Activation Analysis

Measure what percentage of new users reach the first value moment.

Overview

Activation Analysis measures the "aha moment" rate — what percentage of users who completed a start event (e.g., signed up) also completed a key value action within a defined time window. It tells you how effective your onboarding is at guiding new users to first value.

When to use activation: "What % of signups create a project within 24 hours?", "Are new users finding value quickly enough?", "What is our activation rate for trial users?" — any question about the rate at which new users reach a meaningful milestone.

When NOT to use activation: If you want historical cohort return-rate curves, use retention. If you want to identify currently inactive users, use churn.

Configuration Reference

Prop

Type

Available Template Variables

VariableDescription
{{newUsers}}Number of users who fired startEvent in the window
{{activated}}Number of users who also fired ahaEvent within activationWindow
{{activationRatePct}}Percentage of new users who activated
{{avgHoursToAha}}Average hours from startEvent to ahaEvent for activated users
{{hasComparison}}true if compareWindow was set and previous-period data is available
{{prevActivationRatePct}}Activation rate in the previous period (when hasComparison is true)
{{activationDeltaPct}}Percentage-point change vs. previous period (when hasComparison is true)
{{windowPeriod}}Human-readable analysis window, e.g. "last 14 days"
{{dataAsJson}}Full structured result as JSON
{{executedAt}}ISO 8601 execution timestamp

Example

.journium/trackers/signup-to-project.yml
apiVersion: journium.app/v0Beta
kind: InsightTracker
metadata:
  name: signup-to-project
  displayName: Signup → First Project (24h Activation)
  description: What % of new signups create a project within 24 hours
spec:
  type: LLM
  trigger:
    mode: automatic
    schedule: daily
  window:
    period: last_14d
  analysis:
    type: activation
    entity: person_id
    startEvent: user_signed_up
    ahaEvent: project_created
    activationWindow: 24h
    compareWindow: previous_period
  llm:
    promptTemplate: |
      Analyze activation for {{windowPeriod}}.
      {{newUsers}} new users signed up. {{activated}} activated ({{activationRatePct}}%).
      Average time to aha moment: {{avgHoursToAha}} hours.
      {{#if hasComparison}}
      Previous period activation: {{prevActivationRatePct}}% ({{activationDeltaPct}}pp change).
      {{/if}}
      Full data: {{dataAsJson}}
      Identify the biggest friction points preventing activation and suggest one targeted fix.
    maxOutputTokens: 400

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