SaaS retention cohort worksheet

Choose one retention definition and comparable observation periods. Examples are fictional.

Metric contract

Decision and owner:
Unit: account, user, or another defined entity:
Starting cohort event:
Entry period and timezone:
Eligibility/exclusions:
Meaningful return activity:
Period activity, exact-day, or another explicitly defined method:
Observation intervals:
Cutoff and fully observed periods:
Original denominator rule:
Source, definition version, and collection gaps:
Account merge/deletion handling:

Cohort comparison

Cohort	Eligible starting accounts	Period 1 count/rate	Period 2 count/rate	Period 3 count/rate or incomplete
Fill in	Fill in	Fill in	Fill in	Fill in

Period retention = original cohort accounts with qualifying activity during that period / eligible original cohort accounts. Count an account once per period even if it completes several actions. This definition permits return after an inactive period; it is not uninterrupted survival or revenue retention.

Fictional example

Entry: account enrollment month. Month 1–3: the next three calendar months. Qualifying activity: at least one completed report in a month.

Cohort	Starting accounts	Month 1	Month 2	Month 3
April enrollment	20	14 / 20 = 70%	10 / 20 = 50%	8 / 20 = 40%
May enrollment	20	16 / 20 = 80%	12 / 20 = 60%	Incomplete

The Month 1 and Month 2 differences are two accounts, or ten percentage points. May Month 3 is not zero. Calendar enrollment can produce different within-month ages; use tighter age windows if required by the question.

Investigation and action

Comparable periods and maturity checked:
Event and identity checks:
Acquisition/product/support differences:
Returning and inactive account observations:
Hypothesis and alternative explanation:
Proposed intervention:
Customer-value/correctness guardrail:
Population, window, owner, and next review: