Churn

The term "churn" is used in marketing to designate the loss of customers or subscribers.

The notion of churn rate is very present on the web, but also in the telecommunications sector. This notion is linked to the concept of customer loyalty, as it measures the average duration of a subscription to a service or offer.

It’s therefore widely used by companies offering subscriptions to mobile services, TV packages, newspapers, and magazines.

In the digital sector, the notion of churn is also used to measure the loss of subscribers or followers on social networks, the unsubscription to newsletters, and the loss of customers on ecommerce sites or to an online tool.

Churn refers to the loss of customers, consumers, or subscribers. It’s calculated using the churn rate as follows:

Churn rate = (number of customers lost over the period / number of initial customers ) x 100

See our churn rate calculator.

In concrete terms, if at the beginning of January you had 1,000 subscribers to your newsletter, and by the end of the month you had lost 80, your churn rate would be (80 / 1,000) x 100 = 8%.

If you don't know the number of subscribers lost over the period, you can also use this calculation method: Churn rate = (number of initial customers - number of final customers) / number of initial customers x 100.

Ideally, the churn rate should remain as low as possible, as a high result indicates a high number of unsubscribes or lost customers (and therefore lost potential revenue). An increase in churn or a recurring high churn rate may indicate a problem with your sales process, the quality of your product or services, etc.

To reduce your churn and retain your subscribers or customers for longer, you can, however, implement a few actions.

Asking your customers or subscribers directly why they left or unsubscribed is a smart move. This will enable you to identify the problem and remedy it as quickly as possible.

Other methods can also help you reduce your business’s churn rate, such as identifying the competitors to whom your customers are moving, implementing concrete actions to improve customer satisfaction, examining your strengths and weaknesses, and, especially, optimizing your online sales processes.