I recently came across and interesting infographic about Customer Churn on Website Magazine. It provides data on 2 like companies and indicates the financial impact of customer churn which can be devastating to business profitability and overall value (click image below for infographic)

In my experience this certainly holds true and companies should take note of this measure and work to understand how it may impact their business. I’ve calculated churn on many occasion and here’s my formula:

Churn = Beginning Customer Universe + New Customers + Reactivated Customers – Lapsed Customers 

The above should be calculated every month at the very least so that any improvement can be tracked and historically compared. If run monthly, New Customers come on file over the past 30 days while customers lapse after 12 months and reactivate if a transaction occurs after not being see since over that same time-frame.

Next, here are my 3 tips to combat negative customer churn:

1) Implement CRM – hire/train a professional whose primary job is to maintain the customer relationship and create value in the process. Marketing Segmentation will be a key part of this strategy as it will help to identify customers likely to attrite and those preparing for the next step in their lifecycle.

2) Install and Execute Marketing Automation – digital and marketing automation will do wonders for customer churn by keeping the contact and communication constant with customers. This will help leverage your customer contacts and develop the feedback cycle so that business can better understand the customer’s willingness to interact and communicate.

3) Setup A Loyalty Program – Loyalty programs have known to heighten customer engagement and increase Lifetime Value (LTV). They can be as simple or complicated as business prefers, but should always take into account what the customer wants and needs. 

The battle to decrease negative churn should be on every executive’s mind if they desire business relevance and longevity. The answers to improved churn will always lie in the data and tactics can be set with good Marketing and Loyalty programs.