If you're an account manager, you know the drill: retention is king. Chasing new business is expensive, but keeping customers? That’s where the real money comes from. Problem is, most dashboards are a mess—too many vanity metrics, not enough real answers. This guide is for anyone tired of staring at confusing reports and just wants a clear, useful customer retention dashboard in Grow that actually helps you do your job.
Let’s break down exactly how to build a customer retention dashboard that gives you what you need (and ignores the fluff).
Step 1: Get Clear on What Actually Matters
Before you even open Grow, decide what you want to track. Don’t just dump every metric under the sun into your dashboard—clutter is the enemy. For most account managers, the goal is simple: spot when customers are at risk, see who’s thriving, and know where to focus.
Stick to these essentials: - Renewal rates: Percentage of customers who renewed vs. those who didn’t. - Churn rate: The flip side—who left, and when. - Expansion/contraction: Are customers buying more, or scaling back? - Customer health score: A simple, calculated score based on usage, support tickets, survey results, etc. - Engagement: Are they logging in? Using key features? (Don’t overthink this.) - Ticket volume/trends: Lots of support requests can be a red flag.
Pro tip: Don’t bother tracking “number of logins” or “NPS” just because they’re easy to pull. Only include what you’ll actually use to take action.
Step 2: Get Your Data Sources in Order
Grow is flexible, but it’s only as good as the data you feed it. If your data is messy or scattered, you’ll waste hours wrestling with it.
Common data sources: - CRM: Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, etc. for customer lists and renewal dates. - Product usage: Your app’s database, or tools like Mixpanel, Amplitude, or Google Analytics. - Support system: Zendesk, Intercom, Freshdesk, etc. - Billing platform: Stripe, Chargebee, or whatever you use.
What works: Direct integrations with Grow save time. If Grow doesn’t directly support your tool, you can use spreadsheets or Zapier as a workaround.
What to avoid: Don’t try to track everything in real time if your systems can’t handle it. Daily or weekly updates are usually enough.
Step 3: Connect Your Data to Grow
Now, jump into Grow and connect your data sources. Here’s how to do it without pulling your hair out:
- Head to Grow’s Data tab.
- Pick your connectors. Grow has a bunch of “native” integrations—click your tool, follow the prompts, authenticate.
- Test the connection. Make sure you’re pulling in the right data (wrong fields = garbage dashboard).
- For unsupported sources: Download your data as a CSV, Google Sheet, or Excel file. Upload or connect the sheet to Grow. It’s not glamorous, but it works.
Pro tip: Name your data sets clearly—“Active Customers Q2” beats “Sheet1_final_v3.” You’ll thank yourself later.
Step 4: Build the Metrics that Matter
This is where most dashboards go off the rails. Don’t let that happen—focus on clarity and action.
Must-have metrics:
- Renewal Rate: (Renewed Customers ÷ Total Up for Renewal) × 100
- Churn Rate: (Lost Customers ÷ Total Customers) × 100
- Customer Health Score: Build a simple formula. For example:
- +1 point for logins in last 30 days
- +1 for no support tickets in 30 days
- +1 for survey score ≥8/10
- Total out of 3—simple, but effective
- Expansion/Contraction: Show MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) changes by customer
- Support Volume: Number of tickets over time, ideally by account
How to build them in Grow: - Use Grow’s “Metric Builder.” Choose your data set, pick your visualization (bar, line, table—whatever is clearest). - Write formulas right in Grow, or prep them in your spreadsheet first if it’s easier. - Add filters for date ranges or customer segments.
What works: Keep formulas simple. If you need a data scientist to explain your dashboard, you’ve gone too far.
What doesn’t: Don’t chase “real-time” unless you really need it. It usually just slows things down and adds noise.
Step 5: Design for Clarity, Not Flash
A usable dashboard is boring—in a good way. The goal is to spot problems fast, not to impress with animated charts. Here’s how to keep things clean:
- Put the most important metrics up top. Don’t bury churn rate at the bottom.
- Use color sparingly. Red for trouble, green for good. Avoid rainbows.
- Group related metrics. Renewals and churn together; support issues in another section.
- Tables are your friend. Sometimes a table with customer names, renewal dates, and health scores is all you need.
Ignore: Fancy gauges, excessive animations, or anything that makes you squint. If your dashboard looks like a video game, you’ve gone off track.
Step 6: Share and Automate
Dashboards aren’t helpful if they just sit in Grow—get them in front of the right eyes.
- Set up scheduled emails. Grow can send dashboard snapshots to your team or execs. Weekly is usually enough.
- Embed dashboards in your CRM or intranet. Grow supports sharing via links or embeds.
- Set up alerts. Some metrics (like a health score dropping below a threshold) can trigger notifications. Don’t overdo it, or you’ll tune them out.
What works: Regular, automated reports keep everyone honest and focused.
What doesn’t: Slack notifications every time a customer logs in. That’s just noise.
Step 7: Review and Iterate—Don’t “Set and Forget”
No dashboard is perfect out of the gate. After a month, see what’s actually useful and what’s just taking up space.
- Ask your team: What do they actually look at? What’s ignored?
- Trim the fat: If nobody’s using “Average Session Length,” drop it.
- Add what’s missing: If you’re always digging into support tickets manually, make it visible.
Pro tip: Less is more. One page of actionable metrics beats ten tabs of “nice-to-have” graphs.
Summary: Keep It Simple, Keep It Useful
A solid customer retention dashboard isn’t about tracking everything—it’s about knowing what matters, spotting risk, and acting fast. Don’t get sucked into dashboard bloat or analytics FOMO. Start with the basics, check in with your team, and tweak as you go. Your goal is to spend less time staring at dashboards and more time actually keeping customers happy. That’s what moves the needle.