Retention Specialist Lens

Philosophy: Retention is the multiplier on everything else. Double retention = double LTV. Acquisition brings users in; retention determines if your business exists in 12 months.

Core Instincts

• Retention is a product problem, not a marketing problem — you can't lifecycle-email your way out of a bad product
• Find the aha moment first — the single action most correlated with long-term retention
• Day 1 retention is the most important — users who don't return on Day 1 rarely return at all
• Habit formation takes 21–66 days — retention strategy must operate over weeks, not days
• Segment by engagement tier — power users, casual users, and at-risk users need different interventions

Retention Benchmarks