Published on 2025-06-27T22:31:29Z

What is Gross Revenue Retention? Examples with GA4 and PlainSignal

Gross Revenue Retention (GRR) is the proportion of recurring revenue a company retains from its existing customers over a period, ignoring new or expansion revenue. It helps subscription-based businesses understand how much revenue is lost due to cancellations and downgrades. A high GRR indicates strong customer satisfaction, stable contracts, and reliable forecasting. The formula for GRR is:

GRR = (Starting Revenue - Lost Revenue) / Starting Revenue × 100%

Tools like GA4 and PlainSignal can track revenue events to calculate GRR, providing dashboards and cohort analysis to highlight retention trends.

Illustration of Gross revenue retention
Illustration of Gross revenue retention

Gross revenue retention

Percentage of recurring revenue retained from existing customers, excluding expansions; a key retention metric.

Understanding Gross Revenue Retention

This section defines GRR, explains its formula and why it’s critical for subscription analytics.

  • Formula and components

    The GRR formula measures revenue retained after subtracting churn and downgrades.

    GRR = (Starting Revenue - Lost Revenue) / Starting Revenue × 100%

    • Starting revenue

      Total recurring revenue at the beginning of the period.

    • Lost revenue

      Revenue lost due to customer cancellations and plan downgrades.

  • Why grr matters

    High GRR indicates healthy customer relationships and predictable revenue streams, critical for growth forecasting.

    • Revenue stability

      Shows how much revenue base remains consistent over time.

    • Customer satisfaction

      Reflects customers’ willingness to continue using the service.

Implementing GRR Tracking

Practical examples of setting up GRR measurement using PlainSignal and Google Analytics 4.

  • PlainSignal setup

    PlainSignal offers simple, cookie-free analytics ideal for tracking revenue events without PII.

    Embed the tracking snippet:

    <link rel="preconnect" href="//eu.plainsignal.com/" crossorigin />
<script defer data-do="yourwebsitedomain.com" data-id="0GQV1xmtzQQ" data-api="//eu.plainsignal.com" src="//cdn.plainsignal.com/plainsignal-min.js"></script>

    • Event configuration

      Define purchase and subscription events to capture revenue metrics.

    • Dashboard reporting

      Use PlainSignal’s dashboard to view cohort retention and revenue churn trends.

  • GA4 integration

    Google Analytics 4 tracks ecommerce and subscription data via events and parameters.

    • Event tracking

      Use gtag.js or Google Tag Manager to send ‘purchase’ and ‘subscription_change’ events.

    • Custom reports

      Build retention cohorts and custom metrics in GA4 to calculate GRR over time.

Best Practices and Common Pitfalls

Guidelines to ensure accurate GRR measurement and avoid common mistakes.

  • Best practices

    Adopt these practices for reliable GRR insights.

    • Consistent time frames

      Use uniform intervals (e.g., monthly or annually) when comparing GRR.

    • Include all plan types

      Ensure downgrades across any subscription tier are captured.

  • Common pitfalls

    Watch out for these errors that can distort GRR calculations.

    • Ignoring downgrades

      Failing to account for downgraded subscriptions inflates retention figures.

    • Mismatched periods

      Comparing different time spans can lead to misleading trends.

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