Churn rate
What is churn rate?
Churn rate is the percentage of customers lost in a period: customers who left during the period divided by customers at the start, times 100. Revenue churn measures lost revenue instead of lost customers.
High churn means the product is not keeping its promise for many customers, or is being sold to the wrong ones.
Why churn rate matters
Churn quietly cancels growth: a business that wins many customers and loses most of them stays small. It is also a key signal of product-market fit.
Related marketing terms
Customer lifetime value, LTV, estimates the total revenue or profit a customer brings over their whole relationship with a business.
Product-market fit is when a product clearly satisfies a real market need: customers want it, use it, keep using it and tell others.
Net Promoter Score asks customers how likely they are to recommend you from 0 to 10, then subtracts detractors from promoters.
An ideal customer profile, ICP, describes the kind of company or person that gets the most value from your product and is best to sell to.