Video Business Academy's client success rate reached 50%. Every second client hit the $10K month the offer promised.
Coaching founders often track one of four numbers and call it retention. Each one measures something different. Only one of them tells you whether the program works.
What does each number measure?
Each answers one question about the clients in a cohort. Count all four the same way every time, or the trend means nothing. Count per cohort, by the month clients started, because a blended number hides whether newer cohorts do better.
| Number | The question it answers | How to count it | What it misses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retention rate | Who is still in? | Clients active at the end of a period, divided by clients active at the start | Whether anyone got a result |
| Completion rate | Who finished the training? | Clients who finished the last stage, divided by clients who started | Whether finishing changed their number |
| Renewal or resell rate | Who bought again? | Clients who bought a next offer, divided by clients who reached the end | Why the others did not |
| Client success rate | Who reached the promised result? | Clients who reached the defined result, divided by clients who started, per cohort | Money, on its own |
Why does client success rate come first?
Because the other three follow it. A client who reached the result stays to the end, finishes the training, gives proof and is ready for the next offer. A client who did not reach it does none of those.
That is the chain behind clients who pay once. No data, no client path, low success rate, few winners, nothing to sell next, one transaction. Fix the first two links and the rest follows.
First build the data, then the number of people getting results, then on-track rate, then proof collected, then how many people upgrade. Track over time as well as live. People who only see the current month never see whether they got better or worse three months ago. So they loop in the same place.
When does retention rate mislead?
In a program paid upfront. A client who paid for six to twelve months is still in at month four, winning or not. Retention then measures the contract, not the client.
It means more in monthly programs, which work at very high ticket, $1.5K a month minimum. There, a client who stops getting results stops paying, and retention shows it fast. For the whole business, lifetime duration is the better number: the months a client stays across every offer.
When does completion rate mislead?
When finishing the videos is counted as the result. A client can watch every video and still not have the first $10K month. Completion counts the watching; client success rate counts the number.
Completion still helps as a signal. You can always track the doing: modules finished, the work done. Read it per stage, next to on-track rate, to see where clients slow down.
What is a good client success rate?
Once tracking is built, success rates show anywhere from 15 to 50%, depending on how hard the result is. Around 20% is typical. Most coaches we meet cannot state theirs at all.
Acquisition Ace went from unmeasured to 20% and up. Video Business Academy reached 50% with a promise a client could check. A program that claims 100% usually promises something that is not a business result.
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.
How does renewal rate fit in?
It is the payoff. If the next offer is relevant, up to 30% of all clients buy it, and maybe 40% or more of the winners. The more winners, the bigger that number.
Count it against clients who reached the end, then read it next to the success rate. A high success rate with a low renewal rate points at the next offer. A low success rate points at the program.
Further reading: What is a client success rate, and how do you measure it? · The seven back-end KPIs of a coaching business
Diego Miescher
