Subscription churn
What makes this report different
While Shopify’s Partner Dashboard doesn’t track churn metrics at all, Mantle gives you a complete picture of your subscription health. We don’t just show you who’s leaving - we help you understand if they’re coming back and what it means for your business.
Report components
Your numbers at a glance
Right at the top, you’ll see three key metrics that tell different parts of your churn story:
- Current churn rate - your snapshot of right now
- Period change - how your churn has trended over your selected timeframe
- Period average - your baseline churn rate across the whole period
These numbers work together to help you separate normal fluctuations from real problems that need attention.
The churn visualization
The main chart shows how your churn rate changes over time:
- Purple filled area represents your churn rate
- Dotted trend line helps you spot longer-term patterns
- Hover tooltips show you exact numbers for any point in time
This visualization makes it easy to spot both sudden spikes that need immediate attention and gradual trends that might need strategic changes.
Understanding your numbers
Churn calculations
You’ve got two ways to look at churn, each telling you something important:
- Gross Churn Rate: The percentage of customers who cancelled, period. This helps you understand the total impact of cancellations.
- Net Churn Rate: Accounts for customers who come back. If someone cancels but reactivates later, they’re removed from this number, giving you a more accurate picture of actual customer loss.
💡 Pro tip: Use gross churn to spot issues that cause cancellations, but net churn to understand your long-term customer retention.
Reading the patterns
Not all spikes in churn are created equal:
- Sudden spikes might indicate immediate issues needing attention
- Gradual increases could suggest deeper product or market fit challenges
- Seasonal patterns help you plan for natural fluctuations
- Trending improvements often show your retention strategies working
Frequently Asked Questions
Understanding Subscription Churn
What's the difference between Gross and Net subscription churn?
• Gross Churn Rate: Counts all subscription cancellations - shows total customer loss
• Net Churn Rate: Subtracts customers who reactivate/resubscribe - shows actual customer loss
Use gross churn to measure cancellation impact, net churn to understand true retention after considering customers who return.
How is subscription churn different from revenue churn and logo churn?
• Subscription churn: Tracks paying customers who stop their subscriptions
• Revenue churn: Tracks money lost from downgrades, cancellations, and frozen accounts
• Logo churn: Tracks complete app uninstalls (customers fully disconnecting)
A customer can cancel their subscription (subscription churn) but keep the app installed (no logo churn).
Should I include frozen/unfrozen subscriptions in my churn calculation?
This depends on your retention strategy:
• Include frozen: Shows complete subscription interruptions (recommended for understanding total impact)
• Exclude frozen: Shows only intentional cancellations
Frozen subscriptions often reactivate when shops pay their Shopify bills, so including them may inflate your churn rate temporarily.
Calculations and Data
How is subscription churn rate calculated?
Subscription churn rate = (Subscription cancellations in period ÷ Active subscriptions at start of period) × 100
For net churn, we subtract reactivations:
Net rate = ((Cancellations - Reactivations) ÷ Active subscriptions) × 100
The calculation looks at the previous 30-day period for each data point.
When should I be concerned about subscription churn spikes?
Watch for:
• Sustained increases above your historical average
• Sudden spikes coinciding with product/pricing changes
• Churn in specific customer segments
A single-day spike may not be concerning, but patterns lasting several days warrant investigation.
Need help making sense of your churn patterns or building better retention strategies? Our team is here to help!