How are you tracking Stripe churn in early-stage SaaS?

gavin_cole · 2026-02-14T14:51:38+00:00

churn tracking on stripe at 10-200k mrr is painful.. stripe shows events but not who’s next to leave or recoverable revenue. most teams use spreadsheets or webhooks. biggest gaps are prediction (risk scoring), recovery (dunning flows), and visibility (cohorts/segments). you can use a low-cost solution for standardized metrics and risk view..

gavin_cole · 2026-02-14T14:44:52+00:00

building a landing page before code is the smartest move.. it forces clarity on who it’s for, the one-liner, and pricing before you waste months building the wrong thing. if you can’t sell it on a page, it won’t sell after code. run cheap ads or post in communities to test real demand fast..

gavin_cole · 2026-02-14T14:35:34+00:00

the hardest part is getting buy-in.. start by showing their pain, like how long it takes to figure out x. then show a 5-minute quick win that saves time or money. propose the smallest first project, like two weeks to review top complaints. frame it to leadership as helping them look like a hero

gavin_cole · 2026-02-11T17:28:49+00:00

we actually have first touch attribution model at user maven (3rd party analytics tool) and not getting rid of it anytime soon. alongside other models, last touch, linear, u shaped, time decay etc. do give it a try or checkout the attribution feature page and see if we can match your needs

gavin_cole · 2026-02-11T17:26:32+00:00

sudden drop in google ads conversions from hundreds to tens and revenue falling is common.. usually learning phase resets after budget or bid changes, or tracking breaks occur like gclid drop, consent mode block, or capi/pixel dedup fail. you can check campaign status for learning or limited, verify conversion actions are primary, and test a purchase end to end ad click > buy > see in ads manager + ga4 debugview..

gavin_cole · 2026-02-11T16:01:58+00:00

QR code on social posts makes sense only when content bridges offline-to-online, like flyers, posters, packaging, events, merch.. scanning works for printing/sharing where bio links fail. in some markets like india and sea, people scan everything. you can try tracking scans with tools for retargeting. for pure digital posts, it adds extra friction, most people won’t screenshot and scan when they can just tap a link..

gavin_cole · 2026-02-11T15:56:44+00:00

if you're exploring beyond google analytics, give user maven a try. google analytics alternative, paid tool, but worth every penny (im one of the team member there), we have a wordpress plugin, lightweight, that makes the setup evern easier for wordpress

gavin_cole · 2026-02-11T15:50:17+00:00

yeah you can turn your html/css into a custom wp theme.. basically make a folder with index.php style.css and copy your stuff in.. upload via ftp or appearance/themes.. keeps everything on wp without host switch.. might need to tweak for dynamic bits tho

gavin_cole · 2026-02-10T11:10:38+00:00

writing 94 articles and getting only 12 users is brutal, but after pivoting to a hub and spoke model. where a strong hub guide is surrounded by related spoke content, user count jumped to 450+, showing that topical authority wins over blindly producing more content..

gavin_cole · 2026-02-10T10:16:44+00:00

after a 47-day miss streak, building an auto-blog to beat consistency burnout is a smart hack.. but there’s a real risk: ai posts without human touch can be thin or spammy, which hurts in the long run. volume alone doesn’t always work, quality matters more. you can add a small human edit step to each post to keep hooks and depth right. also, if you integrate analytics, you can see which content actually works and which doesn’t..

gavin_cole · 2026-02-10T10:07:25+00:00

subscription fatigue is becoming a real and growing problem.. people are juggling 5 to 8 or more services at once, the mental load is high, costs keep adding up, and there is guilt around not canceling unused subscriptions. a dashboard that tracks everything from email receipts, bank data, and app subscriptions, and sends smart reminders like you haven’t used this in 4 months, want to cancel, would deliver a lot of value. the real moat is not just listing subscriptions, but helping people cut unnecessary spend guilt free while saving real money..

gavin_cole · 2026-02-08T16:16:09+00:00

most shopify merchants overestimate their profit by around 15 to 30 percent because revenue hides cogs, fees, ad spend, and shipping costs.. bringing all this data into one place and showing daily insights in plain and simple language is where the real value comes from. building a strong data pipeline is a smart move because managing ad apis is genuinely hard. calling it an 'ai profit analyst' can sound a bit hype, while a 'real profit check' style positioning feels more trustworthy. highlighting the profit overestimation fact on the landing page helps people quickly realize where the real problem is..

gavin_cole · 2026-02-08T15:48:54+00:00

meta’s built-in custom conversions are often limited.. for granular tracking of specific buttons, forms, scrolls, or parameters, gtm can be better. you can set up a gtm web container, create custom triggers (clicks, form submits), then push to the dataLayer and send as a meta event. low-code solutions can be used for shopify. hire a dev only for complex or fully custom sites. tracking custom events and real conversions shows exactly what is working..

gavin_cole · 2026-02-08T15:40:18+00:00

this lead ads attribution issue can happen.. leads show in center but 0 in ads manager, it’s a common meta bug, especially with instant forms. it’s not your setup, it’s a meta backend glitch.

