, many organizations use customer retention management platforms<\/a> to better understand user behavior, track engagement, and continuously improve the overall user experience.<\/p>\n

    Customer retention also boosts customer loyalty, which reaps the following benefits:<\/p>\n