Learn the foundations of revenue protection
This guide explains the core concepts behind revenue protection: how Stripe signals become detection and recovery workflows, and how teams use them to protect revenue.
Core concepts
The building blocks of Revity
These concepts show how raw Stripe data becomes detection, insights, and recovery workflows that drive action. Each term is used precisely throughout the product.
Revenue detection
Revenue detection turns Stripe billing signals into clear issues and opportunities. It combines metrics, events, and context so teams can see what changed, why it matters, and what to do next.
Metrics
Metrics are raw measurements like counts, totals, rates, and ratios. They tell you what happened, but not always why. Good metrics are consistent, defined precisely, and tied to a specific time window.
Analytics
Analytics are interpreted views built from metrics. They turn raw numbers into trends, comparisons, and insights you can act on. Analytics help answer "why did this change?" and "what should we investigate next?"
Alerts
Alerts are signals that something is off or needs attention. A good alert includes context and thresholds so teams can triage quickly and avoid alert fatigue.
Guardrails
Guardrails are pre-flight checks and invariants that prevent billing mistakes before they reach customers. Think of them as automated QA for pricing, discounts, metadata, and configuration.
Revenue risk signals
Revenue risk signals are unexpected patterns (failed payments, refund spikes, past-due growth) that may indicate leakage, operational issues, or billing configuration drift.
Metrics
Raw measurements
- Counts: open invoices, failed payments, cancellations.
- Totals: MRR, refunds, outstanding balances.
- Rates: collection rate, churn rate, past-due rate.
- Time-based: average days to pay, retry cadence.
- Precision: define exactly how each metric is calculated and what time window it uses.
Metrics answer "what happened?" and are the foundation for deeper insight. When you track a metric, write down the formula and the data source so it stays consistent.
Analytics
Interpreted insight
- Trends: MRR trend vs last 30 days.
- Comparisons: payment failures this week vs last week.
- Breakdowns: churn by plan or customer segment.
- Insights: top movers and emerging risk signals.
- Context: add thresholds, baselines, and "normal ranges" to interpret change.
Analytics answers "why it happened" and "what to do next." The same metric can produce multiple analytics depending on the question you're asking.
From data to action
How revenue protection workflows operate
1. Ingest
Read Stripe Billing data like invoices, subscriptions, charges, refunds, and disputes. The goal is comprehensive coverage, not just a single object type.
2. Normalize
Normalize raw objects so metrics and analytics stay consistent across accounts, currencies, and billing models.
3. Analyze
Calculate metrics and analytics per window (7/30/90 days) to highlight changes and compare to a baseline.
4. Detect
Guardrails and detection rules surface billing drift, leakage, and revenue risk early.
5. Act
Guided fixes and recovery workflows provide context, likely causes, and recommended next steps.
Analytics library
Five core analytics groups
These are the analytics groups used in the Stripe extension. Each group answers a specific business question and rolls up multiple metrics into a single view.
Revenue health trends
MRR trend, net revenue retention, churn rate. Answers: Are we growing cleanly? What changed vs last period?
Tip: choose a consistent window (7/30/90) so teams can compare week-over-week and month-over-month changes.
Invoice health
Past-due rate, avg days to pay, aging over 30 days. Answers: How quickly do customers pay? Where is cash stuck?
Tip: choose a consistent window (7/30/90) so teams can compare week-over-week and month-over-month changes.
Subscription movement
New subscriptions, cancellations, net MRR change. Answers: What is driving growth or contraction?
Tip: choose a consistent window (7/30/90) so teams can compare week-over-week and month-over-month changes.
Risk signals
Payment failure spikes, refund spikes, past-due spikes. Answers: Where is revenue at risk right now?
Tip: choose a consistent window (7/30/90) so teams can compare week-over-week and month-over-month changes.
Top movers
Largest expansions and churns. Answers: Which customers shifted the most in this window?
Tip: choose a consistent window (7/30/90) so teams can compare week-over-week and month-over-month changes.
Data sources
What Revity observes
Revity focuses on Stripe Billing signals so teams can detect revenue risk, fix issues safely, and track recovery performance. These sources are combined to create both metrics and analytics.
Stripe references
Primary documentation sources
These Stripe docs map directly to the concepts on this page and are useful when you need official definitions.
How to use this page
Use the definitions above to align your team on language. When a metric is discussed, confirm the formula, the time window, and the data source. When an issue is detected, map it back to the analytics group and its underlying metrics.
If you're documenting your billing health, a good starting point is: define 3–5 core metrics, choose one or two analytics views per team, and establish thresholds that describe "normal" vs "needs attention."