ARTICLE (dictionary_terms)
What it is
Churn rate is the share of customers (or recurring revenue) you lose in a given period. It's the leak that offsets new sales; low churn compounds into fast growth.
Facts
- Customer churn = Customers lost in period / Customers at start of period.
- Revenue churn weights losses by dollar value, not headcount.
- Healthy SaaS monthly logo churn varies sharply between enterprise, SMB, and consumer products.
- Negative net revenue churn happens when expansion revenue exceeds lost revenue, a strong signal.
Who it's for
Subscription and repeat-purchase businesses, and any founder measuring retention.
How it helps you
Churn directly drives LTV and growth: lowering it lengthens customer lifetime, raises LTV, and lets new sales actually compound instead of just refilling losses.
Caveats
Small-sample churn is noisy early on. Track revenue churn separately from logo churn. Losing a few big accounts can hurt more than many small ones.
Conclusion
Churn is the leak in your bucket; even small reductions dramatically raise lifetime value and turn new sales into real, compounding growth.
