REALLY SIMPLE COHORT ANALYSIS*in Google Sheets

Hugh Hopkins (@hughhopkins) + GoSquared

“Total Sign Ups” is just a vanity metric.

It doesn’t help you understand how your business is performing.

To really understand how your business is performing you need to use cohorts.

Cohort analysis allows you to study a group of people/users who share the same characteristic, i.e. the same sign up week, and see how they perform over time.

This enables businesses to compare the effectiveness of a marketing campaign, a new feature or the impact of increasing prices. Being able to do this quickly for almost any metric can transform your business.

So, what is Cohort Analysis?

The cohort graph on the left shows the number of users who convert to a premium plan. Within in seconds you can see July saw a really low number of conversions whilst October saw the highest.

But, calculating cohort metrics can be really

complicated.

First, there are numerous ways of structuring the table.

https://blog.kissmetrics.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/cohort-report-1-sm.png http://cdn.insideintercom.io/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Cohort3-Full.jpg http://www.saasoptics.com/SaaS-opedia/saas-opedia/MRR-Cohort/files/BIGmrr_cohort_subscription_metrics.png.png

Then there are even more ways of visualising it!

http://s3.amazonaws.com/custora-assets/assets/cohort_graph_B4.png http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Enwp-jan-cohorts-last-12-months--10-1-.png/600px-Enwp-jan-cohorts-last-12-months--10-1-.png http://insideintercom.io/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Cohort5-CyclePlot-Dull1.jpg http://blog.recurly.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Subscriber-Retention-by-Cohort.png http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/42/Megabytes_added_to_EN_NS4,5.png/650px-Megabytes_added_to_EN_NS4,5.png http://blog.mixpanel.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/media_httpblogmixpanelcomwpcontentuploads200902picture2png_DDwiEorhikJvqgf.png.scaled1000.png !!

The latest version of Google Sheets added the =SUMIFS formula making it easy* for anyone to quickly create meaningful cohort analysis.

1. Enable the new Google Sheets at http://g.co/newsheets 2. Import your data. 3. Structure the data. 4. Create the formula and table. 5. Stand back in amazement with what you have just created.

5 Simple Steps

You can find a working example of the Cohort Analysis here: Google Sheets Working Example

Here’s one we made earlier…

Structuring The Data - Part 1

Regardless of your data format, you should have at least two columns with dates in.

• The ‘Sign Up Date’ of that user (the bit which ties the user to a cohort)

• The ‘Event Date’ (i.e. upgraded to a premium subscription)

It will look something like this:

`User ID Sign Up Date Event Date1 12/23/2013 17:53:30 12/23/2013 18:05:30

2 12/29/2013 0:30:05 1/12/2014 18:34:46

3 12/30/2013 19:22:23 1/3/2014 22:14:40

Structuring The Data - Part 2 Convert the date format to UNIX to avoid any potential formatting errors. To do this, simply create another column and use the following formula: =(A2-“1/1/1970”)*60*60*24. To convert UNIX to a normal timestamp use: =A2/(60*60*24)+”1/1/1970 00:00:00.

Now all you need to do is set up the formula to compare the two dates and return the number of users that match the search criteria.

`User ID Sign Up Date Event Date Sign Up Date (UNIX) Event Date (UNIX)

1 12/23/2013 17:53:30

12/23/2013 18:05:30 1387821210 1387821930

2 12/29/2013 0:30:05 1/12/2014 18:34:46 1388277005 1389551686

3 12/30/2013 19:22:23 1/3/2014 22:14:40 1388431343 1388787280

Working Example

Creating The Table - Part 1 The way in which you build your table will alter the final graph. A simple set up in Google Sheets is to have the rows as the cohort (i.e. the user segmented by the sign up date) and the column with the time period (i.e. what happened to that cohort in that particular month).

Deciding to structure it in chronological order or pinning it to the same starting point will alter the shape of your graph. Ultimately it depends on what you are trying to visualise and toggling between views will help.

Time Period (what that cohort did in that month)

The Individual cohorts

Creating The Table - Part 2

1370044801 1372674544 13753042871370044801 June

1372674544 July

1375304287 August 14 26

In this cell, I want to find the number of users who “Signed Up” during the period 1370044801 - 1372674544 and who also upgraded to a premium plan in July.

For example:

How to use the formula The SUMIFS formula sums the range depending on multiple criteria. This is how it works:

=SUMIFS(sum_range, criteria_range1, criterion1, [criteria_range2, criterion2, …])

And in plain english that means:

sum_range = The column to be added together

criteria_range1 = The search criteria area / range

criterion1 = The search term

criteria_range2 & criterion2 = Allow you to repeat with as many conditions as you like

Your Formula will end up looking something like this:

!

=SUMIFS('Data'!$F$2:$F$625,'Data'!$D$2:$D$625,">"&$C$1,'Data'!$D$2:$D$625,"<"&$D$1,'Data'!$E$2:$E$625,">"&A7,'Data'!$E$2:$E$625,"<"&A8)

The Sum Range The search criteria area / range

The search criteria to use the more than, less than operators you will need to type: ">"&

Working Example

* OK, maybe I lied, it’s a little complicated

Your cohort table should end up looking something like this:

All you have to do next is insert the graph!

Voila, simple cohort analysis!

One more time, just to be clear !

=SUMIFS('Data'!$F$2:$F$625,'Data'!$D$2:$D$625,">"&$C$1,'Data'!$D$2:$D$625,"<"&$D$1,'Data'!$E$2:$E$625,">"&A7,'Data'!$E$2:$E$625,"<"&A8)

The above formula goes through the data on the right to see if a row of data matches two conditions, the “Sign Up” date and “Event Date” and then returns the total. Simply fill out the table below with the cohorts, hit the graph button and your done!

Taking it up a notch Half the battle is visualising your cohort data. The graphs on the left show how the same data can be altered by changing the values from absolute to percentages. You can make the graphs easier to read by showing cumulative values.

In addition, altering the cohort period from monthly, to weekly, or even daily, will provide greater insight (provided there are enough numbers).

Little Tips - This is only really effective for quick cohort analysis, if

you’re wanting to do this regularly for multiple metrics it’s best to get a developer involved and code it up.

- Adding a config with a cell that sets the cohort length will enable you to quickly give a different perspectives on the same data by switching between weekly and monthly cohorts.

Live Example Sheet!

This has everything you need to get started and understand how the cohorts are formed.

Enjoy!

Hugh Hopkins (@hughhopkins) + GoSquared

Really Simple Cohort Analysis

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