Churn to customer lifetime calculator
churn is a percentage, which makes it feel small. converted into months, it stops feeling small. this also shows what a single point of churn reduction is actually worth to you.
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Why one point matters so much
the relationship is not linear. going from 10% to 9% churn adds about a month of lifetime. going from 4% to 3% adds more than eight. the lower your churn already is, the more each further point is worth.
this is also why comparing churn across companies is close to meaningless. a point of improvement means something completely different depending on where you start.
Where to look first
in most consumer apps the majority of churn happens in the first two weeks, before the product has had a chance to become useful. that is an onboarding problem, not a loyalty problem, and it is usually the cheapest thing on this list to fix.
the users who make it past month three tend to stay far longer than this average suggests. splitting your churn into new and established cohorts will tell you which of the two problems you actually have.
Numbers tell you what. They do not tell you what to do.
bring your real numbers to the breakdown call and leave with a plan for them. free, no pitch deck.
Common questions
Should I count users who pause or downgrade?
count them separately. a pause that resumes is not churn, and folding it in makes your numbers look worse and hides the real cancellations you should be studying.
What about annual subscribers?
model them separately. annual plans churn far less by definition, so mixing them with monthly gives you a blended figure that describes nobody. it usually also hides that annual subscribers are where your profit is.
Other scale tools
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work out revenue from trial starts, and the real cost of acquiring a paying customer once you account for trials that never convert.
ScaleK-factor calculator
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ScaleApp store conversion
break your app store funnel into impressions, page views and installs, and find which step is leaking.
Bring one real growth problem. Leave with the fix.
the breakdown call is free. no pitch deck, no agency handoff.