Chapter 17: Retain Track — Keep Customers Engaged

Getting customers is hard.
Losing them is easy.

That’s why retention matters.
If validation proves demand, distribution grows awareness, and monetization turns attention into dollars—retention is how you build a durable business.

Because $10k MRR isn’t just about sales. It’s about keeping those dollars month after month. Retention makes growth sticky.

Why Retention Is Everything

Indie founders often obsess over acquisition while ignoring retention. They chase new sign-ups while current users quietly churn.

The math is brutal:

If you add 10 customers a week but lose 8, you’re barely moving.
If you keep most of what you win, even slow growth compounds into a stable base.

Retention turns spikes into plateaus and plateaus into upward curves.

How to Run a Retain Loop

TenK 6 doesn’t change—you just apply it to keeping customers.

1. List 5 — Retention Ideas

Brainstorm five ways to help users stick around:

Simplify onboarding.
Fix a frustrating bug.
Add a reminder email.
Build a small “delight” feature.
Write a quick-start guide.
Add a “what’s new” note in‑app.
Offer a 15‑minute onboarding call for new customers.

2. Pick 1 — Choose the Highest Leverage Fix

Select the one that feels most impactful this week. Criteria:

Solves a common frustration.
Helps users get to value faster.
Easy enough to ship quickly.

3. Ship 1 — Implement the Change

Don’t overbuild. Ship a small improvement:

Add a tooltip or demo video.
Send a weekly “success recap” email.
Add a nudge when users stall on step one.
Fix the bug that users complain about most.

4. Ask 3 — Talk to Real Users

Reach out to three customers:

Active users → ask what keeps them around.
Churned users → ask why they left.
New users → ask if onboarding was clear.

The best retention ideas come straight from these conversations. Script starters: “What almost made you quit?” for churned users; “What helped you succeed fastest?” for active users.

5. Measure 1 — Track Engagement

Pick one retention metric:

% of users who log in weekly.
% of trials that convert to paid.
Churn rate (cancellations).
NPS or customer satisfaction.
Time‑to‑value for new users.

Even small changes in retention create long-term impact.

Retention stories resonate because they’re rare.
Examples:

“Fixed onboarding, activation rate doubled.”
“Sent a weekly success email—4 customers re-engaged.”
“Interviewed churned users—realized pricing wasn’t the problem, setup was.”

Sharing proves you’re not just chasing hype—you’re building for durability. Retention stories help others and attract users who value staying power.

A Real Example: Indie10k Retention

When early Indie10k users signed up, some never touched the product again. At first, I thought I needed more features.

But after a few user chats, the real issue was onboarding: people didn’t understand how to start a TenK 6 loop.

Ship → Added a guided “first loop” tutorial.
Ask → Interviewed 3 users about the new flow.
Measure → Activation rate rose from ~20% to ~60%.
Share → Posted the update on Indie Hackers: “Turns out onboarding, not features, was killing momentum.”

That loop mattered more than any new feature could. It taught me to start every quarter by checking activation first.

Pitfalls to Avoid

Endless features. Adding shiny new things ≠ retention. Fixing pain points does.
Ignoring churn. If people cancel, talk to them. Silence is feedback too.
Measuring vanity. Daily active users sound nice, but revenue churn tells the real story.
Over-automation. Manual check-ins with customers can be more powerful than fancy retention systems.
Ignoring activation. If new users don’t reach value quickly, no later retention tactic will stick.

Think of one reason a user might leave your product. Ship a fix this week—email, feature tweak, or onboarding step. Ask three users what they think. Measure if engagement improves. Write one sentence about what you’ll try next.

Key Principle: Retention Compounds

Every customer you keep adds to the base for next month’s growth.
Retention isn’t glamorous, but it’s the difference between sprinting forever and building a business that lasts.

👉 With Retain covered, you now have all four tracks: Validate, Distribute, Monetize, Retain.
Together with the six core loops, they form a complete system for compounding indie momentum.

The TenK 6 Handbook