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Analyzing Customers Using the Cohort Report

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Last updated on Sep 19, 2026

A cohort is a "like group" of Customers. The Cohort Report lets you analyze these like groups. In a subscription business, the most common cohort is the "class of," meaning the Customers who started in a specific month. A cohort could also be all Customers in a specific industry, sold through a specific channel, or sold by a specific sales rep. You can report by a number of different cohorts using the Cohort Report.

Cohort Report grouped by item then customer, with monthly columns from January to August 2023 and a negative Discount row in parentheses
Cohort Report results

Configuration options

To open the Cohort Report Builder, go to Reports > Add Report > Analytics Reports, then select Cohort. Configure the following settings before you run the report.

Cohort Report Builder with ten metric choices for Use, Report By options of Time, Duration, Elapsed or Term, and Cohort set to Register Name
Cohort Report Builder
SettingDescription
Currency PresentationChoose to report in either the designated Home Currency of your entity, or the Local Currency of the Register you're reporting in. You can report across Registers if you select Home Currency. If you select Local Currency, you must select at least one Register, and all selected Registers must use the same currency.
RegistersSelect one or more Registers from which Transactions are included. If you don't select a Register, all Registers are included.
UseSelect MRR, ARR, Amount, Customer Count, Quantity, Average MRR, Average ARR, or Average Amount. If your account has numeric custom fields defined on Transactions, those also appear as additional choices (shown as Custom Field 3 (Number) and Custom Field 4 (Number) in the example above). For purely monthly subscription businesses, MRR and Amount may be the same. However, if you have prorated Transactions, choose MRR.
Report ByReport By determines the class of columns displayed. If you report by Time, the columns are dates. If you report by Term, the columns are whole Term Numbers.
  • Time - Columns are date ranges, determined by the Date Range and Periodicity settings. Select fixed Custom Dates or one of the Build Precise Searches Using List Filters date range options.
  • Duration - Uses the actual Transaction Start Date and End Date.
  • Elapsed - Uses the first day of the month as the Transaction start, and the actual Transaction End Date. Use this setting if you have prorated partial-period Transactions that start after the first day of the period and end on the last day of the period.
  • Term - Displays columns by Term Number rather than by date. This normalizes your contracts to a Term Number, disregarding the Transaction dates and using the Term Number field instead. Use for waterfall and cohort analysis. When you report by Term, you must select the Start Term and End Term numbers (whole numbers only).
    Maxio Platform attempts to calculate and set Term Numbers when you add or renew Transactions, but there are many scenarios where the number may not reflect an actual term. Term Numbers are most accurate for monthly or simple subscription models, and less accurate the more complicated and frequent the mid-term upgrades, downgrades, extensions, and other contract changes during a Customer's subscription term.
Date RangeChoose the date range you want to report on, or create a custom date range.
PeriodicityColumns appear for each of the following periods within the Date Range specified above.
  • Monthly - First day of the month to the end of the month.
  • Quarterly - 90-day periods beginning with the Start Month and Start Year of the date range.
  • Yearly - 365-day periods beginning with the Start Month and Start Year of the date range.
Start & EndSelect the number of periods you want to count. This displays only if you're using the Duration, Elapsed, or Term options for the Report By setting.
Item GroupSelect an optional Item Group as a mechanism to filter Transactions. This report can include both recurring and non-recurring Transactions, depending on which Items the Item Group contains.
If you don't select an Item Group, all Transactions are included. If you select an Item Group with no Items, all Transactions are also included.
See Create and Use Item Groups for how to create or manage these.
Item TypeThe Item Type selection limits which Transactions are included in the analysis.
  • Recurring Only - Includes only Transactions with recurring Item Types. This is the default setting.
  • All - Includes Transactions with recurring or non-recurring Item Types.
  • Non-recurring Only - Includes only Transactions with non-recurring Item Types.
CohortCohort determines how rows are grouped in the report. For the most common type of cohort reporting, select one of the "Earliest" options below. The Earliest date is determined before any filters are applied.
  • Customer: Earliest Start Date - Sets the cohort to the period of the earliest Transaction Start Date for the Customer.
  • Customer: Earliest Order/Start Date - Sets the cohort to the period of the earliest Transaction Start or Order Date for the Customer.
  • Customer: Earliest Start Date (Recurring TX) - The same as above, limited to the Customer's recurring Transactions.
  • Customer: Earliest Order/Start Date (Recurring TX) - The same as above, limited to the Customer's recurring Transactions.
  • Transaction: Number - See Drill down to individual Transactions below.
Each of the four "Earliest" choices above is available in three period granularities - Month, FY Quarter, and FY (fiscal year) - for example, Customer: Earliest Start Date (FY Quarter).
Cohort Row OrderChoose how cohort rows are sorted in the table. This option gives finance teams, analysts, and product managers more flexibility when reviewing MRR cohort performance.
Options:
  • Ascending - Sorts cohort rows from earliest to latest, based on the selected cohort definition. This is the default setting.
  • Descending - Sorts cohort rows from latest to earliest, which can help surface newer or higher-performing cohorts at the top of the report.
  • First Period (High to Low) - Sorts cohort rows by their value in the first period, highest to lowest.
  • Latest Period (High to Low) - Sorts cohort rows by their value in the most recent period, highest to lowest.
  • Total (High to Low) - Sorts cohort rows by their total value across all periods, highest to lowest.
Common use cases:
  • Highlighting top-performing cohorts for executive review.
  • Organizing cohorts chronologically for trend analysis.
Period DirectionChoose whether periods display oldest to newest or newest to oldest across the report. This option controls the visual direction of time, making it easier to focus on recent or historical performance.
Options:
  • Oldest to Newest - Displays periods in chronological order from left to right, starting with the earliest period. This is the default setting.
  • Newest to Oldest - Displays periods in reverse chronological order, starting with the most recent period on the left.
Common use cases:
  • Comparing recent performance trends by reversing period order.
  • Aligning cohort views with other reports that prioritize current periods.
DisplaySelect whether to display actual numbers or percentage changes. When you select one of the "Percentage" options, the first column displays the absolute value, and all columns to the right display the percentage change.
  • Value - Displays the actual value for each period.
  • Percentage of Previous Period - Displays the ratio of the value in this period to the previous period. No change is considered 100%.
  • Percentage of Start Period - Displays the ratio of the value in this period to the value in the first period.
ColorsColor-coding for your report is available only if you select one of the percentage options (Percentage of Previous Period or Percentage of Start Period) for Display.
Assign colors to percentage thresholds to make your report results easier to interpret. The color for each threshold applies to result values at or above the entered threshold, and the color assigned for the bottom row (the default threshold) applies to all result values below the lowest threshold.
Use these color thresholds to help you identify MRR retention, expansion, and contraction across multiple reporting periods.
Column TotalsCheck this box to display a totals row with the sum of each column's values.
Show DecimalsCheck this box to show two decimal places in the report output.
Detail ExpansionSimilar to other Reports within Maxio Platform, expand based on Customer or Momentum Category for further segmenting.
  • No detail expansion - Provides summary information only. This is the default setting, and runs faster.
  • By Customer, initially collapsed - Enables drill-down by row and by cell. Report performance is slower in this mode.
  • By Momentum Category, initially expanded - Expands each cohort row into its underlying Momentum categories, shown initially.
  • By Momentum Category, initially collapsed - Expands each cohort row into its underlying Momentum categories, hidden initially.
The By Momentum Category options are available only for Time-based reports using a compatible Use amount and Cohort selection.
Freeze Left ColumnCheck this box to lock the immediate left column in place, allowing you to scroll through the rest of the report while keeping this left column visible.
FiltersSelect one or more filters and appropriate matching criteria to filter Transactions in or out. See Build Precise Searches Using List Filters for details.

