Revenue Forecasting Report
Forecast upcoming recurring revenue by analyzing scheduled, pending, and processed subscription renewals alongside new sales to predict total revenue with real-time accuracy tracking.
The Revenue Forecasting Report helps you predict upcoming revenue by tracking subscription renewals from their scheduled state through final outcomes. It combines historical renewal performance with real-time processing data to produce revenue forecasts, then measures actual accuracy against those predictions. This report is essential for financial planning, cash flow management, and understanding the gap between scheduled and realized revenue.
What This Report Includes
This report tracks recurring subscription renewals alongside new sales, providing both forecast projections and actual outcomes for revenue comparison.
Transactions Included:
- Sale and capture transaction types on recurring subscriptions
- Looks at the transaction's line items
- Includes both scheduled (future) and completed (past) transactions for forecast comparison
- Test orders are excluded
- Date range is based on Scheduled Charge Date (when the transaction is scheduled to be billed)
Why This Matters: Knowing how much revenue is scheduled is very different from knowing how much will actually be collected. This report bridges that gap by applying historical conversion rates to scheduled renewals, giving you a realistic revenue projection that updates in real time as renewals process.
Report Metrics
Scheduled Recurring Sales
The total count of subscription renewal charges scheduled for the selected period. This is your starting universe — every subscription that is due for a renewal charge. This does not include first-cycle (new) sales.
Scheduled Recurring Revenue
The total dollar value of all scheduled recurring renewal charges. This represents maximum potential recurring revenue if every renewal succeeded.
Pending Recurring Sales
Count of scheduled renewals that have not yet been processed, skipped, or cancelled. These are still in the queue awaiting charge attempts.
Pending Recurring Revenue
Dollar value of pending renewals. As the billing period progresses, this number should decrease as renewals move to other states.
Pending Revenue Rate
The percentage of scheduled recurring revenue that is still pending. Calculated as Pending Recurring Revenue divided by Scheduled Recurring Revenue. This tells you how much of the scheduled revenue has yet to be resolved.
Cancelled Recurring Sales
Count of scheduled renewals that were cancelled before processing, typically by customer request or automated cancellation rules.
Cancelled Recurring Revenue
Dollar value lost to pre-processing cancellations. This revenue was scheduled but will never be attempted.
Skipped Recurring Sales
Count of scheduled renewals where the customer elected to skip this billing cycle. The subscription remains active but no charge is attempted.
Skipped Recurring Revenue
Dollar value of skipped renewals. Unlike cancellations, this revenue may be recovered in future cycles.
Declined Recurring Sales
Count of scheduled renewals where all charge attempts (including dunning retries) failed. These represent involuntary churn from payment failure.
Declined Recurring Revenue
Dollar value lost to payment failures after all dunning attempts were exhausted.
Successful Recurring Sales
Count of scheduled renewals that were successfully charged. This is the realized recurring sales number.
Successful Recurring Revenue
Dollar value of successfully collected renewal charges. This represents actual recurring revenue collected.
Forecasted Recurring Sales
Projected total successful recurring sales based on the scheduled count adjusted by historical rebill success rates. This prediction uses past performance to estimate what percentage of scheduled renewals will ultimately succeed.
Forecasted Recurring Revenue
Projected recurring revenue based on the forecasted sales calculation applied to scheduled revenue amounts.
Pending Forecasted Sales
Projected sales from currently pending renewals, applying historical success rates to the remaining unprocessed queue.
Pending Forecasted Revenue
Projected revenue from currently pending renewals.
Real Time Forecasted Recurring Sales
A dynamically updated recurring forecast that combines already-processed results with predictions for still-pending renewals. Calculated as Successful Recurring Sales plus Pending Forecasted Sales. As more renewals process, this forecast becomes increasingly accurate.
Real Time Forecasted Recurring Revenue
The revenue equivalent of the real-time recurring forecast, blending actual collected recurring revenue with projected revenue from remaining pending renewals.
New Sales
Count of successful new sales (first-cycle transactions) in the period, including both one-time and first-cycle recurring orders. Included to give a complete revenue picture. This metric is only available for past data.
New Revenue
Dollar value of successful new sales.
Successful Total Sales
Combined count of successful recurring sales and new sales. This represents all successfully processed transactions in the period. This metric is only available for past data.
