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

Making the most of this report

Connect the dots

Subscription churn tells an important story, but it’s even more powerful when viewed alongside:

• Revenue churn - are you losing high-value or low-value customers?
• Logo churn - how do cancellations impact your total customer count?
• Install trends - are new customers making up for churn?

Smart filtering

Use segments to understand churn patterns across different customer groups:

• Filter by Shopify plan to see if enterprise customers stick around longer
• Compare churn rates across acquisition channels
• Track how different customer segments respond to product changes
• Identify your most stable (and most volatile) customer types

Pro tips

Get more value from your churn tracking:

1. Track Your Changes
   • Use the journal to mark when you implement retention strategies
   • Monitor trends after significant product or pricing updates
   • Note seasonal events that might impact churn
2. Set Smart Alerts
   • Keep an eye on sudden spikes above your average
   • Watch for trends that break from historical patterns
   • Compare current performance to similar periods last year
3. Take Action on Insights
   • High subscription churn but low revenue impact? Your smaller customers might need more attention
   • Rising churn in specific segments? Consider targeted retention campaigns
   • Seasonal patterns emerging? Plan your retention efforts accordingly

Remember: Understanding churn isn’t just about tracking numbers - it’s about spotting opportunities to keep more customers happy and growing with your app.

Need help making sense of your churn patterns or building better retention strategies? Our team is here to help!