In the evolving SaaS landscape, the relationship between Customer Success (CS) and Sales has never been more critical—especially during the renewal process. As organizations continue to recognize that retention is the foundation of sustainable growth, implementing a metrics-driven approach that bridges CS and Sales teams is essential for maximizing revenue potential.

The Revenue Impact of Successful Renewals

Renewals aren't just transactions—they're validation of continued value. While new sales might capture the spotlight, renewals often represent the most efficient path to revenue growth. According to industry benchmarks, acquiring a new customer can cost 5-25 times more than retaining an existing one, making renewals a critical focus area for sustainable business growth.

The most successful SaaS companies have recognized this reality and are breaking down traditional silos between CS and Sales teams, creating unified approaches to the renewal process. This collaboration hinges on shared metrics that provide visibility, accountability, and strategic direction.

Essential Renewals Metrics for Sales Process Integration

A truly effective renewals strategy incorporates metrics that span the entire customer lifecycle. These seven key renewals metrics should be integrated into your sales process for maximum effectiveness: 

1. Renewal Rate (%)

What it measures: The percentage of customers who renew their contracts within a specific period. Ultimately, this number reflects overall customer satisfaction and health of your portfolio. 

How to use it in the sales process:

  • Track renewal rates by customer segment, product line, and account size
  • Identify patterns that indicate renewal risk or opportunity
  • Set realistic targets for renewal specialists based on historical performance


Target benchmark: Industry leaders typically maintain renewal rates above 90%, while the SaaS average hovers around 80-85%.

2. Gross Dollar Retention (GDR %)

What it measures: The percentage of recurring revenue retained from existing customers, excluding expansions and upsells. Ultimately, this number reflects how well the company retains its core base. 

How to use it in the sales process:

  • Measure the baseline stability of your recurring revenue
  • Identify contraction trends by customer segment
  • Focus renewal strategies on preserving baseline ARR before pursuing growth


Target benchmark: Best-in-class SaaS companies maintain GDR above 90%, while anything below 80% indicates significant churn issues.

3. Net Dollar Retention (NDR %)

What it measures: The total change in recurring revenue from existing customers, including expansions, upsells, cross-sells, downgrades, and churn. Ultimately, this number reflects the company’s ability to grow revenue from existing customers. 

How to use it in the sales process:

  • Quantify expansion opportunities within the renewal conversation
  • Set growth-oriented renewal targets that include upsell potential
  • Measure the overall health of customer relationships


Target benchmark: Top-performing SaaS companies exceed 120% NDR, indicating significant expansion within their customer base. The average hovers around 100-110%.

4. Renewal Lead Time (RLT %)

What it measures: How far in advance renewal conversations are initiated before contract expiration.

How to use it in the sales process:

  • Be systematically proactive by staying ahead of upcoming renewals
  • Create weekly reporting to track progress toward 100% contacted
  • Start renewal conversations well before the contract end date. For enterprise the motion, 6 months is not too early
  • Balance workloads and renewal volume by front loading renewal outreach
  • Identify at-risk renewals that started conversations too late


Target benchmark: Best practice is initiating renewal conversations 90-120 days before expiration, with enterprise contracts requiring 150+ days.

5. Stage Progression (%)

What it measures: The percentage of renewals that successfully move through each stage of the renewal pipeline.

How to use it in the sales process:

  • Identify where renewals are getting stuck
  • Focus coaching on stages with the lowest progression rates
  • Predict future renewal outcomes based on stage velocity


Target benchmark: Aim for 80%+ progression rates between each renewal stage, with particular focus on early-stage advancement.

6. Average Time to Close (# days)

What it measures: The average time required to complete the renewal process from initiation to signature.

How to use it in the sales process:

  • Set realistic timelines for renewal completion
  • Adjust outreach timing based on typical close periods
  • Identify efficiency opportunities in the renewal workflow


Target benchmark: Efficient renewal processes close within 30-45 days of initiation, though enterprise deals may extend to 60-90 days.

7. Closed Lost Reason Rate (%)

What it measures: The distribution of reasons why renewals are lost, categorized by primary factor.

How to use it in the sales process:

  • Target preventative strategies based on common loss reasons
  • Adjust renewal approaches for specific risk categories
  • Inform product roadmap and CS practices to address systemic issues


Target benchmark: No single reason should account for more than 25% of lost renewals, and total lost renewals should remain below 10% of opportunities.