Successful Total Revenue
Combined dollar value of successful recurring revenue and new sales revenue. This metric is only available for past data.
Real Time Forecasted Sales
The real-time forecast applied to total sales — combining all successful sales (recurring and new) with forecasted pending renewals.
Real Time Forecasted Revenue
The real-time forecast applied to total revenue — combining all successful revenue with projected revenue from pending renewals.
Forecasted Sale Accuracy
Measures how close the forecasted recurring sales count was to actual successful recurring sales, expressed as a percentage. A value near 100% indicates the forecast model is highly reliable for your business.
Forecasted Revenue Accuracy
Measures how close the forecasted recurring revenue was to actual successful recurring revenue, expressed as a percentage. Tracks revenue-level forecast precision separately from count-level accuracy.
Available Dimensions
Use these dimensions to slice and filter your revenue forecasting data for deeper analysis.
| Dimension | Description |
|---|---|
| Transaction Scheduled Date | The date the transaction is scheduled to process |
| Transaction Scheduled Hour | Hour of day the transaction is scheduled (0–23) |
| Transaction Scheduled Day Of Week | Day of the week the transaction is scheduled |
| Transaction Scheduled Week | ISO week number of the scheduled transaction |
| Transaction Scheduled Month | Month and year of the scheduled transaction |
| Transaction Scheduled Year | Year the transaction is scheduled |
| Subscribed Date | The date the subscription was created |
| Subscribed Week | ISO week number of subscription creation |
| Subscribed Month | Month and year of subscription creation |
| Subscribed Year | Year the subscription was created |
| Internal Customer ID | The internal system customer ID |
| Connection | The connection (CRM instance) associated with the customer |
| Order ID | The unique order identifier |
| Transaction ID | The unique transaction identifier |
| Transaction Attempt | The attempt number for this charge |
| Transaction Cycle | The billing cycle of the transaction |
| Transaction Total | The total amount of the transaction |
| Transaction Created User | The user or process that created the transaction |
| Offer Status | The current status of the offer |
| Connection Offer Status | The offer status as defined by the connection |
| Subscription Billing Status | Current billing status of the subscription |
| Is Blacklist | Whether the customer is on the blacklist |
| Is Gift | Whether the order was marked as a gift |
| Is Add On | Whether this is an add-on subscription |
| Is Recurring | Whether this is a recurring charge |
| Is Dunning | Whether this transaction is part of the dunning process |
| Used Discount Code | Whether a discount code was applied |
| Device | The device used to place the order |
| Device Type | The type of device (e.g., Desktop, Mobile, Tablet) |
| Referrer Domain | The full referring domain that drove the order |
| Referrer Base Domain | The base domain of the referrer |
| Offer | The offer associated with the subscription |
| Offer Name | Display name of the offer |
| Offer Code | The unique offer code |
| Primary Offer Category | Primary category assigned to the offer |
| Secondary Offer Category | Secondary category assigned to the offer |
| Campaign | The campaign associated with the order |
| Primary Campaign Category | Primary category assigned to the campaign |
| Secondary Campaign Category | Secondary category assigned to the campaign |
| Charge Frequency | How often the subscription is billed |
| Shipping Frequency | How often shipments are sent |
| Item | The item associated with the offer |
| Item SKU | The SKU of the item |
| Discount Code | Discount or coupon code applied to the order |
| Discount Name | Display name of the applied discount |
| Discount Category | Category of the applied discount |
| Merchant | The merchant account used for processing |
| Merchant Group | The merchant group the merchant belongs to |
| Primary Merchant Category | Primary category assigned to the merchant |
| Secondary Merchant Category | Secondary category assigned to the merchant |
| Processor | The payment processor used |
| Processor Response | The response message from the processor |
| Gateway | The payment gateway used |
| Gateway Transaction ID | The gateway's transaction identifier |
| Gateway AVS Code | Address Verification System response code |
| Gateway CVV Code | Card Verification Value response code |
| Gateway Response Code | The gateway's response code |
| Card Bin Number | First six digits of the card number identifying the issuing bank |
| Card Type | Card brand (e.g., Visa, Mastercard, Amex) |
| Card Issuer | The bank or institution that issued the card |
