Renewal / Retention Motion
Overview
The Renewal / Retention motion flips the scoring lens from buying intent to retention risk. Instead of asking "who is most likely to purchase?", it asks "which existing accounts are at risk of not renewing?" The strongest signals here are absence and decline — reduced logins, decreased feature engagement, and usage drop-off — rather than the positive activity patterns of acquisition and expansion motions.
Use this motion to surface at-risk accounts before the contract end window, so your team can intervene with the right stakeholders.
When to Use This Motion
Renewal fits accounts that:
- Are existing paying customers within approximately 90 days of their contract end date
- Have shown signs of declining product engagement or shifting sentiment
- Need proactive attention from customer success or account management
If the account is showing expansion signals alongside renewal, run a separate PLG Expansion ICP concurrently — the two motions serve different questions.
The Role Set
Two roles are required for a complete renewal buying group. Power User is optional but highly informative — a Power User going quiet is one of the strongest churn predictors.
| Role | Intent | Required |
|---|---|---|
| Existing Champion | Continues to engage; sentiment matters. | Yes |
| Renewal Decision Maker | Owns the renew/churn call. | Yes |
| Power User | Heavy product usage; their churn signals team churn. | No |
Existing Champion
The Existing Champion is typically the person who drove the original adoption. In a healthy renewal, they remain active. In a risky renewal, their engagement has dropped or they have been silent for weeks — which is itself a signal to surface.
Demographic criteria:
- Title keywords: Manager, Lead, Head of
- Seniority: IC, Manager, Director
- Functions: Product, Operations, Marketing
Renewal Decision Maker
The Renewal Decision Maker owns the contract renewal decision, which may or may not be the same person who approved the original purchase. In larger accounts, budget authority for renewals often sits one level up from the original buyer.
Demographic criteria:
- Title keywords: VP, Director, Head of
- Seniority: Director, VP, C-level
- Functions: Operations, Executive
Power User (Optional)
The Power User is a heavy day-to-day consumer of the product. Their activity level is a proxy for team-wide dependency. If the Power User's engagement drops, it often means the broader team is using the product less — a reliable early warning for churn.
Demographic criteria:
- Title keywords: Specialist, Analyst, Manager
- Seniority: IC, Manager
- Functions: Operations, Product
Suggested Signals and Role Attribution
Renewal signals differ from acquisition and expansion signals in an important way: declining or absent activity is often more meaningful than positive activity. Configure your account-level signals to track engagement trends over time.
| Signal | Strongest For | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Login frequency decline | Existing Champion, Power User | Week-over-week drop in session frequency |
| Feature engagement drop | Power User, Existing Champion | Previously active features going unused |
| Support ticket sentiment | Renewal Decision Maker, Champion | Negative sentiment or unresolved issues near renewal |
| Reduced teammate usage (account-wide) | All roles | Account-level signal; configure at the account layer |
| Champion's email open rate drop | Existing Champion | If email is a signal source |
| Competitor research activity | Renewal Decision Maker | If available via intent data integration |
| Usage below plan-minimum threshold | Power User | Account may not be getting value from the current tier |
Per-lead scoring is off by default for Renewal. This is intentional. The retention risk question is account-level, and noisy individual-lead scores can obscure the aggregate health picture. Account-level signal aggregation is the primary lens for this motion.
Common Configuration Patterns
| Setting | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Score individual leads | Off | Renewal uses account-level health signals, not individual intent |
| Buying group construction | On | Identify the renewal committee even without per-lead scores |
| Eligibility emphasis | Account rules (existing customer + days to contract end) | Scope to accounts within 90 days of renewal; adjust to match your sales cycle |
| Qualification emphasis | Account-level usage trends and sentiment | Decline patterns matter more than individual activity spikes |
| Confidence threshold | Moderate | A partially-filled buying group still warrants attention on renewal |
| Tiebreak order | By role seniority | Prioritize the Renewal Decision Maker if multiple leads match |
Why per-lead scoring is off: In an acquisition motion, a high-scoring individual is a promising lead to engage. In a renewal motion, you already have the relationship — the question is whether the account as a whole is healthy. Averaging individual signals into an account health score is more reliable than identifying the "hottest" lead.
Eligibility timing: set your contract-end window based on your typical renewal sales cycle. If it takes 60 days to complete a renewal, open the eligibility window at 90 days to give your team 30 days of runway.
Worked Example
Account: Harmon & Associates (55 employees, legal services, on-contract, 72 days to renewal)
Known leads:
| Lead | Activity | Role Assigned |
|---|---|---|
| Claire V. (Operations Director) | Login frequency down 60% over past 6 weeks; last opened 11 days ago | Existing Champion |
| David P. (COO) | No product activity; received last QBR email 3 weeks ago | Renewal Decision Maker |
| Jessie T. (Operations Analyst, IC) | Active daily user; usage consistent — no drop | Power User |
Buying group assessment:
The required roles are filled. However, the Existing Champion's engagement has dropped sharply and the Renewal Decision Maker has been completely absent. Only the Power User shows consistent activity. At 72 days to renewal, this is a risk pattern.
Result: Harmon & Associates surfaces as a medium-to-high renewal risk account. Customer success outreach targeting Claire (Champion) and David (Decision Maker) is appropriate, with Jessie's activity cited as evidence that the product is delivering value at the user level.
Next Steps
- PLG Expansion — if the account is also showing expansion signals
- Cross-sell — for existing customers who may adopt an adjacent product
- Signal and Role Attribution — how to attribute signals to roles in this ICP