Churn, or attrition, refers to losing customers, subscribers, consumers. This is measured through a metric called the churn rate. The method for calculating this is quite simple:
(Number of churned customers over the period) X 100
__________________________________________
[(Number of new customers over the period)
+ (Number of customers at the end of the period) / 2]
Now that we know what churn is, let’s see how you can implement an anti-churn strategy.
Once a prospect becomes a client, you don’t need to convert them anymore. Behind this self-evident truth lies a business reality: it is easier to retain a customer than to win over a prospective one. Yet, marketing efforts are rarely geared towards building loyalty.
How, then, can a company fight against churn?
By making customers an integral part of your marketing actions: sending newsletters, invitations to events. By rewarding their loyalty: sending gift vouchers, discounts. By not forgetting them in your commercial actions: touching base with your customers when everything is going well is also a way to show that the company is there for them. If, on top of this, the sales representative takes the customer out for lunch, for example, the churn threat will be radically diminished.
There’s a whole lot of information which can help you identify at-risk customers and predict potential churn risk. A customer who has called the customer service and still hasn’t received a response five weeks later is likely to defect to the competition. There’s another customer who, for years was buying three products per month and now is only buying two. Sounds as if this person might already have one foot out the door and will be among your churned customers for the year.
In addition to internal factors, such as poor product quality or a poor relationship between the customer and the brand Churn can also have external causes. One example would be new regulations.
If new legislation makes it easier to cancel a telephone subscription or facilitates data portability in the banking sector, these are churn risks to which these sectors have to adapt.
Given that the human brain has its own limitations, we can call on artificial intelligence in fighting churn.
From observing past behaviours, AI can establish a link between weak signals and actual churn, thereby providing the means to anticipate and reduce churn.