Wanted: “Retentioneer”
Seems like the hot new job title in Silicon Valley is “Retentioneer.”
The term is a combination of “Retention” + “Engineer” = Retentionner.”
Tech companies are finally realizing the futility of focusing on growth without fixing the leaky bucket of attrition. In short, they need to fix retention to have any chance of real growth.
Sound familiar?
With millions and millions at stake in building –and holding – large audiences for apps and other software services the tech sector is learning what many fundraisers have known for years –but few practice. Sustainable success requires fixing the leaky bucket of retention.
In a piece on Medium.com the author @retentioneer notes “retentioneers focus on making things sticky and bring users back over and over and over and over again. While growth hackers look at growth as a challenge to find new users, retentioneers look for every situation where they can keep one more user who as already visited.”
Here are the key takeaways:
- The main two questions retentioneers ask are (1) How can I increase my chances this user will become sticky? And (2) How can I reduce my churn rate?
- “Any growth team without a retentioneer is just asking for empty calories. They may growth hack their way to hordes of users who can’t wait to sign up. And then one month later it’s an empty desert.
- “Growth teams are actively realizing how important this role is, and arming them with the very best resources.
- “Retentioneers bring an entirely new discipline to growth teams. They are more important than growth hackers—because who cares how many people you can bring in if you can’t retain them.”
In a nutshell:
“A growth team without a retentioneer is just leaky bucket. So go out and hire your retentioneers today!”
Roger
P.S. Thanks to long-time Agitator subscriber Azadi Sheridan of the London fundraising and data consultancy Productle for tipping us off to both a new term and Silicon Valley’s take on the importance of retention.
Dig into the article if you want to learn more about the traits and skill-sets needed to be an effective “retentioneer”.
One response to “Wanted: “Retentioneer””
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I had a board member once ask me during a retreat – “Now just what IS this ten called donor attrition?” They just don’t understand it easily.
Perhaps simplifying the language will help us finally get thru to the decision makers who put their fundraising investment money in the wrong places.