ChurnZero’s sixth annual Customer Revenue Leadership Study finds that SaaS industry NRR and GRR have stabilized in 2025, with customer-go-to-market team design and customer-data-centric stacks correlating with higher NRR.
WASHINGTON, D.C, October 1, 2025 — ChurnZero, the platform and partner for customer growth, has released its sixth annual Customer Revenue Leadership Study, offering a data-driven view into how customer success and revenue leaders are operating in the new era of customer-driven growth. Formerly known as the Customer Success Leadership Study, the report has been renamed this year to reflect broader industry changes and the increased prominence of customer go-to-market teams responsible for recurring revenue.
Key findings from 2025’s study, which is based on a detailed survey of nearly 800 customer and post-sales leaders, include:
- Retention has stabilized. After declines from 2022–2024, NRR and GRR plateaued in 2025, creating a baseline year for planning and benchmarking.
- Buying cycles are thawing. Fewer teams report 6+ month delays (20%, down from 25%), while “business as normal” rose to 37%.
- Teams with enablement, CSMs, support, and account management report higher NRR.
- Tech stack strength correlates with performance. The presence of CRM, CSP, LMS, and support software is linked to higher NRR.
- AI maturity is nascent. Most teams are in exploration or tactical stages.
A webinar exploring the most significant findings will be held on October 22.
“2025’s newly stabilized market means that NRR and revenue wins now come down to what you control: specifically, how you staff, support, and run your post-sales engine,” said You Mon Tsang, CEO and co-founder of ChurnZero. “2026 will be all about customer go-to-market teams going on the offense. Leaders who build customer-data-centric systems, hire for critical customer roles, and move AI from productivity to revenue impact will distinguish themselves from the pack.”
The report’s key recommendations include:
- Treat 2025 as a baseline year and re-engineer your operations. To win on revenue and retention, focus efforts on improving time-to-value, adoption, early risk detection, expansion, retention, and advocacy.
- Staff your customer team to win. The presence of enablement, CSMs, support, and account management correlates with higher NRR.
- Build a customer-data-centric stack with your CSP as the hub.
Download the report to access the full analysis, charts, and recommendations.
ChurnZero thanks our partners for supporting this industry research: 6sense, Customer Success Meetup, Onramp, Outreach, Pavilion, Success in Black, and Success Venture Partners.
About the study
The Customer Revenue Leadership Study, formerly the Customer Success Leadership Study, reflects responses from 793 senior customer growth leaders across SaaS and technology businesses. All responses are voluntary, and all data is self-reported.