Glossary: Customer Retention

Every key term from the course, in plain English. When a lesson says a word you don't know, it lives here.

The Onboarding Window

The first seven days after a customer buys — the highest-attention, highest-churn-risk moment in the relationship. What happens here predicts whether they stay.

The 30/60/90 Ladder

Three win-back emails at 30, 60, and 90 days of dormancy, escalating from a plain nudge to a useful reason to a real offer. Cheap rungs first, expensive incentive last.

The Save Play

A personal, last-ditch offer made when a customer is about to leave — a real concession delivered by a human at the cancellation moment.

Churn rate

The percentage of customers you lose in a given period. If 200 customers start the month and 180 are still buying at the end, monthly churn is 10%.

Retention rate

The percentage of customers you keep in a period — 100% minus the churn rate. The single number that tells you whether the back door is open.

Customer lifetime value

The total a customer is worth across your whole relationship: average order value × purchases per year × years they stay. Every retention decision is a bet against this number.

Dormant customer

Someone who bought before and has gone quiet past your normal buying cycle. Paused, not gone — and the cheapest revenue you will ever find.

First win

The smallest real result your product delivers — the moment a new customer feels the purchase was worth it. Onboarding exists to reach it fast.

Welcome sequence

Three to five emails sent across the Onboarding Window, each with one job: first action, unstick, proof, human check-in.

Win-back campaign

Emails sent to dormant customers to bring them back — best run as the 30/60/90 Ladder rather than a single blast.

Win moment

A point of peak customer satisfaction — the delivery, the solved problem, the compliment. The only moment to ask for a referral or a review.

Referral offer

A two-sided incentive: what the referrer gets and what the friend gets, explainable in one sentence. Automation handles the mechanics; a human handles the ask.

Retention flywheel

The cycle where retention creates happy customers, happy customers refer at win moments, and referrals arrive pre-sold into your onboarding — making each turn cheaper than the last.

Onboarding score

The share of new customers who reach the first win within seven days. It predicts your retention rate better than almost anything else.