Drill down to individual transactions

Selecting Transaction: Number as your Cohort creates a specialized cohort with its own properties and functionality. A Cohort Report using this cohort works the same as the Transaction Momentum Report you get when you drill down to the most granular level of the Advanced Subscription Momentum Report Overview. Whether you create it through that drill-down or directly in the Cohort Report builder, this cohort bridges the gap between the higher-level Subscription Momentum™ calculations and the more detailed Cohort calculations.

When you create a Cohort Report using Transaction: Number as your Cohort, you can add additional Customer, Item, or Transaction details to the report to control how granular the results are.

Report results

Each row in the report represents a unique cohort. Transactions are included in the calculation only if they have an Item that's part of the selected Item Group.

Important: For a report column, a Transaction is included only if it has both a Start Date on or before the last day of the month, and an End Date on or after the last day of the month.

The following examples show how a Transaction's Start Date and End Date determine which periods it's included in, based on your Report By selection.

Transaction date examples by Report By selection

Transaction datesBy TimeBy Duration (Monthly)By Elapsed (Monthly)
Start 2/15, End 2/28Included in February onlyExcluded from Month 1Included in Month 1
Start 2/15, End 3/31Included in February and MarchIncluded in Month 1 onlyIncluded in Month 1 and Month 2
Start 2/15, End 3/30Included in February onlyIncluded in Month 1 onlyIncluded in Month 1 only
Start 3/15, End 3/30ExcludedExcludedExcluded

Any Transaction with a non-recurring Item (one-time) whose Start Date equals its End Date, and that date isn't the last day of the month, is excluded, even if the Item is included in the Item Group.

For which cohort shape, percentage view, and Momentum expansion answer which retention question, see What You Can Do with the Cohort Report.

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