The Customer Success and retention glossary

Churn (attrition rate)

Share of customers or revenue lost over a given period.

Customer acquisition cost (CAC)

Marketing and sales spend to win a new customer.

Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)

Total revenue a customer generates over their entire lifetime.

Gross Revenue Retention (GRR)

Revenue kept on an existing base, excluding expansion.

Logo churn vs revenue churn

Loss in number of customers (logos) versus loss in revenue.

MRR / ARR

Monthly and annual recurring revenue, the base of any subscription SaaS.

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Customer recommendation index, from promoters to detractors.

Net Revenue Retention (NRR)

Revenue kept and then grown on an existing base, expansion included.

Churn risk

Likelihood that an account will not renew, detected early.

Customer attrition

The loss of customers or revenue over a period.

Customer Health Score

A synthetic score of an account's health from several signals.

Customer sentiment

The emotional tone perceived in exchanges with a customer.

Detractor

A dissatisfied customer, likely to leave and to harm reputation.

Escalation

Raising a customer issue to a higher level of decision.

Renewal

Renewing a subscription contract at its term.

Buying signal

A behavioral clue of a purchase or expansion intent.

Cross-sell

Selling a complementary product or module to an existing customer.

Customer Success Qualified Lead (CSQL)

An expansion opportunity qualified from customer-success signals.

Expansion revenue

Additional revenue generated by existing customers.

Upsell

Moving a customer up to a higher-tier offer.

Account Manager

Owner of the commercial relationship and growth of an account.

Customer Success Manager (CSM)

Owner of the value the customer gets and of their retention.

Portfolio segmentation

Splitting accounts by value and level of follow-up.

Strategic account (key account)

A high-value account warranting close, priority follow-up.

Customer onboarding

The initial phase that brings the customer to first value.

Customer Success playbook

A standardised action scenario triggered by a typical situation.

Meeting brief

Prep note before a customer meeting: account context, recent signals, points to cover.

Meeting recap

Structured summary of a customer meeting: decisions, next steps and commitments.

Product adoption

The degree of real, regular use of the product by a customer.

Quarterly Business Review (QBR)

A quarterly review of value and goals with a customer.

Time to value (TTV)

The time between signing and the first value perceived by the customer.

Composite AI

Analysis cross-referencing several AI techniques on each account.

Meeting Intelligence

An AI layer that prepares, assists and documents customer meetings, tied to the account.

Product-led growth (PLG)

Growth driven by product usage rather than by sales.