How We’re Operationalising NRR: Turning Retention Into a Revenue Engine

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Everyone says Net Revenue Retention (NRR) is a priority.
But very few treat it as a system, not just a metric.

We’ve started operationalising NRR across the business - not as a post-sales target, but as a shared accountability across Sales, CS, Product, and Marketing.

This isn’t fully done. We’re still evolving it.
But here’s the structure we’re building in real time—and what we’re learning as we go.

Why NRR Is Now a Primary GTM Metric

CAC is rising. CAC payback windows are stretching.
New business is still important but profitable SaaS in 2025 is driven by expansion, stickiness, and retention.

The truth: a 130% NRR can cover a lot of mistakes in acquisition.
But a 70% NRR will break even the best top-of-funnel machine.

So we made a decision:
NRR is no longer just a CS metric - it’s a business-level KPI.

Where We Started

Our earlier approach was typical:

• CS teams handled renewals

• Sales was focused on closing

• Product was shipping roadmap items

• Churn was reviewed monthly, but not actioned fast enough

• Expansion was reactive, not systematic

Everyone agreed NRR mattered.
But no one owned it together.

How We’re Operationalising It

[1] Expansion Starts Pre-Sale

We rewired our ICP to include accounts with high expansion potential (multi-seat, recurring workflows, PLG-fit).
Sales now qualifies for expansion signals, not just close probability.

→ We price and position to win expansion from Day 1.
→ Multi-seat accounts are now the default motion.

[2] Product Builds for Stickiness, Not Features

Our roadmap is now tied to activation and retention metrics:

• We prioritised Inbox v2 (Unified), onboarding flows, and account-level usage reporting

• Every feature we ship must tie back to revenue retention or expansion enablement

→ Features that reduce churn or unlock upsells take priority
→ Weekly activation and “time-to-first-value” metrics now drive sprints

[3] Customer Success Owns Expansion Triggers

We’re layering in better tools and playbooks for CS:

• Churn signal flags from usage patterns

• Upsell nudges based on milestone completion

• Seat expansion conversations embedded into QBRs and renewals

→ CS isn’t just defending revenue—they’re unlocking more of it
→ We treat expansion as a playbook, not luck

[4] NRR = Shared Target Across Teams

We’ve moved from siloed ownership to shared incentives:

• Sales brings in expansion-fit deals

• Product increases stickiness

• CS expands account value

• Marketing supports with use-case content and re-engagement loops

→ NRR is reviewed alongside ACV and CAC in our GTM reviews
→ It's not a lagging indicator—it’s a leading signal of business health

What We’re Still Solving For

This isn’t perfect.
There are still gaps in:

• Real-time usage data surfaced to GTM teams

• Automation around lifecycle triggers

• Reporting visibility between Product, CS, and Sales

But the direction is right.

We’re not treating NRR as “something to fix after churn.”
We’re treating it as a system that starts before the deal is even closed.

Final Words

1. NRR is too important to be owned by one team

2. Expansion needs to be designed into your pricing, onboarding, and GTM

3. Retention is a lagging outcome - stickiness is the leading indicator

4. A 130% NRR company doesn’t need to grow faster - they grow smarter

5. We’re still building the system, but the shift is already compounding

That's it for today's article! I hope you found this essay insightful.

Wishing you a productive week ahead!

I always appreciate you reading.

Thanks,
Chintankumar Maisuria