Avoid common pitfalls in retention math so your cohorts tell the truth. Master start-of-period denominators, excluding new customers, and the difference between gross and net measures.
Monthly retention rate is (customers at end − new customers acquired) divided by ______.
total website sessions
customers at start of the month
new customers acquired
customers at end of the month
Gross retention tracks logos kept; net retention allows for ______ within the base.
cookie resets
expansion and contraction
ad impressions
trial signups only
Cohort retention should group users by common ______ such as signup month.
color theme
start event
browser type only
ad frequency
A retention curve that flattens after a few periods indicates a stable ______ of users.
creative sequence
loyal core
bot cluster
cookie pool
Logo retention counts whether the customer is still present, while revenue retention weights by ______.
pageviews
spend or ARR
IP addresses
email opens
For trial-to-paid funnels, Day-30 retention should use the ______ as the cohort start for like-for-like comparisons.
cookie consent date
ad impression time
activation or first-value date
last error log
Rolling retention on Day N means the user was active on day N ______.
with at least five sessions
or any day after
and no day after
and also on day 1
When churn is seasonal, comparing single-month retention can mislead; prefer ______ across comparable windows.
time-on-page
bot-filtered traffic only
raw signups
cohort-based retention
If end-of-month count includes paused accounts that cannot churn, you should ______ for measurement.
exclude or segment them
merge with new users
double-count them
ignore activation entirely
To align with revenue recognition, use ______ retention instead of logo retention.
dollar-weighted
IP-weighted
timezone-based
cookie-weighted
Starter
Revisit denominators and cohort setup to avoid inflating retention.
Solid
Good grasp—now refine edge cases like pauses, reactivations, and seasonal cohorts.
Expert!
Outstanding—your retention math is audit-proof and actionable.
