CommerceNow\u201925<\/span><\/a> had one clear goal: help SaaS teams grow in a healthy, repeatable way.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Across four talks, the speakers showed how to:\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Read on for the most useful ideas from each session, and the steps to put them to work.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Most SaaS teams track <\/span>MRR<\/span><\/a>, churn, and new signups, thinking these numbers tell the full growth story.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Asia Orangio \u2013 founder and CEO of DemandMaven <\/span><\/b>\u2013 explains that these metrics only show surface movement.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Real<\/span><\/i> insight comes from looking deeper at how customers adopt value, expand, and stay over time.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Hence why Asia focuses on the metrics that reflect <\/span>sustainable growth<\/span><\/a>: expansion revenue, 24-hour new user retention, revenue cohort retention, and customer success KPIs.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n She also calls out a simple reason SaaS businesses ignore these most useful reports: they fixate on charts they recognize (MRR overviews, signup counts) and overlook the ones that feel unfamiliar (NRR cohorts, 24-hour retention by action).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Asia points out that the <\/span>\u201clooks interesting but I don\u2019t know what to do with it\u201d<\/span><\/i> reaction is <\/span>salience bias<\/span> at work.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The cure is intentional exposure: make those deeper reports part of your regular review, ask <\/span>\u201cwhat does this tell us that topline MRR can\u2019t?\u201d<\/span><\/i>, and build team muscle memory until the diagnostic views feel natural.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Moving on, it\u2019s true that teams often define \u201cactivation\u201d differently. Marketing counts a signup, product looks for first use, and customer success waits for the first outcome.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n When each group uses a different definition, progress gets lost in translation. Asia says that agreeing on a single, shared definition keeps everyone working toward the same goal.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n She recommends this: bring marketing, product, and customer success into one short workshop to pick the one action that proves a user reaches promised value. Write it down, add it to dashboards, and review it each quarter as the product changes.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Once activation is clear, the next question becomes where does growth actually come from \u2013 which brings us to <\/span>measuring expansion revenue<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In healthy SaaS companies, expansion revenue, which is the portion of new <\/span>monthly recurring revenue<\/span><\/a> that comes from existing customers, typically sits between 20% and 40% (averaged over 3\u20136 months so one-time bumps or promotions don\u2019t throw off the number).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n When it falls below that range, it usually means the business relies too much on new signups and misses opportunities to grow with current users.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Asia argues that by tracking expansion revenue, teams can see whether pricing and packaging help customers find more value over time.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Tracking new user retention in the first 24 hours<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Expansion doesn\u2019t happen without early engagement.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Asia points to the first 24 hours after signup as the most critical window for retention. During that short period, users decide whether the product fits their needs.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n She advises tracking retention based on specific actions that show value, such as:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n When users take one meaningful action early, retention can jump, often exceeding 50% after the first 24 hours.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n After activation and engagement, Asia shifts to revenue cohort retention, also called net <\/span>revenue retention<\/span><\/a> (NRR).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This metric shows how much revenue from each customer group remains over time. Asia says that bootstrapped companies aim for 80% or higher at month 12, while funded or fast-growth SaaS aim for 100% or more.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Cohort retention exposes what she calls \u201csneaky <\/span>churn<\/span><\/a>\u201d: the revenue loss that happens after customers have been active for months. She advises that if your mix skews to annual contracts, make sure to also watch 24\u201336-month NRR to catch the month-13 cliff.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Seeing these patterns helps teams focus on the stages where users start to slow down or downgrade.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Asia strongly recommends tracking <\/span>customer-based success KPIs<\/span><\/a> that match the customer journey.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There is a way to do it: instead of only counting usage or logins, measure progress through three clear stages:\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This view shows whether users move forward or get stuck, and gives teams a practical way to connect behavior with outcomes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Asia recommends defining one clear signal for each stage and tracking the share of customers moving from first value to value realized to expanded value.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Use your product analytics to spot where they stall, and then close the gaps.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In her talk, Asia also discusses product discovery for expansion. She encourages teams to run small research projects that uncover new ways to add value.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n These projects often reveal simple, high-impact opportunities for <\/span>upsells<\/span><\/a> or feature improvements.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n She also warns about \u201cadd-on exhaust,\u201d when companies charge separately for every new feature and overwhelm users with options. Balance new offers with simplicity so customers feel they\u2019re <\/span>getting<\/span><\/i> more, not paying more<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Get access to more of Asia\u2019s insights by watching <\/span><\/b>her entire CommerceNow\u201925 session.<\/span><\/b><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n
\n
\n
Looking Beyond Surface Metrics to Find Real Growth<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n
Align activation across teams<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n
Measuring expansion revenue<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
\n
Reading revenue cohort retention<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n
Tracking customer-based success KPIs<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n
Product discovery for expansion<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"asia-orangio-commerce-now-25-titles-LANDSCAPE-back-up\"](\"https:\/\/blog.2checkout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/asia-orangio-commerce-now-25-titles-LANDSCAPE-back-up-300x157.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n