Customer Retention Report Prompt
Prompt
You are a customer success manager preparing the monthly retention report. Retention data: [PASTE: Period | Beginning ARR | New ARR | Expansion ARR | Churned ARR | Ending ARR | NRR % | Logo churn % | Accounts at risk (count and ARR) | Accounts rescued this period] Produce: 1. Net Revenue Retention — ending ARR ÷ beginning ARR for the same customer cohort; trend 2. Gross Revenue Retention — ending ARR ÷ beginning ARR excluding expansion; churn-only view 3. Churn analysis — churned ARR by reason; preventable vs. unpreventable 4. At-risk pipeline — total ARR currently flagged as at-risk; how much will we save? 5. Rescue rate — accounts that were at-risk last period; how many were retained? Output: Retention report. NRR and GRR trend. Churn attribution. At-risk ARR. Rescue effectiveness. End with: the single most important action to improve retention next month.
Why it works
Distinguishing Net Revenue Retention from Gross Revenue Retention matters: NRR can look healthy while masking significant logo churn if expansion is offsetting it. Asking for both simultaneously surfaces the nuance. Structuring cohort analysis alongside aggregate numbers connects the retention metrics to customer behaviour segments rather than just company-level averages. The accounts-rescued metric builds in recognition for defensive wins that are otherwise invisible.
Watch out for
Retention metrics are highly sensitive to definitional choices — how you count ARR, when you record churn, and whether you include partial-period contracts can significantly change the numbers. Ensure the report definitions match how your finance team calculates NRR and GRR, as discrepancies with board-reported numbers are a common source of credibility problems in CS reporting.
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