# How to Track Marketing Attribution for Subscription Businesses

Track marketing attribution for a subscription business: see which channels, campaigns, and ads bring paying subscribers, MRR, and churn, and what moved MRR each month.

Source: https://sourceloop.ai/help/subscriptions-report/
Updated: 2026-10-10

---

Marketing attribution for a subscription business has to follow the money past the first payment: trials, upgrades, renewals, and churn. Your billing tool tells you MRR went up. The **Subscriptions report** tells you why: which new customers, upgrades, and cancellations moved it, which plans carry it, and which channels and campaigns bring subscribers who pay and stay.

Open **Reports** in the left sidebar, then **Subscriptions**. It needs a payment tool connected under **Setup -> Payment**. If you haven't done that yet, start with [tracking SaaS signups and subscriptions](/help/track-saas-signups-and-subscriptions/).

![SourceLoop Subscriptions report showing MRR, active subscriptions, new MRR, expansion, churned MRR, cancellations, trial MRR, and running trials, above a chart and table of unique visitors and MRR by channel](/help/screenshots/app/subscriptions-report.webp)

## Step 1: Set the controls

Pick the **date range** and **comparison** period. **Measuring** starts on **Subscriptions by status**, so the channel table counts trials, conversions to paid, and MRR. Tick the attribution models you want in that table.

## Step 2: Read the headline figures

Twelve cards sum up the period, each with its change against the comparison:

- **MRR** and **Active subscriptions** at the end of the period
- **New MRR** and **New subscriptions**: from new customers, converted trials, and reactivations
- **Expansion MRR**: added by upgrades and extra seats
- **Churned MRR** and **Cancellations**: lost to cancellations and failed payments
- **Trial MRR** and **Running trials**: what converts if every running trial pays
- **Trial conversion rate**, **ARPU** (average MRR per subscription), and **Revenue churn rate** (churned MRR as a share of opening MRR, per month)

Tick cards to plot them. The chart starts with MRR as a line and active subscriptions as bars.

## Step 3: See what moved MRR

**What moved MRR** reads like a statement, one column per day, week, or month:

- **Gained**: new business, trials converted, and expansion, each with the number of subscriptions behind it
- **Lost**: contraction (downgrades) and churned, including failed payments
- **Net MRR movement** at the foot

It's the quickest way to see whether a flat month was quiet or a big win cancelled out by churn.

## Step 4: Compare plans

**MRR by plan** lists each plan with its MRR, active subscriptions, ARPU, new and churned MRR, revenue churn rate, and the average age of its subscriptions. Tick plans to chart them side by side.

## Step 5: Find the channels that bring subscribers

The channel table credits subscriptions to the visits that brought each subscriber in. Tabs switch between **Channel**, **Source**, **Medium**, **Campaign**, **UTM term**, **UTM content**, and **Referrer**.

For each row you get unique visitors, then a group of columns per attribution model with **Trials**, **Converted**, and **MRR**. The chart above it plots the rows you tick, starting with visitors beside MRR, so a channel that sends lots of visitors but little MRR stands out.

Expand a row to break it down further, or click a number to see the subscribers behind it.

## What's next

- **Follow trials to paid:** [Trials report](/help/trials-report/)
- **See what customers pay over their lifetime:** [Lifetime value report](/help/lifetime-value-report/)
- **Connect a payment tool:** [Track SaaS signups and subscriptions](/help/track-saas-signups-and-subscriptions/)

## Frequently Asked Questions

### How is MRR calculated?

MRR is every active and past-due subscription at its monthly amount on the last day of the period. Annual plans count at a twelfth of their price, and everything is shown in your workspace currency.

### Does churned MRR include failed payments?

Yes. Churned MRR and Cancellations include subscriptions lost after failed payments, not only the ones customers cancelled themselves.

### Why don't visit filters like country change the MRR figures?

A subscription is not a visit, so filters on visits don't apply to the subscription figures. Use the plan, billing interval, and channel tabs to break MRR down instead.

### Which payment tools does this report work with?

Stripe, Paddle, Polar, Lemon Squeezy, and Dodo Payments. Connect one under Setup -> Payment and subscriptions start filling the report as their events arrive.

### How does a subscriber get tied to a channel?

SourceLoop links each subscription to the person who signed up, then to their visits before that. The channel table credits subscriptions and MRR to those visits under the attribution models you choose.