The DEAR Framework: Customer Success Metrics That Drive Renewals

While renewal metrics provide the financial perspective, Customer Success metrics offer leading indicators that can predict renewal outcomes. The DEAR framework—comprising Deployment, Engagement, Adoption, and ROI—provides a structured approach to measure customer health through the lens of renewal readiness:

Deployment

Key metrics:

  • Time to value (days)
  • Implementation milestone completion rate (%)
  • Feature enablement rate (%)


Renewal impact: Customers who experience rapid, complete deployment are 60% more likely to renew than those with extended or partial implementations.

Engagement

Key metrics:

  • Executive sponsor engagement score (1-10)
  • Support ticket volume and resolution time
  • QBR/EBR attendance and participation
  • Communication frequency and response rates


Renewal impact: Accounts with active executive sponsors and regular engagement have renewal rates 30-40% higher than those with limited stakeholder involvement.

Adoption

Key metrics:

  • Active user percentage (%)
  • Feature utilization breadth (%)
  • Login frequency and session duration
  • User growth rate (%)


Renewal impact: Customers in the top quartile of adoption metrics renew at rates exceeding 95%, while those in the bottom quartile drop below 60%.

ROI

Key metrics:

  • Customer-reported ROI (%)
  • Cost savings/revenue impact ($)
  • Efficiency gains (%)
  • Success story participation


Renewal impact: Customers who can articulate specific ROI metrics renew at rates 40% higher than those who cannot quantify value received.

Integrating CS Insights into the Sales Renewal Process

The power of these metrics is fully realized when Customer Success insights are systematically incorporated into the sales renewal process. As highlighted in our "Leveraging Milestones in Renewals Forecasting" article, transforming renewal forecasting from subjective guesswork to data-driven science requires anchoring forecast categories to specific, observable customer actions.

1. Amplify Your Milestone-Based Revenue Forecasting

Building on our established milestone framework, we can enhance the approach by integrating CS insights into the renewal process:

  • Milestone 1: Customer Recommendation (as defined in our forecasting framework)
    • Review overall health, proactively address any open issues, and anticipate issues that may arise as you begin the renewal discussion
    • Customer explicitly states they recommend renewal in response to a direct question
    • CS provides adoption and engagement metrics to validate customer sentiment
    • Document verbatim responses and the recommender's influence level

  • Milestone 2: Budget Approval
    • Confirm budget has been allocated specifically for the renewal
    • CS provides ROI metrics to support the business case
    • Look for concrete evidence like approved PO numbers or finance confirmation
    • Identify any remaining steps in their budget process

  • Milestone 3: Mutual Timeline Acceptance
    • Establish a clear, agreed-upon schedule for completing renewal
    • CS engagement data informs timeline feasibility
    • Propose specific timeline: "Based on your internal processes, can we agree to finalize this renewal by [date]?"
    • Document customer agreement in writing

  • Milestone 4: Closing Plan Established
    • Confirm all parties understand exactly what needs to happen to finalize
    • CS ensures all value realization data is current
    • Create a detailed plan covering contract review, approvals, and signatures
    • Set specific check-in points to ensure progress

2. Create a Unified Dashboard

Develop a shared dashboard that presents both CS and Sales metrics side by side:

  • Current DEAR metrics with historical trends
  • Days until renewal with milestone progress
  • Renewal rate forecasts based on current health
  • Dollar retention projections (both gross and net)
  • Stage progression with velocity indicators

3. Establish Joint Renewal Reviews

Implement regular renewal pipeline reviews that bring CS and Sales together:

  • Weekly risk assessment of upcoming renewals
  • Monthly cohort analysis of renewal performance
  • Quarterly forecast alignment sessions
  • Post-mortem analysis of both won and lost renewals

Conclusion: The Metrics-Driven Renewal Advantage

Organizations that successfully align Customer Success and Sales through shared metrics create a renewal engine that consistently outperforms competitors. This approach doesn't just improve renewal rates—it transforms the entire customer relationship into a strategic advantage.

By implementing these seven renewal metrics alongside the DEAR framework for Customer Success, companies can:

  1. Predict renewal outcomes with greater accuracy
  2. Intervene proactively where leading indicators show risk
  3. Scale renewal operations through consistent processes
  4. Optimize resource allocation based on renewal probability
  5. Continuously improve the renewal experience for customers

In today's customer-centric business environment, renewals represent the ultimate validation of your value proposition. By measuring what matters across both CS and Sales dimensions, you create a unified approach that maximizes revenue retention while strengthening customer relationships for the long term.