cohortanalyse

Cohortanalyse, or cohort analysis, is a method used to study the behavior and performance of a group of individuals who share a defining characteristic within a given time frame.

In practice, a cohort is formed by a shared attribute such as signup date, acquisition channel, or the start of a treatment period. Data are then tracked over successive time periods (days, weeks, months) from the cohort start, and metrics are calculated for each cohort and time since start.

Common metrics include retention rate, churn, revenue per user, average order value, and lifetime value. The analysis reveals how behavior changes over time and how changes in product, pricing, or marketing affect different cohorts.

Applications span software as a service (SaaS) to measure onboarding effectiveness, e-commerce to assess repeat purchase behavior, marketing to evaluate channel quality, and epidemiology to study outcomes by patient or birth cohorts.

Limitations include data quality requirements, potential small sample sizes for older cohorts, and susceptibility to confounding factors and seasonality. Definitions of cohorts and time windows can influence results, so analyses should use consistent methods and include control cohorts where possible.

Tools commonly used are SQL for data extraction, spreadsheets for simple analyses, and business intelligence platforms for visualization. Cohortanalyse provides a way to observe long-term effects of changes and compare performance across different groups, offering insights beyond aggregate metrics.