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Start with a small set of events

When implementing event tracking for the first time, it’s tempting to track everything. In practice, it’s much more effective to begin with a small number of high-value events. A good starting point is 3-5 events that represent moments where users actually get value from your product. Focus on actions that indicate meaningful product usage rather than simple page visits or passive interactions. Events related to onboarding and user activation are especially important, particularly if your product offers a free trial, since they help identify whether users are reaching the first moments of value.
Most churn happens at the beginning of the user journey, so tracking these early moments is critical to understand whether users are successfully getting started with your product.
Examples might include:
  • Creating a project
  • Scheduling an appointment
  • Sending an invoice
  • Completing a workflow
  • Inviting a teammate
When you create your organization in Retain, we automatically scan your product’s landing page and suggest a few key events based on the value your product provides. See the “Suggested Events” on the events page.
When naming events, keep them short and easy to understand. A simple convention that works well is: Object + Action (past tense). Examples:
  • project_created
  • appointment_scheduled
  • invoice_sent
  • teammate_invited

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Prefer server-side tracking

We recommend sending events from your backend rather than directly from the client. Server-side tracking is generally more reliable and secure, since it prevents exposing sensitive information such as API keys and reduces the risk of events being manipulated or sent incorrectly from the client. It also ensures that the data being sent to Retain reflects what actually happened in your system, since events are generated directly from your application’s business logic.

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Next steps

Alright, let’s stop talking and start tracking.

Installation

Installing the Retain SDK