Cohort Analysis Guide

Cohort Analysis Guide

A cohort table groups customers by when they started (their "cohort") and tracks their behavior over time.

Common questions it answers:

• Do customers from last quarter retain better than those from a year ago?
• How quickly do different cohorts ramp their spend?
• Did a product or onboarding change improve retention?

Key Concepts

• Cohort – A group of customers who share a start event, usually signup month.
• Period – How far from that start event you are (e.g., Month 1, Month 2, Month 3).
• Value – What you measure (active customers, revenue, MRR, etc.).

Jetti can output both:

• Wide format – Each column is a period offset (Month 0, Month 1, …)
• Long format – Each row is (Cohort, Period, Value).

How to Read a Cohort Table

              Month 0   Month 1   Month 2   Month 3
             ────────  ────────  ────────  ────────
Jan 2024       100%      85%       70%       65%
Feb 2024       100%      82%       68%       64%
Mar 2024       100%      80%       72%
Apr 2024       100%      88%

• Each row is a group of customers who started in that month
• Each column shows their "age" (Month 0 = first month, Month 1 = second month, etc.)
• Read left-to-right to see how retention changes as customers age
• The diagonal shape is normal — newer cohorts haven't aged as long yet

Creating a Cohort Report

1. Select your data source (Sheet or Drive file)
2. Verify column mapping:
   • Customer ID → Your unique identifier
   • Cohort Date → When customer first appeared
   • Value → Revenue or count to track
3. Choose analysis type:
   • Customer Retention — Track how many customers remain active
   • Revenue Retention — Track how much revenue is retained
4. Click Generate and wait for processing

What to Look For

Settings Reference