[GA4] What Is Cohort Analysis? Understanding Customer Behaviour

On the ground in web marketing there are many measures that tell you where you stand. So what methods are there for analysing and making use of those numbers?

In this article we explain the method known as cohort analysis. We look at how to understand cohort analysis and put it to work in marketing as a way of making what you do more effective.

1. Cohort analysis

A cohort, to start with, means a group of peers.
Cohort analysis is a method of sorting users by age or social attributes and seeing how each group behaves. You set the conditions for sorting users yourself.

For the users of a site or app, and for product or service customers, it is a method for improving retention and continuation rates.

Cohorts can be defined not only by attributes such as age and gender but by all sorts of conditions, such as users who visited for the first time or users who reached the site from a particular direct mail piece.

Note, though, that cohort analysis in Google Analytics groups users by the day they were first acquired and analyses retention, conversions and the like from there.
It does not allow the wide variety of groupings that cohort analysis generally does, so keep that in mind.

2. Why cohort analysis matters

Cohort analysis lets you see the retention rate of your prospects, that is, user retention.

It is generally said that raising revenue from existing customers improves profit at lower cost than winning new ones; cohort analysis matters because grasping retention and using that data feeds straight into revenue from existing customers.

It also brings the following effects and advantages.

① A measure for work aimed at raising retention

Cohort analysis is used mainly when analysing customer retention.
By splitting newly registered members or first-time visitors by period, you can analyse how well you are retaining customers.

Compare cohorts split by period, and if the cohort that registered recently has a lower churn rate than the cohort that registered earlier, you know retention is improving.

② Raising revenue from subscription services

Subscription services on a flat monthly fee, and SaaS services that rent applications over the internet, have grown in number in recent years.
For a subscription service to make a profit, what matters is how far you can lower churn and keep people subscribed.

Cohort analysis can help you see the churn rate among new users and shape work that raises retention.

③ Useful for marketing activity

Cohort analysis shows when users drop off, which gives you something to work from when planning marketing activity.

If you find that retention falls a certain number of days after a user is acquired, for example, you can time a coupon or a remarketing campaign to that point.

Beyond that, knowing behavioural tendencies by gender, age and social attributes can give you hints for new work.

3. How to set up cohort analysis in GA4

Cohort analysis can be done in GA4 (Google Analytics 4). GA4’s cohort analysis groups users by the day they were first acquired and then lets you analyse retention, conversions and so on.

Cohort analysis needs to be set up in advance, so here is how to set it up in GA4.

There is nothing difficult about it and it takes about two minutes, so do give it a try.

The basic set-up

① Log in to Google Analytics
② Select [Explore] on the left
③ The exploration workspace appears
④ Click [Template gallery] at the top of the screen and select the [Cohort exploration] template
⑤ Define the [Inclusion criteria]: choose the condition for adding users to the cohort
⑥ Set the [Return criteria]: choose the condition a user must keep meeting to stay in the cohort
⑦ Analyse cohorts from different dates and see how user behaviour changes over time

4. How to run cohort analysis in GA4

Next, let us look at how to read the cohort analysis screen.

On the cohort analysis screen, the leftmost column shows dates and the top row shows the number of days elapsed since the users were acquired.

The more repeat visitors there are, the darker the colour of the cell holding the figure.
You can use it as one measure of how your work is performing, for example that sending a newsletter a certain number of days after a visit holds back the fall in return visits.

※ For how to see where users come from in GA4, we go into more detail in the article below. Do read it alongside this one.
Related article:
How to check traffic sources (source/medium) in GA4, explained with screenshots [2026]

5. How to use cohort analysis

Finally, here is how to put cohort analysis to work in web marketing and in winning visitors.

① Act at the point where users and page views fall

As noted above, cohort analysis lets you analyse the point at which users stop returning to the site and the point at which page views fall.

② Know how many new customers you are winning

If you know when users fall away, you can analyse by when and in what numbers you need to gather new ones.
Knowing the trend in users accurately, up and down, lets you plan new work and forecast revenue.

③ You can measure campaign performance

Cohort analysis shows you the results of each campaign.
Analysing behaviour and revenue per user by campaign gives you something to carry into the next one. Since you can see which campaigns deserve the most effort, use it to optimise how you allocate budget and people.

6. In closing

Raising visitors and revenue on your own site means increasing the number of people who come back. Use cohort analysis to keep awareness of your company and your site alive.

Analysing user trends with cohort analysis takes people and time, but it is essential work if you want to grow a site steadily. If results have plateaued or running your site worries you, it is worth a try.

Related article:
How to check traffic sources (source/medium) in GA4, explained with screenshots [2026]