Shopify app growth metrics to track

The full map

Every merchant goes through the same steps: they find your app in a search, open the listing, install, get set up, pay, and stay. Each step has one metric. Here is where each one lives.

In my experience most founders watch installs and earnings, because that's what Shopify shows. The metrics in between are where the fixes are.

Install conversion rate

Of the merchants who open your App Store listing, the share who install. It tells you if your icon, first image and introduction convince. A rank gain with a falling conversion rate means you rank on searches that don't want your app.

Shopify sends three events to your GA4 once you add it to your listing: view_item when a merchant views the listing, add_to_cart when they click Install, and shopify_app_install when the install finishes. Visits also carry the surface the merchant came from and the search they typed.

Compare the same weekdays when you measure a change. In my experience installs move with the day of the week, so a change made on Friday can look like a failure for no reason.

Activation rate

The share of installs that reach the moment your app works for them. It comes right after installs, and in my experience it's the metric founders skip most. 100 installs at 20% activation give you 20 real users. 50 installs at 80% give you 40.

Your activation moment is one specific action. In my own app, it's when a merchant creates an offer and opens the link to see it live on their store: the "oh, it works" moment. To find yours, guess an action, split installs into those who did it and those who didn't, and compare how many of each end up paying.

The scale I use:

These are my own targets from running my apps, not an industry benchmark. I only push for more installs once activation is above 80%. Until then, every new install leaks out the same hole.

MRR and ARR

Monthly recurring revenue is what your live subscriptions are worth each month. It is the number buyers track first, and the one that tells you if the month was good.

• checkA store counts once its paid subscription is live, before the first charge settles.
• checkTrials, free plans and one-time charges don't count.
• checkUsage charges aren't recurring by default. If your pricing is usage-based, count the last 30 days of usage in MRR.
• checkA cancel, a freeze or an uninstall ends the subscription. A plan change doesn't: it's an upgrade or a downgrade.

ARR is not MRR × 12 on Shopify

Shopify bills monthly app plans every 30 days, not once a calendar month. A year holds about 12.17 billing cycles.

That reads about 1.4% above MRR × 12.

MRR is not your earnings

Earnings are what Shopify collected, after its revenue share and any credits. Shopify says a recurring charge can take up to 37 days to show as an earning. Since January 1, 2025, you keep 100% of your first $1,000,000 of lifetime gross app revenue and 85% above it, and all billing carries a 2.9% processing fee. So use earnings for cash, and MRR for growth.

Churn: logo, subscription and net revenue

One churn number hides what's happening. Losing ten $15 stores and losing one $150 store look the same in revenue and very different in stores. Track three, over the last 30 days:

• checkLogo churn tells you how many merchants leave, whatever they paid.
• checkSubscription churn weighs each loss by its plan. Higher than logo churn means you lose your bigger stores.
• checkNet revenue churn counts upgrades against losses. Below zero, your existing stores grow on their own.

Shopify's Partners blog says churn should be in single digits, and ideally under 5% a month.

Why I watch churn before installs

An app that gets 10 new stores a month and keeps them all beats an app that gets 100 and loses 90. In my experience it also ranks better, since uninstalls weigh on search. And when you sell, churn is one of the main numbers a buyer looks at.

What I do with it:

• checkFind when stores leave: after the trial, after the first bill, or after a specific event.
• checkBreak churn down by plan. A cheaper plan often churns more, and needs its own fix.
• checkTalk to the stores that stay longest, not only the ones that leave. Build what they ask for, and you attract more stores like them.
• checkAdd plans that grow with the merchant. One upgrade can cancel out several small losses in net revenue churn.

Which metric to watch at your stage

You can track all of these. You can only fix one at a time. Here is the one I'd watch at each revenue stage.

1. $0 to $1K a monthReviews and conversations

   You don't need a dashboard yet. You need 5 merchants who love the app and your first 10 reviews. Count the merchants you talk to each day: if it's under 3, that's the metric to fix.

2. $1K to $10KActivation rate

   Start tracking the whole journey from install to uninstall, even in a spreadsheet. Most apps lose merchants in the first 5 minutes, so activation is where the money is.

3. $10K to $25KChurn, and when it happens

   Look at when merchants leave: after the trial, after the first bill, after a specific event. Each timing points to a different fix.

4. $25K to $50KYour one bottleneck

   Usually install-to-activation or long-term retention. Find the metric that stopped improving while the rest grew, fix it, then look for the next one.

Questions