Churn Rate

The percentage increase in a company's revenue over a specific period, typically measured year-over-year or quarter-over-quarter. Revenue growth rate is a fundamental measure of business expansion, market traction, and the effectiveness of go-to-market strategy.

The proportion of tasks, processes, or workflows within an organisation that are performed by automated systems rather than human labour. Automation rate is a key productivity metric, with higher rates typically correlating to improved operational efficiency, reduced error rates, and scalability — though the transition period often involves significant restructuring costs.

The proportion of available capacity — whether labour hours, machine time, or service capacity — that is actually deployed in productive activity. Utilisation rate is a key productivity metric for professional services, manufacturing, and SaaS infrastructure, directly influencing revenue efficiency and operating margins.

The rate at which a company integrates and derives value from acquired assets, particularly intangible assets such as technology, talent, and customer relationships following a merger or acquisition. A high absorption rate indicates effective post-deal value capture and is a key indicator of M&A success.

The total fee charged to a merchant for processing a payment card transaction, expressed as a percentage of the transaction value plus a fixed per-transaction fee. The MDR comprises three components: the interchange fee (paid to the issuing bank), the card network assessment fee (paid to Visa/Mastercard), and the acquirer's markup.

The rate at which a company spends cash in excess of its income, typically expressed as a monthly figure. Burn rate is a critical metric for startups and growth-stage companies, directly determining how long the business can operate before requiring additional capital (runway).

The percentage of customers (measured by count, not revenue) that remain active over a given period, regardless of changes in their contract value. Logo retention — also called customer retention rate or gross retention by customer count — isolates the frequency of customer loss from revenue expansion or contraction and is a key indicator of product-market fit and customer satisfaction.

The ratio of total purchased inputs (services, energy, and materials) to revenue, expressed as a percentage. Purchases intensity measures how dependent a business is on external inputs and how efficiently it converts purchased resources into value.

How to Measure AI ROI: A Framework for Business Leaders

Most organisations cannot quantify the return on their AI investments. This practical framework breaks AI ROI into four measurable dimensions and provides concrete methods for calculating returns across cost reduction, revenue growth, risk mitigation, and strategic optionality.

What is logo churn versus revenue churn?

Logo churn measures the percentage of customers lost (account closure rate), while revenue churn measures the percentage of recurring revenue lost (accounting for expansion/downgrades).

What is Net Revenue Retention (NRR)?

NRR measures the revenue retained from a cohort of customers plus expansion revenue (upsells, cross-sells) minus churn, expressing it as a percentage of starting revenue.

How do you achieve and measure product-market fit?

Product-market fit is achieved when a product satisfies strong market demand — measured by retention rates, organic growth, the Sean Ellis survey (40%+ 'very disappointed'), and customers actively recommending the product.