Net Revenue Retention (NRR)

Track revenue growth from existing customers through expansion and contraction to prove your product delivers increasing value over time.

Net Revenue Retention (NRR)

Net Revenue Retention (NRR)

definition

Introduction

Why it matters

How to apply it

Keep learning

Growth orchestration

Get a grip on what's actually working and what needs course correction. Use data and experiments to make decisions instead of opinions. See how changes in one part of the system affect everything else. Random tactics don't compound, coordinated ones do.

Explore playbooks

Tool selection

Tool selection

Select tools across your growth stack using clear evaluation criteria. Avoid common pitfalls, ensure integrations work, and build a system that scales with your business.

Customer research

Customer research

Uncover specific pain points, validate assumptions, and reveal what actually drives buying decisions. Run research that produces actionable insights, not just interesting quotes.

Quarterly strategy

Quarterly strategy

Run quarterly business reviews that assess current state, set ambitious but realistic goals, build actionable roadmaps, and define key results that keep everyone aligned.

Monthly review

Monthly review

Analyse monthly performance data across all four growth engines. Identify what is working, what is not, and make tactical adjustments using a structured decision framework.

Related books

Managing The Professional Service Firm

David H. Maister

Rating

Rating

Rating

Rating

Rating

Managing The Professional Service Firm

A classic on leading expert teams. Balance sales, delivery and culture with numbers that keep the firm strong.

Related chapters

1

How to choose the right metrics

Focus on metrics that drive decisions and reveal bottlenecks. Avoid vanity metrics that look good but don't help you grow.

5

How to run quarterly business reviews

Deep strategic reset with full performance analysis. Identify system-level bottlenecks, validate strategy, and set the next roadmap.

Wiki

Braindump

Clear mental clutter by transferring all thoughts, tasks, and ideas onto paper or screen, creating space for focused work.

P-value

Interpret experiment results to understand the probability that observed differences occurred by chance rather than because your changes actually work.

Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)

Set ambitious goals and measurable outcomes that cascade through your organisation, creating alignment and accountability for strategic priorities.

Net Revenue Retention (NRR)

Track revenue growth from existing customers through expansion and contraction to prove your product delivers increasing value over time.

Unit economics

Analyse profit per customer to determine if your business model works at scale before investing heavily in growth and customer acquisition.

OMTM (One Metric That Matters)

Focus your entire organisation on the single metric that best predicts success at your current growth stage, avoiding distraction and misalignment.

Growth lever

Focus resources on high-impact business mechanisms where small improvements generate disproportionate results across the entire customer journey.

Drip campaign

Send a series of scheduled emails that educate prospects over time to stay top-of-mind without overwhelming them with aggressive sales pitches.

Growth mindset

Cultivate belief that skills and results improve through deliberate effort, treating setbacks as learning opportunities rather than fixed limitations.

Minimum viable test

Design experiments that answer specific questions with minimum time and resources to maximise learning velocity without over-investing in unproven ideas.

Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)

Track predictable yearly revenue from subscriptions to measure business scale and growth trajectory in B2B SaaS and recurring revenue models.

Constraint

Identify and leverage limitations as forcing functions that drive creative problem-solving and strategic focus.

Data warehouse

Store raw data from all business systems in one place to run analyses and build reports that combine information across marketing, sales, and product.

Conversion tracking

Measure which marketing activities drive desired outcomes to allocate budget toward channels that actually generate revenue instead of vanity metrics.

Growth plateau

Diagnose and break through stagnation by identifying which business mechanisms have reached capacity and require new approaches.

Inbound Marketing

Attract prospects through valuable content that solves real problems, building trust and generating qualified leads who approach you.

Cohort analysis

Group customers by acquisition period to compare behaviour patterns and identify which acquisition channels and time periods produce the best long-term value.

Email sequence

Automate multi-touch email campaigns that adapt based on recipient behaviour to nurture leads consistently without manual follow-up from reps or marketers.

Buyer persona

Document your ideal customer's role, goals, and challenges to tailor messaging and prioritise features that solve real problems they actually pay for.

API

Enable tools to exchange data programmatically so you can build custom integrations and automate processes that vendor-built integrations don't support.