Too many people think of acquisition as the main lever for growth when in reality retention is king. Dan Wolchonok who leads up part of the Growth Team at HubSpot walks through how HubSpot measures growth, as well as how they work to experiment with ways to improve retention to ensure a long lasting business or product unit.

1. RETENTION EXPERIMENTS
DAN WOLCHONOK

2. ALL DATA IN THIS IS FAKE
DISCLAIMER

3. IF YOU HAVE POOR
RETENTION, NOTHING ELSE
MATTERS
BRIAN BALFOUR

4. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
BAD RETENTION

5. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
GOOD RETENTION

6. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
RETENTION’S IMPACT ON $

7. HIGHER RETENTION
HIGHER LTV
HIGHER ACQ. BUDGET

8. HIGHER RETENTION
HIGHER VIRALITY
LOWERS YOUR ACQ. ECONOMICS

9. HIGHER RETENTION
HIGHER UPGRADE RATES
LOWER PAYBACK PERIOD

10. VIRALITY, LTV,
PAYBACK PERIOD
IMPACT OF
RETENTION

11. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
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75
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RETENTION CHART

12. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
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GOOD
BAD
RETENTION GOALS

13. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
RETENTION GOALS
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THE IMPORTANT
PART IS THAT IT
FLATTENS OUT

14. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
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ANALYZING RETENTION
Week 1 Retention - Can you get
your users to use your product
more than once?

15. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
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WEEK 0 WEEK 2 WEEK 4 WEEK 6 WEEK 8 WEEK 10
ANALYZING RETENTION
Mid-term retention - Can you
establish any pattern of usage?

16. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
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WEEK 0 WEEK 2 WEEK 4 WEEK 6 WEEK 8 WEEK 10
ANALYZING RETENTION
Long-term retention - How
does your product become an
indispensable tool?

17. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
IMPROVING RETENTION
Long-term retention - How
does your product become an
indispensable tool?
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WEEK 0 WEEK 2 WEEK 4 WEEK 6 WEEK 8 WEEK 10

18. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
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IMPROVING RETENTION
New Features

19. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
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IMPROVING RETENTION
W1 Retention

20. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
IMPROVING RETENTION
Long-term retention - How
does your product become an
indispensable tool?
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25
50
75
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WEEK 0 WEEK 2 WEEK 4 WEEK 6 WEEK 8 WEEK 10
Feature Tweaks
Retention Hooks
Product Quality
Resurrection

21. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
EVERNOTE “SMILE GRAPH”
Long-term retention - How
does your product become an
indispensable tool?

22. IT’S NOT ROCKET
SCIENCE, HERE’S
AN EXAMPLE

23. HUBSPOT SALES
PLATFORM

24. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
THE PROBLEMS
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March April May

25. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
THE PROBLEMS
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March April May
PROBLEM 1: COHORT
RETENTION WORSE IN
LATER MONTHS

26. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
THE PROBLEMS
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March April May
PROBLEM 2: RETENTION
DOESN’T PLATEAU

27. WHY AREN’T
PEOPLE USING IT
AFTER 1 WEEK?

28. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1 ACTION 3 ACTIONS 5 ACTIONS 7 ACTIONS 9 ACTIONS
“Drive By” Usage in Week One
WHY WOULD USERS ONLY
TAKE A SINGLE ACTION?

29. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com

30. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
10%
10%
10%
10%
30%
30%
Didn't see Value Didn't Understand Product
Disappeared Product Failure
Another Browser Competitor
“Drive By” Reasons in Week One

31. RETENTION
EXPERIMENTS

32. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com

33. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com

34. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com

35. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com

38. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
7 Experiments Later…

39. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
7 Experiments Later…

40. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com

41. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com

42. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
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May June
WEEK 1 IMPROVEMENTS
CASCADED OVER TIME
WEEK 1 IMPROVEMENTS

43. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
THE PROBLEMS
0
25
50
75
100
WEEK 0 WEEK 2 WEEK 4 WEEK 6 WEEK 8 WEEK 10
March April May
PROBLEM 2: RETENTION
DOESN’T PLATEAU

44. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
FIGHTING LONG
TERM CHURN

45. BREAK DOWN THE FEEDBACK
BY WHETHER IT’S ACTIONABLE
Brian Balfour

46. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
QUALITATIVE RESULTS
FOR LONG TERM CHURN
Reason % Possible action Actionable?
Left Company 30%
Capture Personal Email, Recapture
Email Campaign Yes
“Stopped Working” 15% Fix Operating System / UI Issues, Bugs Yes
Cost Confusion 10% Iterate on copy within the app Yes
New Computer 10% Recapture email campaign Yes
Competitor 5% Needed a feature of a competitor No

47. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
CUT DOWN ON
NOISE, COGNITIVE
ENERGY REQUIRED
BY OUR APP
ACTIONABLE LONG TERM CHURN

48. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
RESURRECTING USERS

49. Dan Wolchonok - @danwolch - http://danwolch.com
INVESTING IN OUTLOOK

50. RETENTION TAKEAWAYS
▸ Soak time
▸ Weekly / Monthly cohorts take awhile to mature
▸ Cohort sizes
▸ You need large cohort sizes to run many experiments
▸ Retention problems sneak up on you
▸ Your top level metrics may be going up

51. RETENTION TAKEAWAYS
▸ Ownership
▸ We set up a NUX (new user experience) team that was
directly responsible for on boarding and W1 retention
▸ Alignment of goals
▸ Ensure that other teams are excited about optimizing for
growth metrics and are willing to make sacrifices to help
improve retention

52. QUESTIONS