Video Business Academy sold a $4K to $7K program. Its clients stayed two to three years. Nobody there had a monthly churn number.
A coach with a $97 a month Skool community and a coach with a $10K program both say "churn" and mean different things. One loses a slice of members every month; the other loses a client in week two or at the end of a six-month term. Measuring them the same way hides both problems.
What does churn mean in a paid community?
A monthly percentage. Paid Skool communities lose 12 to 18% of members a month, on vendor data from Tools4Skool. Of the people who leave, 60% decide in week one. At 15% a month, about 14 of every 100 members are left after a year.
It is a front-end number. In the offers we run, the $97 community has one position only: the last downsell for people who could not pay for the main offer. One made a couple of thousand a month with almost no maintenance, and its churn matters about as much as its revenue.
Where does a $10K program lose clients?
At two points, and both have names. The first 30 days, when a client with no first win feels down and starts thinking the program is bad. And the end of the term, when a client who hit the goal feels done and nothing is waiting. In between, an upfront-paid client does not churn; they go quiet, and quiet has a different fix.
Refund requests are the early number. Two or three per 100 new clients is good, under five is fine, and every one gets a call first. The end-of-term number is the resell rate: 40% or more of the winners when the next offer is relevant.
High churn after the initial contract ends, typically at about five months, is the pain most coaches describe to us. That is a program with no next offer and a client who finished. The fix is the next offer. At Video Business Academy that was a second offer, $10K to $25K, plus an extension for clients close to the goal.
| $97 a month community | $6K to $12K program | |
|---|---|---|
| Billing | Monthly | Upfront, or monthly from $1.5K |
| When clients leave | Any month; 60% decide in week one | First 30 days, and the end of the term |
| The number to watch | Monthly churn, 12 to 18% typical | Client success rate, on-track rate, resell rate |
| Early warning | Week-one activity | Refund requests: two or three per 100 new clients is good |
| What fixes it | Less in it, cheaper to keep | A first win in two weeks; the next offer 60 days before the end |
Should a high-ticket program bill monthly?
Only from $1.5K a month, and only for the right audience. Fixed term is the $6K to $12K upfront payment. For a new client we take the upfront payment unless the audience is entrepreneurs who are already further along. Beginners and first-timers on monthly billing turn into people who stop paying, and the team ends up chasing money.
Upfront billing is also why a high-ticket program has no month-four churn: the client already paid. The questions are whether they reach the result and whether they buy the next thing. Both are tracked per client on the Monday.com board, never as a percentage of a subscriber base.
For a new client I would rather take an upfront payment than monthly, unless the audience is entrepreneurs who are already further along. Beginners, first-timers, people not yet successful: monthly leads to people who stop paying, you feel it in cash flow, and you end up chasing money. Monthly works for very high ticket, $1.5K a month minimum.
What replaces the churn number in a high-ticket program?
Three numbers per client. Client success rate: the share who reach the promised result, 15 to 50% once tracked, 50% and up at Video Business Academy. On-track rate: whether each client is on time against the milestone they are on. Resell rate: the share who buy the next offer, 30% and more of revenue at Video Business Academy.
Lifetime duration sits behind them. A client stays up to two years depending on the offer, and extensions and next offers stretch that by another 30%, up to 50%. Video Business Academy's clients stayed two to three years on a program that ran months. None of that shows up in a monthly churn rate.
Result from a named client with written permission. Typical clients of this cohort saw a range of outcomes; nothing here is a guarantee. How we handle claims.
Watch out. If you run a $97 community as a downsell, do not put live calls or chat support in it. Clients ask why the big program costs more for the same thing, and the reason to upgrade is gone. It happens faster than you think.
Further reading: Paid community churn: what 12 to 18% a month really costs · Month-to-month vs fixed-term coaching programs
