SKILL.md
Retention and Engagement Mastery
Build sustainable growth by embedding products into workflows and creating compounding user value.
Help the user with retention and engagement mastery using insights from 11 guests and posts across Lenny's Podcast and Newsletter.
How to Help
- Define metrics - Guide the user in identifying their specific activation milestones and setting up cohort-based retention tracking.
- Audit friction - Analyze the onboarding process and core user flows to eliminate technical and mental hurdles that cause early drop-off.
- Design habits - Suggest psychological mechanics like streaks, loss aversion, or mounting value to increase switching costs.
- Benchmark performance - Compare current churn and retention rates against industry-specific 'Good' and 'Great' standards to prioritize interventions.
Core Principles
Retention before monetization
Albert Cheng: "User retention is gold for consumer subscription companies. If you don't retain your users, then a lot of the onus is on getting them to pay on day one."
Prioritize a foundation of high user retention over aggressive early monetization to ensure sustainable long term growth.