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Retention Rate

Updated
The Goal: Work out your retention rate — the percentage of members you kept over a period — using the Total Memberships widget on your dashboard and the New Membership Report.

Before You Begin:

  • Decide the period you want to measure. Use that same period for every figure below, or the result will not be meaningful.
  • You need the Total Memberships widget on your dashboard. If it is not there, click the Add Widgets button on the dashboard to put it back.
  • You need permission to run reports, so that you can run the New Membership Report.

How retention rate is calculated

Retention rate is the percentage of members retained over a given period. You can work it out if you know how many members you had at the start of the period, how many you had at the end, and how many of those were new.

Calculation: (End Count − New Members) ÷ Start Count = Retention Rate

Find the start count and the end count

The Total Memberships widget on your dashboard gives you both figures.

  1. Go to Home, click Dashboard. Scroll to My Dashboard, where your widgets are listed.
  2. Click the settings icon for the Total Memberships widget, then click Edit Widget.
    My Dashboard with the Total Memberships widget and its settings icon boxed in red
  3. On the Edit Total Memberships Chart Settings screen, set Duration to Custom. A Duration Date Range field appears. Select the date range you want to measure.
    Edit Total Memberships Chart Settings dialog with Duration set to Custom and the Duration Date Range field boxed in red
  4. Click Done. The Total Memberships widget refreshes for the date range you chose.
  5. Read the first and last points on the chart. The first is your Start Count and the last is your End Count.
    Total Memberships line chart plotting membership totals by month across the selected range

Find the number of new members

  1. Go to Reports, click All Reports and open the New Membership Report.
  2. Set Membership Start Date to the same date range you used for the chart, then click the Run Report button.
    New Membership Report criteria screen with the Membership Start Date range and the RUN REPORT button boxed in red
  3. The results count above the grid is your number of New Members. For more on running and filtering this report, see New Membership Report.
    New Membership Report results grid listing contact name, membership, membership start date and membership status

Do the calculation

Subtract New Members from your End Count, then divide the result by your Start Count. That is your retention rate.

Common Pitfalls

  • Mismatched date ranges: The chart range and the Membership Start Date range on the report must be identical. If they differ, you are subtracting new members who are not inside your start and end counts.
  • Leaving Duration on a preset: The Duration Date Range field only appears once Duration is set to Custom. On a preset such as Last one year you cannot pin the chart to your own period.
  • Forgetting to subtract new members: Retention measures members you kept, not total growth. New members must come out of the end count before you divide.

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