Churn is one of the most sensitive SaaS metrics. Simple to calculate, deep in meaning.
Types
- **Customer Churn**: customer count reduction - **Revenue Churn**: revenue reduction (MRR basis) - **Gross vs Net Churn**: excluding/including expansion
Monthly calculation
- Customer Churn = (starting customers who left by month-end) / starting customers - Revenue Churn = Churn MRR / Starting MRR
Healthy levels
- SMB SaaS: 3–7% monthly - Enterprise SaaS: under 0.5–1% monthly - PLG bottom-up: 5–10% monthly (high variance)
Korea vs Japan
- **Korea**: monthly billing, short contracts → higher churn variability. Product quality and customer support dominate - **Japan**: annual contracts and ringi-led onboarding → churn generally lower; renewal moments need concentrated care
Reduction strategies
- Invest in onboarding (first 30 days determine ~70% of churn) - Analyze usage → proactive support for dormant customers - In-product messaging via Channel.io / Intercom - NPS surveys and CS feedback loops
Tools
- ChartMogul / Baremetrics / ProfitWell: churn analysis - Mixpanel / Amplitude: churn-precursor behavior detection - Channel.io: proactive outreach to at-risk customers