| Card Category | Category of the card (e.g., Consumer, Business) |
| Card Country | Country where the card was issued |
| Is Prepaid Card | Whether the card is a prepaid card |
| Currency | The transaction currency |
| Dunning Schedule | The dunning schedule being applied |
| Dunning Connection | The external dunning connection (if applicable) |
| Dunning Connection Type | The type of dunning connection |
| Alert|Chargeback Code | Reason code for alerts or chargebacks |
| Ship Country | Shipping destination country |
| Ship State | Shipping destination state or province |
| Tracking 1–20 | Custom tracking field values associated with the order |
Key Business Insights
1. Revenue Pipeline Visibility
Track the flow from Scheduled → Successful to understand your revenue conversion funnel:
Scheduled Revenue: $100,000
- Cancelled: -$8,000 (8%)
- Skipped: -$3,000 (3%)
- Declined: -$12,000 (12%)
- Pending: -$5,000 (yet to be attempted)
= Successful: $72,000 (72%)2. Forecast Reliability
Monitor Forecast Accuracy over time:
- 90%+ accuracy → Model is reliable; use for financial planning and inventory commitments
- 80–90% accuracy → Reasonable but has variance; add a buffer to planning projections
- Below 80% → Model may be affected by seasonal changes, recent operational shifts, or unusual subscriber behavior
3. Real-Time Revenue Tracking
Use Real Time Forecasted Revenue for intra-period visibility:
- Early in the period: Heavy reliance on historical rates (less certain)
- Mid-period: Blend of actuals and projections (moderately certain)
- Late in period: Mostly actuals with small pending forecast (highly certain)
4. Revenue Leakage Analysis
Compare Scheduled Recurring Revenue to Successful Recurring Revenue to quantify total leakage, then break it down:
- Cancelled Revenue → Voluntary churn; addressable with retention programs
- Declined Revenue → Involuntary churn; addressable with dunning and card updating
- Skipped Revenue → Temporary deferrals; may indicate frequency mismatch
Optimization Strategies
Maximize Scheduled-to-Successful Conversion
- Reduce cancellations with pre-renewal engagement and save offers
- Minimize declines with dunning optimization, card updater services, and retry timing
- Address skip patterns by adjusting subscription frequency options
Financial Planning
- Use the Real Time Forecasted Revenue for cash flow management during the current period
- Use the standard Forecasted Revenue for planning future periods
- Track new sales separately to understand the mix of growth vs. recurring revenue
Pro Tips
- Revenue Settings: Revenue figures in this report respect your company settings for including or excluding shipping and tax. Ensure your settings match your financial reporting requirements
- Odd-Rebill Rates: The forecast uses historical "odd-rebill" success rates — the percentage of scheduled renewals that ultimately succeed. If you've recently changed dunning strategies or payment processors, historical rates may temporarily diverge from current performance
- Run Frequently: For maximum value, review this report weekly or even daily during critical periods (month-end, quarter-end, seasonal peaks)
- Pair with Inventory Forecasting: Revenue forecasting tells you the dollar side; the Inventory Forecasting Report tells you the unit/shipment side. Together, they give a complete operational forecast
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How is the forecast calculated?
A: The system uses your historical rebill success rate (the percentage of scheduled renewals that ultimately result in a successful charge) and applies it to currently scheduled renewals. The real-time forecast additionally incorporates already-processed results to improve accuracy as the billing period progresses.
Q: Why might my forecast accuracy vary between periods?
A: Forecast accuracy depends on the consistency of renewal behavior. Seasonal fluctuations, changes to your subscriber mix, new dunning strategies, or payment processor changes can all cause temporary shifts in accuracy. The model will self-correct as new historical data becomes available.
Q: Does this include one-time (non-subscription) orders?
A: The recurring metrics (Scheduled, Pending, Cancelled, etc.) only include subscription renewals. The New Sales and New Revenue metrics include all first-cycle transactions — both one-time purchases and first-cycle recurring orders. One-time orders are not included in any of the recurring forecast metrics.
Q: How should I use Pending Forecasted vs. Real Time Forecasted?
A: The Pending Forecasted figure predicts expected revenue from only the still-unprocessed renewals. The Real Time Forecasted combines actual results (already processed) with pending predictions, giving you the most complete current estimate of final revenue.
Updated 7 days ago