Net revenue retention (NRR)

What it is#

Net revenue retention (NRR) measures how much recurring revenue an agency keeps from the clients it already had at the start of a period, after accounting for both losses and growth within that group. New clients are excluded — NRR is purely a measure of the existing base.

The shape: take the recurring revenue of a cohort at the start of a period, add expansions (clients who grew their retainer), subtract contractions and churn, and divide by the starting figure. Above 100% means the existing base grew on its own. Below 100% means it shrank, and new sales are just refilling a leaking bucket.

Why it matters for agencies#

NRR is the single clearest measure of whether an agency's client relationships are healthy. An agency can post strong new-business numbers and still be in trouble if NRR is well under 100% — it's running to stand still. An agency with NRR above 100% grows even in a quarter with no new sales.

Reporting connects directly to NRR. The recurring client brief is the agency's most frequent retention touchpoint: it's where results get demonstrated, trust gets maintained, and the groundwork for an expansion conversation gets laid. Weak, late, or inconsistent reporting shows up later as a weak NRR.

In SendBriefs specifically#

Per-client pricing means SendBriefs' own cost to an agency scales with the client base the agency is trying to retain — the tool's price moves with the same number NRR is measured against.