Here's an experimental podcast episode, created entirely by Google's NotebookLM. When I was starting out, this playbook from Amplitude was the most helpful resource that I found, studied and applied as cleanly as possible. It's a comprehensive guide to mastering user retention, which is crucial for achieving sustainable product growth.

The playbook emphasises that retaining existing users is as important as acquiring new ones, and that focusing on retention impacts all critical business metrics. The central theme is the Retention Lifecycle Framework, which categorises users into four stages: New Users, Current Users, Resurrected Users, and Dormant Users. This framework facilitates tailored retention strategies for each user group, focusing on shifting the retention curve up by improving the new user experience and flattening the curve by nurturing long-term user engagement. The playbook outlines specific steps for analysing user behaviour in each stage, including identifying behavioral personas, and using various product analysis tools like cohort analysis, funnel analysis, stickiness analysis, and session metrics, to gain insights into user actions and drivers of retention. It emphasises the importance of experimentation and iterative improvements, providing practical examples and recommendations for implementing strategies to enhance user retention throughout the lifecycle. The playbook concludes by highlighting the importance of setting concrete retention goals, monitoring key metrics, and prioritising experiments for continuous growth.