Is your Patreon actually growing—or are new members disguising a retention problem? Brad walks Dave through the process of calculating churn rate and shows how one number can unlock a much clearer understanding of a membership business. They discuss subscriber retention, lifetime value, onboarding, well-timed interventions, and how to determine whether advertising or convention appearances are truly worth the investment.

Topics include:

• Skunk Watch 2026
• What churn rate means for a Patreon creator
• Why total membership and revenue can give you an incomplete picture
• Finding the necessary numbers in Patreon Insights
• Two methods for calculating churn rate
• What constitutes a healthy churn rate
• Why one month of data isn’t enough
• Calculating your average churn rate over time
• Calculating your retention rate
• Estimating average subscriber lifetime
• Calculating average monthly revenue per member
• Determining the lifetime value of a Patreon backer
• Why retaining a current member is cheaper than acquiring a new one
• Using Patreon Autopilot to reduce cancellations
• Evaluating the quality and value of your Patreon rewards
• Improving the onboarding experience for new members
• Welcome messages, digital gifts, and personalized Bonjoro videos
• Brad’s one-week Patreon check-in
• Helping new backers navigate a complicated archive
• Using average subscriber lifetime to schedule a retention intervention
• Brad’s 18-month check-in and longtime-backer gift
• Repackaging older work into valuable digital rewards
• Rewarding and recognizing your longest-serving supporters
• Exclusive livestreams, previews, and “inner circle” benefits
• Calculating an acceptable customer-acquisition cost
• Evaluating paid advertising with lifetime-value data
• Tracking whether a comic convention was financially worthwhile
• Why free webcomics may still be the best customer-acquisition strategy
• Dave’s productivity tip: drawing to Brazilian Carnival music
• Using a webcomic schedule to force yourself to complete a children’s book
• Why serialized children’s-book pages may not satisfy online readers
• Publishing complete thematic sections instead of individual pages
• Building a new project into an established comic’s schedule
• The difficulty of building an audience for an independent children’s book
• When a traditional children’s-book publisher may be helpful
• Creative control, editorial notes, and refusing unwanted revisions
• Breaking publishing rules and trusting your own experience
• Releasing a finished independent book before seeking wider distribution
• Why experienced cartoonists may resist redrawing or revising completed work
• ComicLab LIVE at the National Cartoonists Society Reuben Awards