Mistake: trusting the program's churn number

Mistake: trusting the program's churn number
Everyone takes the vendor's "we have low churn" at face value. Vendors quote blended logo churn or annual-cohort churn — the flattering definitions — while your monthly referrals churn at a much uglier rate.

The sleight of hand:
— "5% churn" might mean annual revenue churn including expansion, not monthly customer loss.
— Net revenue retention can read >100% while half your individual referrals are gone.

Fix: ignore their headline. Measure your own cohort: of 100 referrals last quarter, how many are still paying now? That's your churn, and it's the only one tied to your commission. Re-measure quarterly — churn drifts as the product and pricing change.

Verdict: their churn metric was chosen by their marketing team. Build your own.