Simple definitions for overcomplicated terms.
Definition
What is Logo Retention? Definition & Formula
Dec 18, 2025
The Short Answer
Logo retention (also known as Customer Retention or Logo Churn) is a metric that measures the percentage of customers who remain subscribed to your service over a specific period. It focuses purely on the count of customers, regardless of how much money they spend.
Unlike revenue retention, which tracks dollars, logo retention tracks relationships. It answers the simple question: "Are they still here?"
In Plain English: The Dinner Party Analogy
Finance terms can be dry, so let’s put this in terms of a dinner party.
Imagine you invited 10 friends to dinner. By the time dessert is served, 2 friends have left early.
Logo Retention cares that 8 out of 10 people stayed. Your retention rate is 80%.
Net Revenue Retention cares about how much food they ate. If the 2 who left were on a diet, but the remaining 8 ate double portions, your revenue retention might actually be up, even though you lost guests.
Logo retention tells you if your party is actually fun enough to keep people in their seats.
The Formula (No PhD Required)
You don’t need a complex spreadsheet to figure this out. Here is the standard formula for calculating logo retention rate:
(Ending Customer Count / Beginning Customer Count) x 100 = Logo Retention Rate %
Note: Do not include new customers acquired during this period. Only count the ones you started with.
Logo Retention vs. Net Retention
These two metrics are often confused, but they serve different purposes. Here is the breakdown:
Metric | What it Measures | What it Tells You |
|---|---|---|
Logo Retention | Count of customers | Product stickiness and market fit. |
Net Revenue Retention (NRR) | Value of contracts | Growth efficiency and upsell success. |
Why Sales Teams Should Care (Not Just CS)
It is easy to think retention is a Customer Success problem. But often, low logo retention is actually a prospecting problem.
If your sales team is bringing in bad-fit leads just to hit a quota, those logos will inevitably churn. High logo retention starts with high-quality targeting. By using tools like AI agents to identify intent signals and verify fit before outreach, you ensure that the logos you close are the ones likely to stay.