Cohort Analysis

Aggregate lead reporting tells you totals and averages. It doesn't tell you whether leads captured last week are converting at the same rate as leads from three weeks ago, or whether a recent campaign change improved the quality of leads over time. Cohort Analysis in Driftrock groups leads by the week or month they were captured and tracks how each group progresses through your sales funnel, so you can see trends that standard reporting misses.

What is Cohort Analysis?

Cohort Analysis is a reporting view in Driftrock that organises your leads into time-based groups (cohorts) and shows how each group converts through downstream events over time. A cohort is simply all the leads captured during a given week or month. You can then see what percentage of those leads progressed to contacted, qualified, or sold at any point after capture.

This view is available to all Driftrock accounts and requires no additional setup beyond having lead and conversion data flowing through the platform.

Why use Cohort Analysis?

Aggregate reporting has a built-in blind spot: conversion lag. Leads captured last week haven't had time to convert yet, which makes recent campaigns look worse than they are. Cohort Analysis removes that distortion by comparing cohorts of the same age rather than mixing everything into a single total.

Practically, this means you can:

Spot trends before they appear in aggregate data. If the leads you captured in a specific week are converting at half the rate of the previous week's cohort at the same age, something changed, and you can investigate it sooner.

Benchmark channels fairly. Compare whether Meta lead ad cohorts convert faster or slower than Google Search cohorts over a 30-day window, adjusted for when they were captured.

Measure seasonal patterns. See whether leads captured during promotional events convert at higher or lower rates than steady-state leads, using data rather than assumptions.

Track dealer performance over time. Compare how quickly different dealer groups work through each week's cohort of leads from capture to sale.

How it works

Leads are grouped by the date they were captured, either weekly or monthly depending on your preference. Each cohort row in the report shows how that group of leads has progressed through your downstream conversion events (such as contacted, test drive booked, or vehicle sold) at each time interval after capture.

You can apply the same filters available across Driftrock reporting: source, channel, campaign, model, dealer, or Lead Type. This lets you compare cohort performance within a specific channel or across your entire programme.

Recent cohorts will naturally show lower conversion rates than older ones, because they haven't had enough time to fully convert. For meaningful comparisons, compare cohorts of the same age, for example, week 1 to week 2 conversion rates at the 30-day mark across multiple cohorts.

Getting started

Go to Reporting in your Driftrock account.

Select Cohort Analysis from the available report types.

Choose your cohort period (weekly or monthly) depending on the volume and cycle length of your leads.

Apply any filters you need (source, channel, campaign, model, etc.) to focus the view.

Review the results. Each row represents one cohort, with columns showing conversion metrics at different intervals after capture.

Tips for getting the most out of Cohort Analysis

Recent cohorts will always look like they are underperforming compared to older ones. This is normal: they simply haven't had enough time to convert. Compare cohorts at the same age point rather than comparing absolute totals.

Cohort Analysis is most useful when you have at least 4 to 6 weeks of consistent data flowing through Driftrock, including downstream conversion events. If you haven't yet set up downstream tracking, connect your CRM conversion data first to get the most out of this view.