Signal · Portfolio

Cohort retention

Groups clients by acquisition month and tracks what share of each cohort is still billing over time — surfaces where retention weakens.

Portfolio

What the signal measures

Groups clients by acquisition month and tracks what share of each cohort is still billing over time — surfaces where retention weakens.

Why it matters

Averaged retention numbers mask two very different books: one where every cohort has stable retention, vs one where old cohorts are loyal and new cohorts churn fast. This signal groups clients by acquisition month and tracks the share of each cohort still billing over time — surfacing whether your retention problem is a book-wide slow decay or a specific "we lose clients in month 3" pattern.

How to act on it

A steep drop-off at month N is a diagnosis — investigate what happens around that anniversary (onboarding handover, first invoice friction, unclear scope after month N). The drafted action is a checklist for the retention conversation, not a mass-email campaign.

Worked example — fixture consultancy

On the fixture, cohorts recruited in 2024 mostly stay through 2025-26 (Meridian is retainer-heavy). Slate Systems is the visible outlier — recruited in early 2025, active for two months only. That single-client dropout is where cohort retention becomes a real conversation on a book this size.