What is Activation?
Definition
The moment when a new subscriber first experiences meaningful value from a service, increasing their likelihood of long-term retention.
Understanding Activation
Activation is the key milestone in the subscriber journey — it's when a user goes from 'signed up' to 'finding value.' Each service has specific activation criteria: for Dropbox it's saving the first file, for Slack it's sending 2000+ team messages, for Spotify it's following artists and creating playlists. Reaching activation within the first few days is critical — users who don't activate within the first week have a dramatically higher churn rate. For consumers, pushing past initial setup to truly use a service's core features helps determine whether the subscription is worthwhile.
Related Terms
Onboarding
The process of guiding new subscribers through initial setup and feature discovery to ensure they quickly find value in the service.
Engagement
The frequency and depth of a subscriber's interaction with a service, used as a key predictor of retention and expansion.
Retention Rate
The percentage of subscribers who continue their subscription over a given period, calculated as the inverse of churn rate.
Free Trial
A limited-time period where users can access a subscription service at no cost before committing to a paid plan.