Should I calculate churn in a web app with few customers?

Sometimes calculating churn just does not make sense.

Let’s say you have a SaaS app that you’re just starting out, or naturally have a small audience. Small in this case is less than 100 customers. Let’s say you have 10 paying customers.

Does it make sense to calculate the churn with such a small user base?

Probably not. But I usually recommend my clients to do it anyway. Why? It makes sense to establish good habits early, and churn is one of the Key Performance Indicators that you really should track from the start.

The calculation formula is exactly the same as for big apps, but with low customer numbers your churn will fluctuate a lot. Some months will be zero churn, some will be really high. So, don’t care a lot about the numbers. Care about the habit of tracking your web app’s growth.

Your focus with such low numbers will be:

• How do I get more customers?
• If someone cancelled their plan - why did they do it?

So, get in the habit of tracking and you will have a good platform for when your app grows bigger.