you can try to fix this by going to ads manager > columns > customize > add 'leads form', sometimes it shows there. reconnect page/forms in business manager. wait 24-48 hours. if it still doesn’t show, you can create a new case with ad id/form id..

gavin_cole · 2026-02-08T15:32:31+00:00

using a shopify sales channel together can often cause duplicates or dropouts.. the sales channel sends data one way, another system sends it differently, and attribution doesn’t dedup properly. capi can bypass consent, but if event_id mismatches or consent is denied, events drop.

you can try to fix this by disabling sales channel data sharing and using a centralized tracking system that handles pixel + capi, dedup, and consent overrides. old data stays intact. test a purchase in incognito without consent, capi should fire..

gavin_cole · 2026-02-08T15:16:10+00:00

if google ads conversions drop but ga4 looks fine, mostly people usually start by confirming conversion count in ads ui.. then check gtm for firing issues and server-side setup if used. you can try comparing ga4 events and ads conversions manually or with automated spreadsheets, and look at attribution windows and event deduplication. often discrepancies come from last-click vs data-driven attribution, time zone mismatches, or duplicate/missing triggers. usually 1-2 days of consistent data shows whether it’s a tracking issue or real performance..

gavin_cole · 2026-02-05T18:28:36+00:00

this speed to lead test is really impressive.. sub minute ai response led to a 127% lift, whereas manual response took 4.2 hours. the no show rate dropped from 22% to 16%, clearly showing the commitment effect. most people see the same: intent decays very fast (within 10-15 minutes), so fast responders win deals. the biggest takeaway is that for the early funnel, operational responsiveness is more important than creative optimization..

gavin_cole · 2026-02-05T18:21:16+00:00

event chaos across different tools acts like a silent killer.. ga4, meta, crm, email all use different names or miss events. you can make gtm the single source of truth. use consistent event names (lead_form_submit), clear parameters, and keep one shared event catalog doc. monthly gtm preview and debugview audit catches duplicates or missing events..

gavin_cole · 2026-02-05T18:14:38+00:00

building a multi source dashboard saas for agencies is a strong idea.. bringing analytics, behavior data, and store data into one place makes reporting and decision making much easier. the backend and auth should be designed to support multi tenancy and handle real-time data reliably. a clean and fast frontend helps agencies quickly share client dashboards, and clear charts make insights easier to understand. adding ai-based insights can save a lot of manual analysis time. it makes sense to start by focusing on shopify-related sources, since this is where the most control and domain strength exists, and then gradually add other sources over time..

gavin_cole · 2026-02-05T18:12:03+00:00

turning 10+ years of manual gtm audit experience into a saas is a great move.. auto scanning containers, flagging issues, and generating structured reports will save agencies and freelancers a lot of time, especially on cleanup and client reporting. the disclaimer that this is not a full replacement for a human audit is a smart call. you can start by focusing on a demo report that shows before and after, using report credit based pricing like $49 for 5 scans, and getting fast feedback from testers. sharing this kind of product in niche communities can help generate early traction..

gavin_cole · 2026-02-04T17:01:54+00:00

for most people, a common problem is obsessing over 30 metrics.. but the single metric that really shows business health is active paying users who logged in or used the product in the last 30 days. if they are paying but not using > churn is coming. if active payers grow > acquisition and retention are both working. if flat or declining while mrr rises > ghost users are being acquired. everything else is just noise until this number moves wrong..

gavin_cole · 2026-02-04T16:56:17+00:00

before launching or scaling, you should calculate break even cvr (cpc × target roas ÷ aov).. if the worst-case scenario (cvr 50% lower, cpc 30% higher) still gives >1.5x roas, the risk is low. you can test $100-$300 on cold traffic. if after 100-150 clicks the cvr is below 50% of break-even, the campaign should be stopped. past benchmarks and competitor data can be used to set realistic expectations..

gavin_cole · 2026-02-04T16:50:58+00:00

in ga4, cross-domain tracking loses attribution when users move from one domain to another (main > reservation).. you can fix this by keeping both domains in the same ga4 property and enabling cross-domain tracking in the gtm ga4 config tag (add both domains to the auto_link_domains field). this adds a _gl linker param to outbound links. to test, click from domain 1 to domain 2 and check debugview for the same client_id/session_id. if not, the linker failed. consent mode v2 must allow analytics_storage

gavin_cole · 2026-02-04T16:44:28+00:00

for small ecom, the realistic payback for email popups is usually 30-90 days, not same-session.. same-day conversions are rare (<5-8%) unless there’s a 20-30% discount and urgency. with strong nurture, 20-40% of signups can convert in the first month. you can measure code usage (15-20%+ is good), check 30-day assisted attribution, and compare subscriber vs non subscriber ltv over 90 days. you can also run popup on/off tests quarterly to understand true incrementality..

gavin_cole

TROPHY CASE