Short answer
Divide opening-base customers who cease to be active during the period by active customers at its start. Define effective cancellation and separate new additions. A service reduction can lower revenue without losing the customer; customer and revenue churn are different percentages.
Key verification: The fictional cohort begins with 20 customers and loses 3: 15%. Four additions do not change that denominator; the closing base is 21.
Sources and limitationsAn agency can finish a month with more customers while still losing part of its portfolio. Additions and losses describe different movements. Churn shows how much of the opening base was lost without hiding it inside net growth. It suits recurring relationships; completed one-off projects are not automatically cancellations.
Define active customers and effective dates
Write down which agreement keeps a relationship active and when that status ends. Use the effective end date rather than the notice date. An unpaid invoice or unanswered call does not establish cancellation by itself. Someone retaining another service remains a customer under an account-level definition, even if revenue falls.
Stripe explains churn calculation. Our resource measures losses only among customers present at the start, an explicit cohort convention. If a new addition also cancels during the month, report it separately and disclose that convention; do not silently add it to this cohort.
Worked example including additions
Download the fictional portfolio CSV. The fields active_at_start, cancelled_effective_in_period and new_in_period use 1 for yes and 0 for no. There are 20 opening customers, three effective losses from that base and four additions. Cohort churn is 3/20 = 15%. With no other movements, the closing base is 20 − 3 + 4 = 21.
Dividing three by 21 uses another base and lowers the percentage without justification. Dividing by 24 incorporates additions and changes the question too. If a retained customer reduces service, customer churn remains 15%; calculate recurring revenue loss separately using its own monetary base and currency.
CRM record and reconciliation
Retain account identifier, active services, start, notice, effective cancellation and approved reason. Riibase presents contact management and commercial processes; confirm fields and reports for reconstructing historical states. A current “inactive” status alone cannot establish who was active at the start of a past month.
Freeze an opening export and record movements to reconcile the closing base. Handle reactivations under a written rule: this example contains none. If they occur, show gross losses, reactivations and closing count separately. Do not retrospectively alter the opening base because a contact name was corrected.
Interpretation before automation
Show absolute counts and verified reasons beside the percentage. In a small portfolio, one loss changes the result materially; it is not a reliable forecast by itself. A worksheet may suffice for a few agreements. Evaluate Riibase when several people need linked customers, services and follow-up, checking historical reporting before purchasing.
Sources and limitations
Documentary review: . Content type: Documentation-based guide with original resource.
Sources describe terms and capabilities stated by their owners. Proposed protocols and fictional examples do not establish product tests performed by CallsIQ.
- Stripe explains churn calculationstripe.com
- contact management and commercial processeswww.riibase.com
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