How to 3x Retention Rate by Shifting from Service to SaaS
Learnings from Fleet’s Product strategy
Hey, I’m Timothe, cofounder of Stellar & based in Paris.
I’ve spent the past years helping 500+ startups in Europe build better product orgs and strategies. Now I’m sharing what I’ve learned (and keep learning) in How They Build.
What’s "How They Build"?
Welcome to the 4th edition of How They Build — a newsletter dedicated to uncovering how Europe's most interesting tech companies build great products.
👀 Why this newsletter?
Most product strategy content comes from Silicon Valley. But Europe is home to incredible companies that rarely get the spotlight. It's time to learn from them.
🎯 The ambition
To give tech founders and leaders actionable insights from underrated European tech companies — how they build, organize, and grow.
📦 What to expect
In each issue:
A deep dive into a single tech company
A breakdown of their product strategy
Behind-the-scenes on how their product org is structured
Key product & business metrics
A few spicy takes
📅 How often?
Every 2 weeks. Short, sharp, and straight to the point.
📬 Help me improve
Got feedback, thoughts, or companies you'd love to see featured? Just hit reply — I read every message.
🔍 TL;DR
Company: Fleet (IT equipment leasing & management)
Challenge: Retention rate with room for significant improvement
Solution: Transition from pure leasing to an integrated SaaS platform
Impact: Retention rate increased by 3x
Takeaway: Embedding your service deeper into a customer’s workflow increases retention and long-term value.
Context
Today, I’m breaking down Fleet how to 3x retention rate by shifting from IT leasing to a SaaS-enabled platform, with key takeaways you can start applying tomorrow. Let’s dive in!
Product 101 for Executives
SaaS-enabled model: Hardware or service + software for recurring revenue.
Switching costs: What it takes for a user to change tools.
Roll out: Launch a new feature or product.
Product-led Growth: Growth driven directly by the product.
ARPA: Average revenue per customer account.
Disclaimer: The organizational choices and technical solutions shared in this newsletter aren’t meant to be copied and pasted as-is. Always keep your company’s context in mind before adopting something that works elsewhere! 😊The Company
Fleet simplifies IT equipment lifecycle management for SMBs. Instead of purchasing computers and IT hardware, companies subscribe to Fleet’s all-in-one leasing solution, which includes hardware, maintenance, and now a software platform to streamline management.
🥵 Their challenge : Low Retention Rate
Fleet initially had untapped retention potential due to the transactional nature of its leasing model. The lack of deep integration into customers' IT workflows meant businesses could easily switch providers or return to direct purchases. This issue led to:
Low long-term engagement beyond the leasing period.
Difficulty differentiating from traditional leasing providers.
Limited control over the customer’s IT ecosystem.
😢 How the Problem Affected Fleet’s Performance
Retention rate: Below where it needed to be
Upsell potential: Limited expansion revenue
💡 Their idea to solve the problem
To address this challenge, Fleet transitioned from a pure leasing business to a SaaS-enabled model by launching “Cockpit,” a platform that allowed businesses to track, secure, and manage their IT equipment more effectively. This move shifted Fleet from being a transactional vendor to an infrastructure player within client companies.
🤷🏼♂️ Why would it work
By embedding Fleet deeper into customers' IT processes, switching costs increased, engagement improved, and businesses became reliant on the platform beyond just leasing.
✅ Their decisions to make it work
🍾 The results
To boost retention:
Nail your activation moment and make it fast
Identify the "aha moment" when users see core product value and redesign onboarding to get them there in <10 minutes.Build a Retention Review as a recurring process
Once a quarter, run a full Retention Review across Product, Growth, CS, and Marketing. Analyze cohorts, segment by behavior, track activation-to-retention funnels — and prioritize one retention initiative per quarter.Design features to earn habits, not just engagement
Ask: Does this feature create a reason for the user to come back next week? Build nudges, routines, or data loops into the product that naturally create return behaviors.Treat churn as a symptom, not the disease
Instead of chasing churn with discounts or features, dig into why users leave. Segment churn by cohort, behavior, and outcome to diagnose root causes.
My full interview with Fleet’s CEO
Dive deeper into this topic with Sevan Marian, CEO of Fleet, in my latest podcast episode (in french 🇫🇷) :
🎙️ 📺 Listen now: Youtube / Spotify & Apple Podcasts
Bonus: I got you the first month free on your next Fleet order — just use the code “Stellar” (click here).
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