Reading the Retention Heatmap
The Retention Heatmap (Analytics → Retention) shows cohort-based retention across your client base — how many clients from each monthly cohort remain active over time.
What the Heatmap Shows
The heatmap is a grid where each row represents a cohort of clients who joined your practice in the same month, and each column represents how many months have passed since they joined.
- Y-axis (rows): Cohort month — the month each group of clients connected to your practice
- X-axis (columns): Months since joining — Month 0 is their first month, Month 1 is the following month, and so on
- Cell value: The percentage of that cohort who were active (logged in at least once) during that month
Reading the Color Scale
Cell colors range from light to dark based on the retention percentage:
| Color | Retention | |-------|-----------| | Darkest shade | 80–100% of the cohort active | | Medium shade | 40–79% of the cohort active | | Light shade | 10–39% of the cohort active | | Lightest / empty | Below 10% of the cohort active |
The Month 0 column is always the darkest because it counts the month clients joined — nearly all clients are active in their first month. The meaningful signal starts in Month 1 and beyond, where you can see how activity evolves after the initial connection.
What Patterns Look Like
Consistent horizontal bands — if retention stays relatively stable across columns for a cohort, those clients are maintaining engagement over time. A row that stays in the medium-to-dark range through Months 3, 6, and 12 indicates sustained activity.
Sharp drop after Month 1 — a noticeable color shift from dark to light between Month 0 and Month 1 across multiple cohorts suggests that clients are connecting but not returning after the initial setup. This is a signal about your onboarding process.
Improving recent cohorts — if your newer cohorts (bottom rows) show darker cells in early months compared to older cohorts at the same stage, your onboarding or initial experience may be improving over time.
Seasonal variation — lighter columns at consistent intervals (e.g., every December) may reflect seasonal patterns in client activity rather than any change in your practice.
Compare the heatmap against changes you've made to your onboarding process. If you changed how you introduce new clients to Policy Stack three months ago, look at whether the cohorts from that point forward show different early-month retention patterns compared to earlier cohorts.
Evaluating Onboarding Effectiveness
The most actionable use of the retention heatmap is evaluating the Month 0 → Month 1 → Month 2 transition. This three-month window is where most client engagement patterns are established.
- Look at the Month 1 column across your recent cohorts — what percentage of clients return after their first month?
- Compare Month 1 retention to Month 3 — clients who make it to Month 3 with consistent activity tend to remain engaged long-term
- Identify any cohorts with notably different patterns and consider what was different about those clients or your onboarding approach at that time
The heatmap does not tell you why clients stay or leave — it shows the pattern. The interpretation depends on your knowledge of your practice, your clients, and what was happening during each period.