Churn Health Score Methodology
How RetentionCheck calculates the 0-100 score and letter grade shown on every analysis.
The formula
Every analysis starts at 100 points. For each churn insight identified in the cancellation corpus, we deduct points based on severity:
Score is floored at 0. The resulting 0-100 number is mapped to a letter grade.
Grade bands
Sorted from best to worst. Each band includes what it means, and how realistic it is to achieve in practice.
Rare. Reserved for analyses with almost no high or critical severity drivers. A+ typically requires a product with only low-severity churn drivers in its cancellation corpus.
Unusual. Most SaaS products do not score A+ because paying customers always have some material criticism.
Excellent retention health. 1-2 medium severity drivers at most, rest low. Indicates a product with minor fixable issues.
Possible for beloved products with primarily pricing or nice-to-have feature complaints.
Good retention health. Mixed medium severity with one high. Typical for well-run SaaS products at scale.
Normal for mature products with known pain points that are actively worked on.
Middling retention health. Several high severity drivers present. Typical for mature SaaS with unresolved pain points.
Common. Most enterprise SaaS with multiyear roadmaps land here.
Concerning retention health. Multiple high severity drivers or one critical plus mediums. Signals active churn risk.
Common after pricing events, feature removals, or customer success staffing cuts.
Failing retention health. Multiple critical severity drivers. Indicates active mass-churn conditions that need immediate attention.
Rare. Usually triggered by a specific event (acquisition change, major price hike, feature removal, data breach).
Live grade distribution
Out of 5 analyses run through RetentionCheck to date. Refreshed hourly.
These are analyses run by real users. Most land in C-D because most cancellation corpora contain real criticism.
Why A+ is rare
Every product with paying customers has real criticism. Even beloved products generate medium or high severity churn drivers in their cancellation data because users who cancel are, by definition, choosing to leave over something.
A+ requires a cancellation corpus where almost every driver is low severity. In practice this happens only when cancellations are largely driven by non-product factors (business closure, role change, one-off budget cut) rather than product pain.
The grade itself is honest. If every SaaS scored A+, the score would not mean anything. Most analyses land in B, C, or D because most products have mixed feedback. That is the point.
What the score does NOT measure
- •Actual churn rate. The score analyzes cancellation reasons, not customer lifecycle data. You can have high churn with a B and low churn with a D.
- •Revenue impact. We do not estimate dollars lost unless you provide revenue data. Our insights are based on customer counts and percentages from the cancellation corpus.
- •Product quality absolute. The score reflects what the corpus says. A small, noisy sample will produce a different score than a large, representative one. Sample size is displayed on every analysis.
How the Hall of Fame differs
The Churn Signal Index on our Hall of Fame page uses a different scoring direction. Higher is worse (0 = best, 100 = worst) because it is an index of negative signals, not a health score.
Hall of Fame letter grades use the same A+ through F scale, derived by converting the Churn Signal Index back into a Churn Health Score equivalent (100 minus index).
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