SaaS Churn & Retention Glossary
Plain-language definitions for the terms you hit when analyzing churn, retention, and subscription economics. 30 terms, updated regularly.
- Activation RatePercentage of new signups who reach a key product milestone.
- ARPU (Average Revenue Per User)Total revenue divided by total active customers.
- ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue)MRR multiplied by 12, reported annually.
- CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)Total spend to acquire one new customer.
- Churn Health ScoreRetentionCheck's 0-100 grade of a cancellation feedback corpus.
- Churn PredictionUsing data to forecast which customers will churn.
- Churn RateThe percentage of customers who cancel over a given period.
- Cohort Retention AnalysisRetention tracked by signup month rather than point-in-time.
- Customer ChurnCount of customers lost, independent of revenue.
- Customer Health ScoreComposite score predicting a customer's churn risk.
- DunningProcess of recovering failed payments.
- Exit SurveyQuestion(s) shown during cancellation to capture the reason.
- Expansion RevenueAdditional revenue from existing customers via upgrades or add-ons.
- Gross ChurnTotal customers or revenue lost, ignoring expansion.
- GRR (Gross Revenue Retention)Revenue held from existing customers, ignoring expansion.
- Involuntary ChurnSubscription ended due to payment failure, not customer choice.
- LTV (Customer Lifetime Value)Total revenue expected from a customer over their lifetime.
- MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue)Predictable monthly revenue from all active subscriptions.
- Negative ChurnWhen expansion revenue exceeds revenue lost to cancellations.
- Net ChurnRevenue lost minus expansion from existing customers.
- NRR (Net Revenue Retention)Revenue from existing customers this period vs. last, including expansion and churn.
- Payback PeriodMonths required for a new customer to pay back their CAC.
- Product-Market Fit (PMF)Point where your product satisfies strong market demand.
- Retention RatePercentage of customers who stay over a given period.
- Revenue ChurnMRR lost over a period, regardless of customer count.
- SaaS Magic NumberEfficiency ratio of revenue growth to sales and marketing spend.
- SaaS Quick RatioRatio of new+expansion revenue to churn+contraction.
- Time to Value (TTV)How long after signup a customer first experiences value.
- Voluntary ChurnActive cancellation by a customer who chose to leave.
- Win-back CampaignOutreach to former customers aimed at reactivation.