Why don't trial conversion and cancellation rates add up to 100%?

When looking at analytics for trial conversions and cancellations, it may seem counterintuitive that the trial conversion rate and trial cancellation rate don't always sum to 100%. This is because these metrics are calculated using different user groups as their base.

Here's how these metrics are calculated:

• Trial Conversion Rate: This metric only considers users who have completed their trial period. It shows the percentage of these users who converted to paying customers.

• Trial Cancellation Rate: This metric includes all users who started a trial, regardless of whether they completed it or not. It represents the percentage of total trial starts that resulted in cancellations.

Additionally, there is a third category of users who neither convert nor cancel - those who encounter billing issues during their trial period. These users are counted separately from both conversions and cancellations.

This means that a 40% trial conversion rate and an 83% trial cancellation rate can coexist because they're measuring different things against different total populations of users.