Companies frequently ponder their performance metrics and wonder, "Is this good? How do we stack up against our competitors?" Understanding where you stand in the industry is crucial, and that's where benchmarks come into play. 

Recurly is excited to introduce built-in benchmarks in our Reporting & Analytics. It allows our merchants to directly compare their key performance metrics against similar companies within their industry, offering a clear view of where they stand in the competitive subscription landscape.

Why benchmarks matter

Benchmarks are standards of performance that enable your business to gauge its success against industry peers. These insights are vital tools to help you prioritize strategies and initiatives aimed at improving key subscription metrics.

Recurly is one of the first companies to analyze and share subscription benchmarks across key industries through our Recurly Research site and our annual State of Subscriptions report. With our rich repository of subscription data points from thousands of brands globally, we've been the barometer for subscription companies seeking industry insights. However, we realized that we could make it simpler and more user-friendly for you to compare your business’s metrics to our studies.

Introducing built-in benchmarks

Addressing this need, Recurly Reporting & Analytics is integrating built-in benchmarks into its standard dashboards. Starting this year, you can effortlessly view your key metrics and understand how you compare with your industry peers over specific timelines. Subscription benchmarks are a significant evolution in how subscription businesses can access and utilize competitive data.

What’s new and upcoming in subscription benchmarks?

We’re rolling out the new subscription benchmarking capabilities starting immediately. Here’s what you can expect now and in the coming months.

Available now—Churn management enhancements

This release focuses on churn management. We've renamed the "Payments Orchestration" dashboard to "Churn Management" and introduced two new dashboards featuring built-in benchmarks:

  • Renewal invoice paid rate: A new metric showing the percentage of renewals paid out of all renewal invoices.

  • Renewal invoice decline rate: A fresh metric indicating the percentage of renewals failing at the first transaction attempt.

We're also updating the Recovered Revenue dashboard with more recovery methods, UI improvements, and enhanced metrics display.

Coming soon—Subscriber acquisition, retention, and more

In the coming months, new benchmarks will be added to focus on subscriber acquisition and retention:

  • Acquisition rate: New subscribers as a percentage of active subscribers each month.

  • Signup decline rate: Failed initial signup transactions percentage.

  • Churn rate: Monthly expiration rate of active subscribers, divided into voluntary and involuntary churn.

  • Dunning recovery rate: Recovery percentage of renewal invoices during the dunning window.

Stay connected for further updates as we continue to redefine the subscription management experience. Recurly is committed to providing you with the tools and information you need to grow your subscription business faster, smarter, and stronger—and benchmarking capabilities are a giant step in that direction.