B-Side: The rise of passive, anti-active usage products

For decades we've been talking about active usage in the context of retention. After all, if someone is using the product, then they must be happy, right? Our market has changed though as we're able to measure outcomes better and automate more than we ever have before.

The result—our fixation on active usage may no longer be valid.

In fact, the data actually suggests that the least used products have the best retention, as long as they have a measurable outcome. I get that's a bit counterintuitive, so let's explore this concept with a nice framework, some examples, and of course the data to determine if you should be building a product for usage at all.

This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.