Lifecycle of a subscription

Subscription Lifecycle is ChartMogul's way of tracking every change a customer makes to their subscription — from their first purchase through upgrades, downgrades, cancellations, and reactivations.

ChartMogul tracks each of these changes as MRR movements — shifts in monthly recurring revenue caused by subscription changes — and displays them on the customer's record and in the Report Data table below reports.

Let’s take a look

Imagine your company offers the following subscription plans:

In addition to the Gold and Silver paid plans, you also offer a free, time-limited trial.

Now, let’s look at a fictional subscribers—Tetoko—and see how ChartMogul uses MRR movements to organize and report on changes the company makes to its subscriptions.

New Business: First subscription from a customer

• Billing: $2,000 (4 × Gold yearly plans)
• MRR: $166.67 ($2,000 ÷ 12)
• Movement: New Business — first subscription from this customer

Expansion

A few days later, Tetoko adds two Silver monthly plans. You bill them $60. ChartMogul calculates the MRR as $60 and—because this is an additional subscription for an existing customer—classifies it as Expansion (and not New Business). 

Contraction

Two weeks later, Tetoko realizes they don't need the Silver plan and cancels their subscription mid-cycle (before the current billing period is over). Since they have another active subscription, ChartMogul classifies the $60 in MRR as Contraction — a reduction in MRR from an existing customer who still has at least one active subscription (rather than Churn).

Neutral: A discount that zeroes out MRR change

A few months later, Tetoko's champion tells an account manager they're thinking about canceling. The account manager applies a 100% discount on the Silver plan until the Gold plan renews. ChartMogul records this as a neutral movement — no change in MRR.

Churn

As Tetoko approaches the end of the first year of their yearly Gold subscription, they decide to reduce spending by canceling their subscription.

As this was their last active subscription, ChartMogul classifies the cancellation as Churn and reports the churn at the end of the current billing period (since they’ve already paid for the entire year).

Reactivation: A former customer re-subscribes

Great news, Tetoko re-subscribes! This time, they choose three Gold monthly plans. As a former paying subscriber, ChartMogul classifies the MRR as Reactivation with a value of $150.