Demonstrating Value: The Key to Developer Program Retention
A vast majority of developers agree—if a developer relations program provides clear measures of the value gained from membership, it becomes significantly easier to secure continued approval from management.
In our latest Developer Relations Programs Survey Report 2025, 91% of developers with program memberships indicated that having defined value metrics would help them justify their participation. This presents an important consideration for companies running developer programs: Are you giving developers the tools they need to advocate for your program internally?
Common KPIs such as reduced development costs, faster development cycles, and fewer support tickets are often used to assess program impact. However, our findings show that these KPIs alone are not strongly linked to developers’ ability to justify membership to management. This suggests that companies may need to rethink how they communicate program benefits beyond traditional performance metrics
To strengthen your developer program’s long-term value:
- Are you providing concrete, measurable benefits that developers can present to leadership?
- What additional insights or reporting could better showcase the return on investment?
Developers may recognize the value of your program—make sure their managers do too.
What approaches have worked for you in helping developers secure ongoing support for program participation?
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This information is from the Evans Data Corp. Developer Relations Programs Survey Report available from Evans Data. One subscription brings an entire year's worth of fresh information from developers working in this area.
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About Evans Data Corp.
Evans Data Corporation pioneered developer research 27 years ago filling a need for in-depth research on software development trends and adoption patterns. Specialized in understanding the developer landscape, Evans Data Corp. is the leading source for accurate, in-depth data and insights on software development trends, demographics and developer population market sizing. We help top tech firms like Google, Amazon, Intel, and Microsoft (to name a few) understand the developer ecosystem through survey-based research using unbiased, focused and qualified respondents that provide actionable insights to our clients. Evans Data is the go-to source for developer data, developer-focused market research, developer populations and forecasts, developer trends, developer insights, and custom developer research.