Have you ever found yourself wondering if you’re tracking the right metrics to truly understand your customers? You’re not alone. Your metrics are like a compass that point you towards the right direction. Working with a broken compass can throw your customer success team and strategy off course.

That’s why to ensure long-term customer satisfaction and retention in the new year, we’ve outlined some of the top metrics you should monitor. These key performance indicators (KPIs) will help every customer success leader gain clarity, and make impactful decisions that’ll lead to long-term business growth.

11 Customer Success Metrics to Monitor

Now for any KPI to truly matter, it has to be tied to a broader business goal. So in no particular order, here are the metrics or key performance indicators you should constantly review in 2025;

1. Customer Usage Adoption

This particular metric measures how well customers are integrating your product into their daily workflows. High usage adoption means customers find your product valuable and are engaging with it consistently.

When customers fully embrace your product and integrate it into their daily routines, it’s a clear sign they find value in what you offer. Why it matters is because usage adoption serves as a foundation for long-term engagement and retention.

With this metric, you can identify underutilised features and provide targeted training or resources to drive adoption there. This way, your customers can discover valuable tools and functionalities they wouldn’t discover themselves.

How to Measure

• Feature Adoption Rate: Percentage of customers actively using specific features.
• Daily/Monthly Active Users (DAU/MAU): Ratio of daily active users to monthly active users.
• Time Spent Using the Product: Average duration of product usage per session.

2. Customer Activation Rate

Quite similar to usage adoption, your customer activation rate tracks the percentage of customers who reach their first meaningful interaction or success milestone with your product. This often signifies successful onboarding and time-to-value.

Now activation is that specific moment when a customer first experiences the value of your product. So when there’s a seamless activation process, it’s easier to then drive deeper engagement with your customers.

Plus with the knowledge you get from tracking this, you can improve your onboarding process to remove unnecessary barriers and offer personalised walk-throughs to speed up time to value.

How to Measure

• Percentage of Customers Completing Onboarding: Track the number of users who complete onboarding tasks.
• Time to First Value: The average time it takes for a customer to achieve their first success or milestone.

3. Customer Retention Rate

Perhaps one of the biggest metrics for customer success is retention. And this is because it indicates the percentage of customers who continue using your product or service over a specific period. This metric reflects customer satisfaction and loyalty.

And since retaining old customers is 5-7 times more cost-effective than acquiring new ones, retention is a great way to see the trust and value your customers place in your offering.

With the insights you get tracking this metric, you can build loyalty by offering rewards or exclusive content to your long-term customers. For the users at-risk, you can regularly engage them and address any concerns they might have early on.

How to Measure

• Retention Rate: (Number of customers at the end of the period – New customers acquired) / Number of customers at the start of the period.
• Cohort Retention Analysis: Track how well specific groups of customers are sticking around over time.

4. Net Promoter Score (NPS)

This is another type of retention metric because it gauges customer loyalty. But, it does this by asking how likely they are to recommend your product to others, on a scale of 0-10. Scores are categorised into detractors (0-6), passives (7-8), and promoters (9-10).

While a high NPS isn’t the best way to measure customer success, it gives you a quick snapshot of how your customers feel about your product and whether they’d recommend it to others. So you can reach out to the detractors to learn and address their pain points. Then, engage the promoters by encouraging testimonials or referrals to acquire new customers.

How to Measure

• Run NPS surveys that ask: “On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend our product to a friend or colleague?”

5. Churn Rate

Churn rate is simply the percentage of customers who stop using your product or service during a given time frame. As you might already predict, a high churn suggests dissatisfaction or unmet needs.

Now churn can feel like a gut punch, but it’s also a golden opportunity to learn. Because by understanding why customers leave, you can make targeted improvements to keep others from following suit.

For example, you can use exit surveys to discover patterns and address root cause issues. You can also offer renewal incentives to customers who are already showing signs of disengagement.

How to Measure

• Churn Rate: (Number of customers lost during a period) / Total number of customers at the start of the period.
• Revenue Churn: Percentage of recurring revenue lost over a given timeframe.

6. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

This metric predicts the total revenue a business can expect from a single customer throughout their relationship. It helps evaluate the average customer’s profitability. Understanding the long-term value of a customer helps you make smarter investments in acquisition and retention strategies.

For example, you can focus on upselling and cross-selling to increase the average purchase value from each customer. There’s also the option of strengthening relationships through consistent engagement to extend the customer’s lifespan especially when the CLV is high.

How to Measure

• CLV Formula: Average purchase value × Purchase frequency × Customer lifespan.

7. Customer Health Score

Think of the Customer Health Score as your early warning system. It combines various indicators to give you a real-time sense of how your customers are doing. These indicators like product usage, feedback, and support interactions determine your customer’s overall satisfaction and their likelihood to stay engaged.

Now with this, you can use predictive analytics to anticipate potential churn and take preventative action. You can also prioritise your outreach to customers whose health scores are declining.

How to Measure

• Aggregate key goals or metrics like product usage, support interactions, payment history and feedback scores into a unified score.

8. Revenue Growth from Existing Customers

This measures how much additional revenue is generated from current customers through upselling, cross-selling, or renewals. Your existing customers are your most valuable asset.  So you need to track their contribution to your revenue growth. Plus it highlights the impact of your efforts across these areas.

With this information, you can hold regular account reviews to uncover new growth opportunities. You can also introduce tiered pricing plans or product/service upsells that incentivise customers to upgrade.

How to Measure

• Expansion Revenue: Revenue from upgrades, add-ons, or cross-sells.
• Renewal Rate: Percentage of customers renewing their subscriptions.

9. Support Ticket Resolution Time

Quickly resolving issues shows your customers you’re invested in their success. It also helps to build trust and reduces friction in the relationship. So this metric tracks how quickly customer support resolves inquiries or issues. We often recommend automating responses for common queries to speed up resolution. Plus, you get enough time to prioritise urgent or high-impact tickets.

How to Measure

• Average Resolution Time: Total time taken to resolve all tickets / Total number of tickets.
• First Response Time: Time taken to provide the initial response to a ticket.

10. Customer Feedback Score

This usually captures customer satisfaction levels through direct feedback, often collected via surveys, ratings, or open-ended comments. Customer feedback is a great place to get a lot of insights because listening to what your customers have to say helps you continuously improve.

You should categorise this feedback to easily spot trends and recurring themes. We also recommend sharing actionable insights with your team so these changes can be implemented quickly.

How to Measure

• Use surveys, star ratings, or open-ended feedback forms to collect input from customers.

11. Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)

MRR represents the predictable revenue a business generates every month from subscription-based customers. It’s an important metric for understanding your company’s financial health, measuring growth, and forecasting future revenue.

So a steady or increasing MRR indicates strong customer acquisition, retention, and expansion strategies, while a decreasing MRR signals potential churn.

To increase your MRR, we recommend targeting high-value customer segments. ****You can also offer compelling upsell opportunities like premium features or add-ons that align with customer needs.

How to Measure

• MRR=Number of Active Customers × Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)
• New MRR: Revenue from new customers acquired during the month.
• Expansion MRR: Additional revenue from upgrades, add-ons, or cross-sells.
• Churned MRR: Revenue lost from customers who downgraded or canceled their subscriptions.

What is the Most Important KPI or Metric for Customer Success?

The most important KPI for customer success often depends on your specific goals, company stage, and business model, but one metric consistently stands out: Customer Retention Rate (CRR).

This is because retention reflects customer satisfaction, loyalty, and the value customers see in your product. It directly ties to the core mission of customer success which is helping customers achieve their desired outcomes.

Retaining customers is also more cost-effective than acquiring new ones. High retention ensures a steady revenue stream and supports long-term growth. Finally, retention trends can indicate potential churn risks and highlight areas needing improvement, such as onboarding, support, or product features.

Wrapping Up

Tracking these KPIs isn’t just about crunching numbers - it’s about understanding your customers’ stories and finding ways to help them succeed. Metrics like usage adoption, activation, and retention are starting points for creating meaningful relationships and driving growth.

So take it one step at a time. Set realistic benchmarks and focus on making incremental improvements. Need more help with your customer success goals in the new year? Book a free session with Tim our Co-Founder