> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.saletides.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Retention Cohorts

> Track what percentage of customers return to buy again over time, grouped by acquisition month.

## What retention cohorts show

Retention cohorts track, for a group of customers who first purchased in a given month, what percentage came back to make another purchase in subsequent months.

Navigate to **Cohorts → Returning Customers** in the sidebar.

## Reading the cohort table

The cohort heatmap shows:

* **Rows** — each row is one cohort, identified by the month customers first purchased
* **Column 0** — always 100% (this is the cohort itself)
* **Column 1** — % who made a second purchase within the next period
* **Column 2+** — % still purchasing in subsequent periods
* **Color** — darker shading indicates higher retention

### Example

| Cohort   | Month 0 | Month 1 | Month 2 | Month 3 |
| -------- | ------- | ------- | ------- | ------- |
| Jan 2024 | 100%    | 28%     | 15%     | 10%     |
| Feb 2024 | 100%    | 31%     | 17%     | 11%     |
| Mar 2024 | 100%    | 35%     | 19%     | —       |

In this example, March 2024 has better Month 1 retention (35%) than January (28%), which suggests retention is improving over time.

## Period granularity

Toggle between **monthly** and **weekly** cohort views using the control above the chart. Monthly is best for long-term trend analysis; weekly is useful for spotting short-term changes after a specific campaign or product launch.

## Cohort size

The first column shows the absolute cohort size — how many customers made their first purchase in that period. This context matters: a cohort of 500 customers with 30% retention is far more significant than a cohort of 10 with 40%.

## Subscription retention cohorts

For stores using WooCommerce Subscriptions, the subscription retention cohort shows what % of subscribers from each month are still active in subsequent months. This is the standard **subscriber churn** view — the inverse of retention is your churn rate.

## Averages row

At the bottom of the cohort table, SaleTides shows an **averages row** — the weighted average retention at each period across all cohorts. Use this as your baseline when evaluating individual cohorts.

## Bar chart view

Switch to the **bar chart view** to compare retention at a specific period (e.g., Month 3 retention) across all cohorts. This makes it easy to see whether retention at a fixed point is trending up or down over time.

## What good retention looks like

There is no universal benchmark — it varies heavily by industry and product type. However, some general guidelines for ecommerce:

| Retention at Month 3 | Assessment                                        |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| \< 10%               | Below average — focus on post-purchase engagement |
| 10–20%               | Average for most ecommerce stores                 |
| 20–30%               | Good — strong repeat purchase culture             |
| 30%+                 | Excellent — indicates high customer loyalty       |

Subscription businesses should target much higher retention (80%+ at Month 3 is common for healthy SaaS, for example).