Activation means reaching first value; retention means continuing to receive value. Logo churn counts lost customers; revenue churn measures recurring revenue lost.

How to apply it

Define cohorts, periods, pauses, reactivations, and denominators. Combine behavior with interviews and segment churn by onboarding, reliability, capability gaps, price, and customer changes.

Worked example

Compare later retention between accounts that complete a validated activation behavior and those that do not; avoid causal claims without appropriate analysis.

Common mistakes to avoid

Making cancellation difficult to reduce churn metrics or comparing inconsistent definitions.

Practice task

Implement this concept in the capstone. Add one positive test, one negative or failure-path test, and a short note explaining the trade-off you chose.