The Goal: Calculate your Lapse Rate (Churn) — the percentage of members that discontinue their membership over a given period of time.
Before You Begin:
- Decide the period you want to measure, and use the same period for both numbers in the calculation.
- You need the Total Memberships widget on your dashboard to read the Start Count. See Retention Rate for how the Start Count is derived.
- You need staff access to Reports to run the Dropped Membership Report.
| CALCULATION: Dropped Members ÷ Start Count = Lapse Rate |
Step-by-Step Instructions
Find your Start Count
- Go to Home, click Dashboard.
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Scroll to the Total Memberships widget under My Dashboard, and hover over the data point for the first month of your period to read the membership total for that month. That figure is your Start Count.
Find your Dropped Members count
- Select Reports in the left-hand rail, then click All Reports.
- Search for and select the Dropped Membership Report. See Dropped Membership Report for instructions on generating the report.
- Set the Date Range to the same period you used to find the Start Count, then click Run Report.
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Read the Results count above the report grid. That figure is your Dropped Members count.
Do the calculation
Divide the Dropped Members count by the Start Count. For example, with a Start Count of 2,331 and 241 memberships dropped over the same period:
241 ÷ 2,331 = .10 Lapse Rate = 10%
Common Pitfalls
- Mismatched periods: The Start Count and the Dropped Membership Report must cover the same date range, or the percentage is meaningless.
- Counting contacts instead of memberships: Both figures count memberships, not people. An organization with several memberships is counted once per membership.