You get the notification: someone just installed your app. High-five! But a few days later, they’ve gone silent, stopped using – or completely uninstalled it. This is churn: when users drop off at any point in the lifecycle, from never activating during trial, to uninstalling before payment, to cancelling a few months into their subscription.
It happens to every marketplace app. The good news? These drop-off points are often predictable – and preventable. With the right signals and systems, you can spot churn risks early and act before they turn into lost revenue.
This guide shows you how to tackle each stage of churn using monday.com’s built-in tools for marketplace partners:
- User onboarding flow – Define what users see after install, from pre-filled boards to guided wizards that jumpstart setup.
- AMP (App Management Product) – Track install, uninstall, trial, and renewal events, and automatically trigger customer engagement emails.
- App Analytics – Access built-in stats like installs, uninstalls, DAU, payments, and reviews to monitor usage trends and spot drop-offs.
- Custom tracking events – Log important user actions – like when a user sets their first automation – into your own backend or analytics tools. These events can help you identify drop-off points, improve onboarding, or trigger AMP follow-ups if surfaced through a connected board.
Together, these tools help you identify risk signals, engage proactively, and build a more resilient app business. The following strategies are built around a typical 12-month user journey but can be adapted to your own billing and engagement models.
Stage 0: Immediate activation
When: First 15 minutes after installation
A user just installed your app – curiosity is high, but their attention can quickly fade. It’s critical to immediately demonstrate your app’s value.
- Provide instant value: Use the onboarding flow to present users with pre-populated templates or boards. Sample data helps users instantly grasp the benefits.
- Engage warmly: Send an automated welcome email using AMP, containing a quick-start guide or introductory video.
- Measure effectiveness: Use App Analytics for built-in signals (installs, DAU), and add a value_created custom event for your first key action to compare retained vs. churned users.
Stage 1: Early engagement
When: Trial period (days 1-14)
The trial period sets the stage for long-term adoption. Users who do not reach an aha moment during the trial rarely convert.
- Identify clear milestones: Define one key activation step (e.g., creating their first automated workflow). Trigger AMP reminders if this isn’t completed in the first few days or if the user becomes inactive.
- Personalize engagement: Prioritize outreach to high-potential trial users with personal emails or brief onboarding calls, addressing questions or roadblocks quickly.
- Refine your approach: Create a custom event for each onboarding step, then review those events (or funnel data in your own dashboard) weekly to pinpoint trial drop-offs and refine the flow.
Stage 2: Sustained adoption
When: First 90 days of subscription
The first months of subscription are critical for long-term retention. Users may quietly disengage, signaling future churn without explicit complaints. This is one of the leading indicators of future churn.
- Monitor user health: Combine built-in DAU and uninstall trends from with custom tracking events and support ticket counts (from your help desk tool or email) to calculate a simple health score.
- Act on insights: Create a “Churn Watch” board that pulls in users who show warning signs – like no activity in 7+ days, missed onboarding milestones, or repeated support issues – prompting proactive intervention before churn sets in.
- Track changes closely: Stay alert to sudden usage drops or increased uninstall signals to prioritize your engagement efforts effectively.
Stage 3: Deepening loyalty
When: Months 3-11 of subscription
Even satisfied users can plateau and begin to consider other options. Use this stage to solidify loyalty through deeper engagement and feature discovery.
- Promote advanced usage: Regularly highlight advanced features via emails, in-app messages, and even workshops or webinars.
- Strategically request reviews: Time review invitations to follow positive support interactions – when customers are most likely to respond with enthusiasm. DocuGen, a gold monday marketplace partner, boosted positive reviews by ~20% by sending requests immediately after resolving support tickets.
- Encourage continued exploration: Identify customers who haven’t tried key features, then follow up with a relevant next step – like an email that highlights an advanced use case, a link to a tutorial, or a personal check-in if the account is high-value.
Stage 4: Preparing for renewal
When: Final 90 days before renewal
Renewal success depends on proactive outreach well before billing occurs. Early preparation can significantly reduce churn risk.
- Start the renewal process early:
- At 90 days, review usage data and address any unresolved issues.
- At 30 days, send personalized summaries highlighting achieved benefits.
- At 7 days, use gentle in-app reminders to encourage renewal actions.
- Monitor renewals: Leverage AMP’s automated tracking to detect and respond quickly to renewal signals, reducing surprises.
Stage 5: Resolving involuntary churn
When: Immediately following a failed renewal payment
Not every churn scenario reflects user dissatisfaction – sometimes it’s simply payment issues. Address these promptly and recover potential lost revenue.
- Automate recovery: AMP can identify failed payment events (Renewal attempt failed) and automatically send friendly, actionable emails, allowing users to update their payment information quickly.
- Streamline the process: Make payment corrections as frictionless as possible, monitoring and refining your messaging to optimize recovery success rates.
Stage 6: Learning from churn and re-engaging users
When: After cancellation or uninstall
User departures offer valuable insights to improve your app. Rather than viewing churn as final, treat it as a chance to refine and possibly reclaim users.
- Understand churn reasons: Capture feedback systematically using AMP’s uninstall reason tracking, regularly analyzing and categorizing findings.
- Continuously improve: Review uninstall reasons, support tickets, or drop-off patterns (like WAU trends or missed milestones). Look for common traits – specific install cohorts, use cases, or pricing points – and feed those insights back into onboarding, documentation, or product improvements.
- Attempt re-engagement: Use targeted AMP win-back emails to highlight what’s Churn prevention is a lifecycle-long effort, not a one-time fix.improved and offer a limited-time discount to encourage return.
Retention isn’t a tactic, it’s a system
Churn prevention is a lifecycle-long effort, not a one-time fix. Each small step—whether it’s a nudge, a better onboarding moment, or a reactivation email – adds up. The most successful apps treat retention as a habit, not an afterthought.
Start where the risk is highest or the impact is clearest for your app. Choose one stage, automate one fix, measure the change – then double down.
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