Article · 15 min read

Cohort Retention Analysis: Essential Metrics Guide

Amplitude Free Intermediate

Watching sessions tells you the story; a cohort retention curve tells you the numbers, and this guide walks through building one so you can see whether it flattens or falls to zero. It shows why aggregate retention hides the truth and how grouping users by signup week exposes whether recent changes are helping. This is the how to behind the 'retention curve' language in your answer.

  • Group users by start date to read retention honestly
  • A flattening curve marks a retained core, a falling one does not
  • Aggregate numbers hide whether the product is improving
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The question it answers

  1. My MVP works but nobody sticks around after signing up. How do I diagnose whether it's a product problem or an onboarding problem?

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