Lead essay · Log №0919 min
EssayStart Here: Choose Your Product Growth Job
Pick the problem on your desk, then take the one route that helps you move it.
Read the full essay →Experimenting With Growth: growth teardowns, GTM playbooks and pricing essays
Latest from the lab
98 articles · 23 calculators · 3 tools · updated weekly →124
Lab log entry
RetentionUser Retention Strategies: Choose the Next Test
Turn a worrying return curve into one hypothesis, one test, and a reason to stop.
Acquisition№123
Customer Acquisition in Financial Services: Trust First
The growth playbook for a category where the product, risk checks and first conversion are the same funnel.
122
Lab log entry
RetentionWhy Personal Finance Apps Fail at User Retention
A dashboard earns the next session only when it changes what someone does with their money.
121
Lab log entry
RetentionLoyalty Programs and Retention: What Transfers to SaaS
The research on loyalty programs is good, large, and almost entirely about retail. Here is the part that survives the move to software.
№120RetentionMarketplace Retention: Stop Measuring Both Sides as One
Every guide on this ranks tactics. None of them tell you which side of your marketplace is actually leaking.
Revenue№119
SaaS Growth Benchmarks: Match the Cohort First
A benchmark helps only after you match the metric, cohort, period, and commercial profile.
Acquisition№118
Hiring a Customer Acquisition Consultant: Costs and Traps
I sell this service, so I am going to do the thing none of the pages ranking for it will do and put a number on it.
117
Lab log entry
RetentionCustomer Retention Cost: Formula, Example, and CAC Ratio
Everyone tells you there is no benchmark for this metric. Nobody tells you why, or what to compare it against instead.
№116RetentionCustomer Retention Software: How to Pick (and When Not To)
Every roundup ranking for this term was written by a vendor that put itself at number one. This one sells nothing.
№115RevenueRevenue Optimization: The Four Levers, Ranked
Every guide on this topic hands you the same flat checklist. The levers are not equal, and most teams pull them in exactly the wrong order.
Retention№114
Customer Acquisition and Retention: How to Balance Both
Why acquisition and retention are one growth system, where they meet in LTV:CAC, and how to weight the two by stage.
113
Lab log entry
RetentionCustomer Retention Metrics: The 12 That Matter Most
A reference to the customer retention metrics worth tracking: what each measures, what good looks like for SaaS, and which one to make your north star.
112
Lab log entry
AcquisitionCustomer Acquisition Strategy: A Channel Playbook
A channel-by-channel customer acquisition playbook, with named-company proof and the metric to watch for each.
№111AcquisitionWhat Is Customer Acquisition (and What It Costs)
A plain-English definition of customer acquisition, the funnel it runs through, what it costs by industry, and how it stacks up against retention.
Retention№110
Customer Retention Strategies That Move the Number
The retention plays that actually shift the curve, with named-company proof and the metric to watch for each.
The Index
The full archive · newest first →109Retention · Retention7 min · Jun 27→108Activation · Case Study12 min · Apr 6→107Acquisition · Case Study18 min · Apr 3→106Revenue · AI11 min · Mar 30→105Revenue · Case Study8 min · Mar 28→104Revenue · Resources10 min · Mar 23→
What Is Customer Retention (and Why It Decides Growth)
Wispr Flow Growth: Activation Beats Launch Hype
How a B2B Analytics Company Became the Coolest Brand in Dev Tools
AI SDR: Buy, Pilot, or Wait?
The Trojan Horse Playbook: How Ramp Built $32B on a Loss Leader
Credits Are the New Seats (And They'll Die the Same Way)
Growth Calculators
23 calculators · A to Z →Free growth, GTM, and SaaS metric calculators with formulas and industry benchmarks. Run your numbers and see how you compare, then read the playbook behind each one.
CR
Churn Rate
How fast customers leave you
ER
Engagement Rate
How actively users interact with you
FAR
Feature Adoption Rate
Active users who actually use a feature
FREE
Freemium
Free forever, pay to unlock more
RPU
Revenue Per User (RPU)
Average dollars each user brings in
TTV
Time to Value (TTV)
Speed at which users feel payoff
UOR
User Onboarding Rate
Signups who finish onboarding
ARR
Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)
Predictable subscription revenue per year
CPP
CAC Payback Period
Months to earn back acquisition cost
DAU
Daily Active Users (DAU)
Unique people using you each day
LR
LTV:CAC Ratio
Value back per dollar of acquisition
MAU
Monthly Active Users (MAU)
Unique people using you each month
MRR
Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)
Predictable revenue you collect each month
NPS
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Would users recommend you, zero to ten
ER
Expansion Revenue
Extra money from existing customers
PQL
Product Qualified Lead (PQL)
Free user already hooked on value
LTV
Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)
Gross profit one customer brings
AR
Activation Rate
Share of new users reaching value
RR
Retention Rate
Keep the starting cohort
WT
Website Traffic
Turn monthly visitors into customers and revenue
CR
Conversion Rate
Visitors who take the action you want
CPL
Cost Per Lead (CPL)
What you pay for one new lead
CAC
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
Cost to win one new customer