To create a cohort view, you need to provide date_start and date_stop. These will be used in the view to determine the time span of any record. For example, if you are managing the subscription of a service, the start date of the subscription will be date_start and the date when the subscription is going to expire will be date_stop.

By default, the cohort view will be displayed in retention mode by intervals of a month. You can use the given options to get different behaviors in the cohort view:

• mode: You can use cohort with two modes: retention (default) or churn. Retention mode starts with 100% and decreases with time, while churn mode starts at 0% and increases with time.
• timeline: This option accepts two values: forward (default) or backward. In most cases, you need to use the forwards timeline. But if the date_start is in the future, you will need to use the backwards timeline. An example of when we would use the backwards timeline would be for the registration of an event attendee where the event date is in the future and the registration date is in the past.
• interval: By default, the cohort is grouped by month, but you can change this in the interval options. Other than months, cohort also supports day, week, and year intervals.
• measure: Just like graph and pivot, measure is used to display the aggregated value of a given field. If no option is given, cohort will display the count of records.