# Retention & Cohort

Retention & Cohort helps you understand whether users come back and what they do after a starting event. Use it when the key question is about repeat behavior over time.

### Understand the two analysis types

#### Retention

Retention measures how many users return to perform an event again after the starting date.

This is useful for tracking:

* app opens,
* repeat engagement,
* ongoing usage,
* or post-campaign return behavior.

#### Cohort

Cohort analysis groups users by a first event, then measures how many of them complete a second event over time.

This is useful for questions like:

* how many users purchase after sign-up,
* how many users revisit after first open,
* or how different acquisition days compare later.

{% @arcade/embed url="<https://app.arcade.software/share/kGDAOswEqn2azBGX1gln>" flowId="kGDAOswEqn2azBGX1gln" %}

### Start a retention chart

Retention includes separate **Mobile** and **Web** tabs.

Choose the event that represents the behavior you want to measure. A common example is **Open App**.

Then select the starting date or date range for the analysis.

<figure><img src="/files/0JTEhocAuUu9WXeRMAok" alt="" width="375"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

### Read retention results

The retention table shows how engagement evolves after the first day.

Key fields:

1. **Day of Open App**
   * days since the initial event
2. **Users**
   * number of users who returned on that day
3. **% of Users Open App**
   * percentage of the starting cohort that returned

<figure><img src="/files/7cRr6T2Dov4cgYjllXKu" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

Use this table to see how quickly users fall off or stabilize over time.

### Start a cohort analysis

Choose two events:

1. **Event 1** defines the starting cohort.
2. **Event 2** defines the later behavior you want to measure.

Example:

* **Event 1:** Open App
* **Event 2:** Purchase

Then choose the start date for the cohort.

<figure><img src="/files/iphaGWVBPm7kqrmKKKmd" alt="" width="563"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="/files/6nRs45H4Uzb0d47y88K8" alt="" width="375"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

### Read cohort results

The cohort table tracks how users from each starting day move toward Event 2.

#### Main columns

1. **Day of Event 1**
   * the day the starting cohort was created
2. **Users (+0, +1, +2, ...)**
   * how many users completed Event 2 on each later day
3. **% of Users (+0, +1, +2, ...)**
   * what share of the starting cohort completed Event 2 on each later day

<figure><img src="/files/TOBfVWvi5g1rcHwgvtCc" alt="" width="563"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

### Export or tag users

Use **Export** when you need:

* offline analysis,
* reporting,
* or deeper comparison in Excel.

You can also reuse the result operationally by tagging users for later campaign targeting.

<figure><img src="/files/bycpmU3bYeAJ8g31zCbV" alt="" width="375"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

For tagging details, see [Tags](/netmera-user-guide/targeting/tags.md).


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