# Retention

> Read ClickClacks retention: the project’s retention definition, daily, weekly and monthly cohorts, the grid and curve, the two retained rules, minimum cohort size, breakdowns and segment comparisons.

- Canonical URL: https://clickclacks.io/docs/guides/retention
- Section: Product guides
- Last updated: 2026-09-26

Retention groups people by when they started, then shows how many came back in each day, week or month after. It is how you tell whether people are forming a habit or quietly drifting away.

## When to use it {#when}

- “What share of new visitors come back in week 1?”
- “Are people who signed up this month sticking around better than last month’s?”
- “Do people keep using the feature, or try it once?”

## The definition {#definition}

The strip at the top reads the definition as a sentence, for example _People who did Signed up then came back and did any event · 8 weekly cohorts · 1,204 people_. Click **Edit definition** to change it:

- **Starting event**: puts each person into a cohort by when they first did it. The default is a pageview.
- **Returning event**: **Any event** (the default) measures visits. Pick a specific event to measure a habit instead.
- **Count someone as retained if they…**
  - **Came back in that week**: a quiet week doesn’t remove them from later weeks.
  - **Came back every week since**: stricter. One quiet week drops them for good.
- **Hide cohorts under 20 people**: on by default, so a tiny cohort can’t swing the picture. Change the number, or switch it off to see every cohort.

> **One definition per project**
>
> The definition is saved for the whole project. When you press **Apply**, everyone sees the new version, so the team always reads the same numbers. Tell your team before you change it.

Switch between **Daily**, **Weekly** (the default) and **Monthly** cohorts at the top. The wording follows, so weekly cohorts talk about weeks and daily ones about days.

## Reading the grid {#read}

Four cards sit above the grid:

- **Week 1 retention** and **Week 4 retention**: averaged across cohorts old enough to have them.
- **Where the curve flattens**: the period after which it loses less than 1 point per period.
- **Median cohort size**, with the smallest and largest.

In the **Grid**, each row is a cohort: when it started, how many people, and the share who came back in W0, W1, W2 and so on. The **All cohorts** row on top blends them. Darker cells mean more people came back.

Blank cells are periods that haven’t happened yet. The current week is left out until it closes, so a young cohort never looks like a drop.

## The curve {#curve}

Switch the view to **Curve** to draw each cohort as a line: the share still active, by week since they started. A curve that levels off means you have found people who stay. One that keeps falling means everyone eventually leaves.

## Who came back {#audiences}

Click any cell to open its audience, for example _Aug 4 · weekly period 2_. Choose **Retained** or **Not retained** to list exactly who came back, or who didn’t, under your definition and filters. Click a person to open their profile.

## Breakdowns and segments {#split}

- **Break down by** splits cohorts by a property of each person’s first starting event, such as UTM source or Country. You get the top 5 values, and the rest are grouped as Other.
- **Compare segments** splits them by up to five saved segments, plus Other.
- A breakdown and a segment comparison replace each other. The cards then show the high and low values, and the curve draws one line per value.

## Filters {#filters}

Segment, dates, source and property filters in the [filter bar](https://clickclacks.io/docs/guides/filters.md) apply to the report and to the audiences. Retention doesn’t compare to the previous period. To compare groups of cohorts, read the newer and older rows side by side, or use Compare segments.

## Tips and gotchas {#tips}

- **“Not enough history yet”** means the project needs two completed periods. Click **Switch to daily cohorts** to see something sooner.
- **“No cohort qualifies yet”** means every cohort is under the minimum size. Lower it, or pick a more common starting event.
- **The daily, weekly or monthly choice and the Grid or Curve view** aren’t kept in the page address, so a link opens weekly and as a grid.
- **Pick the returning event with care.** Any event counts a visit as “coming back”, including a single pageview. A specific event, such as `Project created`, is a stronger signal.

## Recipes {#recipes}

### What % of new visitors come back in week 1?

1. Click **Edit definition**. Set **Starting event** to a pageview and **Returning event** to **Any event**.
2. Choose **Came back in that week** and press **Apply**.
3. Keep **Weekly** cohorts and read the **Week 1 retention** card.

That card is the average share of new visitors who came back the week after their first visit. The W1 column shows the same for each cohort, so you can see whether it is improving.

### Do people keep using the export feature?

1. Set **Starting event** and **Returning event** both to `Export created`.
2. Choose **Came back every week since**, which is the strict habit test.
3. Switch the view to **Curve**.

If the lines flatten, a core group has made exports a habit. Click a W4 cell and choose **Retained** to see who they are.

### Do people from paid ads stick around as well as organic visitors?

1. Click **Break down by** and choose **UTM medium**.
2. Compare the `cpc` rows with the _Other_ rows at W1 and W4.

## Related {#related}

- [Segments](https://clickclacks.io/docs/guides/segments.md): Compare retention between groups.
- [Funnels](https://clickclacks.io/docs/guides/funnels.md): How people get to the starting event.
- [Alerts](https://clickclacks.io/docs/guides/alerts.md): Watch week 1 retention for you.
- [Boards](https://clickclacks.io/docs/guides/boards.md): Put the cohort grid on a board.