Getting new customers is exciting, but keeping them is what truly drives sustainable growth. While acquisition often gets the spotlight, retention builds long-term revenue, increases customer lifetime value, and strengthens brand loyalty. If you’re not measuring and improving your retention rate, you’re leaving major growth potential on the table.
Retention rate tells you how well you're delivering on your promises, maintaining customer satisfaction, and creating experiences that encourage loyalty. It’s one of the clearest indicators of business health, especially in competitive industries where customer expectations are high and switching costs are low.
In this article, we’ll break down exactly what customer retention rate is, how to calculate it, what influences it, and how to use it to drive smarter, faster growth. We’ll also show how platforms like Opensend make it easier to track retention behavior in real time and take action before customers slip away.
Customer retention rate measures the percentage of customers your business keeps over a given period. It’s a simple, powerful way to understand how successful you are at delivering value, maintaining engagement, and building long-term relationships.
Rather than focusing on how many new customers you can bring in, the retention rate highlights how many of your existing customers stick around — and that's where profitability often lives. Loyal customers tend to buy more frequently, spend more per purchase, refer others, and are less sensitive to price changes.
Retention rate is often viewed alongside churn rate, which measures the percentage of customers lost over a given time. If your retention rate is high, your churn rate will naturally be low, and vice versa. Both metrics give you a clear sense of customer loyalty and overall business health.
No matter what industry you're in — SaaS, e-commerce, services, or beyond — knowing and optimizing your customer retention rate is crucial. It tells you whether your business model is sustainable and whether your marketing and customer experience strategies are truly working.
Retention rate isn’t just a “nice to know” number — it’s one of the strongest predictors of sustainable, long-term growth. Businesses that prioritize keeping existing customers grow faster, spend less on acquisition, and are more resilient in competitive markets.
Here’s why retention is so powerful:
Opensend helps boost retention by identifying customers at risk of churn based on behavior, not just waiting for them to cancel or disappear. By tracking engagement patterns across devices and sessions, Opensend enables proactive, personalized re-engagement before it’s too late.
Calculating your customer retention rate is straightforward, and once you know how to do it, you can easily track it over time to spot trends and opportunities. Here’s the basic formula:
Retention Rate = ((E - N) ÷ S) × 100
Where:
Let’s say you start a six-month period with 500 customers. Over that period, you acquire 150 new customers, and by the end, you have 580 customers total.
Plugging into the formula:
Retention Rate = ((580 - 150) ÷ 500) × 100
Retention Rate = (430 ÷ 500) × 100
Retention Rate = 0.86 × 100
Retention Rate = 86%
In this example, your customer retention rate over six months is 86%, meaning you kept 86% of your original customer base during that period.
Tracking this metric consistently helps you see whether changes in your onboarding, product, support, or marketing efforts are improving loyalty over time.
Retention is the result of consistently delivering value and creating positive experiences across the full customer journey. If you want to improve your retention rate, you need to understand the factors that have the biggest impact on whether customers stay or leave.
Here are the most important drivers of retention:
First impressions matter. If customers don’t quickly understand how to get value from your product or service, they’re much more likely to disengage early. A smooth, supportive onboarding process increases the chances of long-term loyalty.
Retention hinges on whether customers continue to feel they’re getting the results they expect. Consistent delivery of promised outcomes — whether that's efficiency, cost savings, or enjoyment — keeps customers coming back.
When issues arise, fast, helpful support can turn a potential churn risk into a long-term fan. Long wait times, unhelpful responses, or poor service experiences erode trust and push customers away.
Customers are more likely to stay with brands that recognize their needs, habits, and preferences. Personalized messages, relevant product recommendations, and behavior-based outreach keep the relationship active.
Opensend strengthens retention efforts by tracking customer behavior in real time — helping you deliver personalized, timely re-engagement before customers drift away. Instead of reacting after they’re gone, Opensend helps you act while you still have their attention.
Retention rates vary widely across industries, customer types, and even business models. What’s considered "good" for one company might be disappointing for another. Understanding industry benchmarks helps you set realistic goals and gives you a framework to measure your performance over time.
Here are some general retention rate benchmarks to keep in mind:
It’s important to look beyond broad benchmarks and segment your retention rate internally. Measure it separately for different customer cohorts — by acquisition channel, product type, or subscription plan — to uncover deeper insights. A 90% retention rate for high-spend customers might be far more valuable than an 80% rate for casual buyers.
Opensend makes it easier to track retention across different customer groups by linking engagement data across sessions, devices, and channels. This allows you to refine your retention strategies for your most profitable audiences, not just your broad customer base.
Once you understand your current retention rate, the next step is taking action to improve it. Boosting retention doesn’t always require sweeping changes — often, a few strategic adjustments across onboarding, support, and engagement can have a major impact.
Here are proven ways to strengthen retention:
Customers who quickly understand how to use your product and realize its value are far more likely to stay. Invest in clear onboarding emails, walkthroughs, tutorials, or personalized onboarding calls to guide users toward early success.
Instead of waiting for customers to reach out with issues, proactively check in with them. Offer tips, highlight underused features, and provide strategic advice to ensure they’re getting the maximum value from your product or service.
If a customer shows signs of slipping away — like reduced logins, fewer purchases, or missed communications — reach out with personalized messages. Tailor your re-engagement with offers, new features, or helpful resources based on their history and behavior.
Reward repeat customers with exclusive discounts, early access to new features, or referral bonuses. Loyalty programs not only encourage repeat business but also make customers feel appreciated and recognized.
Implement short surveys, NPS (Net Promoter Score) check-ins, or feedback forms to catch dissatisfaction before it leads to churn. Act on this feedback quickly to show customers that you’re listening and committed to improving.
Opensend can trigger personalized outreach based on real-time customer behavior. Whether a user stops visiting your site, disengages from emails, or shows reduced activity across devices, Opensend enables you to automatically launch targeted re-engagement efforts, helping you save customers before they drift away.
Improving retention requires a deliberate focus on the entire customer journey — from onboarding to support to re-engagement. It’s about consistently delivering value, anticipating customer needs, and reacting quickly when behavior signals a risk of churn.
Opensend makes it easier to track, improve, and capitalize on your retention efforts. With real-time behavioral insights and personalized engagement triggers, Opensend helps you connect with customers at the right moments — before they leave, not after.
Ready to turn stronger retention into faster growth? Start your free trial or book a demo with Opensend today and see how smarter retention strategies drive real results.
Sources:
Customer retention rate + formula: A guide for 2025 | Zendesk
Average Customer Retention Rate by Industry (And Advice for Boosting Retention) | Vena Solutions
Customer retention: Metrics, strategies, and examples | Zendesk
The customer journey — definition, stages, and benefits | Adobe for Business
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