Free template · spreadsheet pattern · printable

Cohort retention template.

The standard triangle table. Rows = acquisition month. Columns = months since acquisition. Cells = % of cohort still active. Copy the structure, drop your data in, ship insights to your board this week.

The pattern (preview — first 6 cohorts)

Read each row left-to-right: this is how that month's acquired customers retain over time. Read down any column: this is how each cohort compares at month-N.

Acq cohortM0M1M2M3M4M5
Jun 2025100%68%52%44%39%35%
Jul 2025100%71%55%47%41%37%
Aug 2025100%65%49%41%35%31%
Sep 2025100%74%58%49%43%39%
Oct 2025100%69%53%45%40%36%
Nov 2025100%72%56%48%42%38%

Preview ends here

Remaining 6 cohorts + the Sheets formulas + how to read this table for action are gated below.

Unlock the full template

Email unlocks the rest of the triangle, formulas, and the action-reading guide.

Full triangle (12 cohorts)

Acq cohortM0M1M2M3M4M5M6M7M8M9M10M11
Jun 2025100%68%52%44%39%35%32%30%28%27%25%24%
Jul 2025100%71%55%47%41%37%34%32%30%28%27%—
Aug 2025100%65%49%41%35%31%28%26%24%23%——
Sep 2025100%74%58%49%43%39%36%33%31%———
Oct 2025100%69%53%45%40%36%33%31%————
Nov 2025100%72%56%48%42%38%35%—————
Dec 2025100%67%51%43%38%34%——————
Jan 2026100%70%54%46%40%———————
Feb 2026100%73%57%49%————————
Mar 2026100%76%60%—————————
Apr 2026100%72%——————————
May 2026100%———————————

Sheets formulas

Assume column A = cohort label, B = M0 (always 100%), then C-N populate from your customers table.

M1 retention =
COUNTIFS(orders!cohort, A2, orders!months_since_acq, ">=1") /
COUNTIFS(orders!cohort, A2, orders!months_since_acq, ">=0")

How to read this for action

  1. Row-wise: Each cohort's retention curve. Find the cohort with the slowest M1→M2 drop — that's your healthiest. What was different about how you acquired them? (Channel, geo, hero product, promo)
  2. Column-wise: Each month-N column across cohorts. If M3 retention is flat-or-declining across recent cohorts, your product is leaking — fix retention before scaling.
  3. Diagonal: Look at the current "live" diagonal (most recent month for each cohort). If newer cohorts are dropping faster than old ones at same age, your acquisition quality is degrading.

Pair with

Once you have the retention data, feed it into our cohort LTV calculator to compute payback months and 24-month LTV projection.