Ask most SaaS product leaders why customers do not churn. The answers come back vague. "They're sticky." "Switching is painful." "Our customers love us." "Our NRR (net revenue retention) is strong." None of that is wrong. But none of it is a moat. Low churn is not a moat. It is a lagging indicator of one. By the time your churn rate rises, the structural advantage you thought you had is already eroding. You are watching the consequence, not the cause. A retention moat is the structural mechanism that makes switching costly. It is the specific, nameable reason a customer who is curious about a competitor decides the cost of switching outweighs the benefit. Different products have fundamentally different moat types. Each type requires a different investment strategy to build, measure, and defend. The 5 Moat Types 1. Data Moat Your product accumulates data that becomes more valuable over time and is difficult to replicate. The data itself - not just the software - is the defensible asset.…