Retention after the price change
Executive summary
Retention held at 104% through the first full quarter on the new pricing. The average hides a split: enterprise expanded, mid-market did not renew.
The price change did not cost us the book — retention closed two points below plan and seven above the approved floor. The damage is concentrated: enterprise finished at 118%, mid-market at 96%, its first quarter below par since 2024, and eleven of its fourteen non-renewals named seat pricing.
- Net revenue retention
- 104%
- Gross logo churn
- 2.1%
- Expansion ARR
- $1.42M
vs 106% plan
4-qtr avg 2.0%
up 31% on Q2
Where the quarter landed
Three quarters of the book renewed at list without an exception, and expansion revenue was the strongest we have recorded — almost all of it seat growth above 200 seats.
What moved mid-market
Customer Success ran exit interviews on all fourteen non-renewals and on nine accounts that renewed after an escalation. The pattern is consistent.
- Seat pricing punishes the shape of these teams. Mid-market accounts add occasional viewers, not daily editors. Eleven of fourteen were paying editor prices for people who log in twice a month.
- Discount expiry did most of the work. Nine of the fourteen were on legacy discounts that lapsed in the same cycle, so the felt increase was 34%, not 9%.
- Nobody left on product. Feature gaps came up in two of twenty-three conversations and were the stated reason in neither.
“We didn’t leave because it got expensive. We left because we couldn’t explain to finance what the extra money bought.” — Head of Operations · 240 seats · churned 14 Sep
The Q4 decision
Two proposals compete for the same pricing slot, and they are not compatible: both change what a mid-market account pays.
A viewer tier for 20–80 seat accounts — recommended
A read-and-comment seat at 30% of the editor price, capped at three per editor. Applied to the churned accounts it cuts invoices by a median of 22% and holds revenue on eleven of the fourteen: $310K given up against $1.1M of renewal risk. Billable by 20 November.
A second list increase in January — defer
The annual plan assumes a further 6% in January. Enterprise would absorb it; mid-market would see two increases in five months against the same lapsing discounts. The revenue is $840K; the risk is the segment.
Next steps
- Approve or reject the viewer tier
Priya RamanDecision needed by 17 October
- Model the January increase against a segmented rollout
Revenue OperationsDraft by 31 October
- Give every 20+ seat account a named renewal owner
Marcus Lai, Customer SuccessIn place by 1 November