Understanding Weekly Retention Metrics Comparing Each Week to the Next Instead of Day 0
weekly retention where it shows the retention from each week to the next instead of retention based on day 0
weekly retention where it shows the retention from each week to the next instead of retention based on day 0
What you're describing is Recurring Retention (also called "compounded" retention), which measures whether users return in each successive time window — not just relative to a fixed "Day 0" birth event.
In Mixpanel, this is controlled by the retention type:
Birth retention (retention_type=birth) — the default — measures how users return relative to when they first did the "A event" (Day 0 / Week 0).
Recurring/Compounded retention (retention_type=compounded) — measures whether users who were active in one time window return in the next time window, i.e., week-over-week retention.
In the UI
When building a Retention report, you can switch between these two types. The compounded type will show you, for each week, what percentage of users who were active that week also came back the following week.
Via the API
You can query this using the retention_type=compounded parameter:
GET /retention?retention_type=compounded&unit=week&interval=1&interval_count=8
Additional tip: Calendar vs. Rolling mode
If you want the weekly buckets to align to calendar weeks (e.g., Mon–Sun) rather than rolling 7-day windows from each user's birth event, you can switch to Calendar Retention Mode in the advanced settings under Retention Criteria. This ensures all users entering within the same calendar week are grouped together. [Calendar Retention Mode]
ℹ️ Tip: Mention @kapa.ai in the thread for follow-ups or DM the app for 1-to-1 help.
kapa.ai where in the UI do i select compound retention
The knowledge sources don't explicitly describe the exact UI location for switching between "Birth" and "Compounded/Recurring" retention types in the Mixpanel interface. The API documentation confirms these two types exist (retention_type=birth and retention_type=compounded), but the UI documentation provided doesn't detail the specific steps to toggle between them. What I can confirm from the knowledge sources is that advanced retention settings (like Calendar Retention Mode) are found under the Retention Criteria section in the query builder. [Calendar Retention Mode] It's possible the Birth/Recurring toggle is located there as well, but I cannot confirm this with certainty based on the available documentation. I'd recommend checking the Mixpanel Retention docs directly or reaching out to Mixpanel support for precise UI navigation steps.
ℹ️ Tip: Mention @kapa.ai in the thread for follow-ups or DM the app for 1-to-1 help.