Churn
The rate at which customers stop doing business with a company, typically expressed as a percentage of customers lost per time period. The inverse of retention.
Used in the Books
This term appears in 30 chapters:
"The company deliberately doesn't keep decent performers - only excellent ones. This creates constant churn and knowledge loss. - Intense pressure: The culture of "high performance, high candor" creates an environment some employees describe as stressf..."
"...g binges without organizational capacity to integrate new people - Ignoring early signals of failure (burn rate, customer acquisition costs, merchant churn) The problem wasn't just speed. Speed can work if you have contact inhibition - if you stop when you hit resistance. Groupon didn't stop."
"...** (The Loop Detective) The Sensing Check: Do You Measure What Matters? Start by listing every metric your organization tracks. Sales, revenue, churn, NPS, daily active users, burn rate, market share, conversion rate, support tickets. Write them all down. Now ask: Which of these actually predict f..."
"Extracting from or replacing this partner would have meant rebuilding multiple systems, retraining support teams, and risking customer churn during transition. Mutual dependency created negotiating parity. Warning: This tactic can backfire if they decide to acquire you rather than par..."
"...on intensity | Low (few players) | Rising (new entrants) | Brutal (entrenched incumbents + startups) | | Customer behavior | Experimental, high churn | Segmenting, some lock-in | Habitual, high switching costs | | Capital availability** | Scarce or speculative | Growing (VC interest) | Deep (PE, ..."
And 25 more chapters...
Biological Context
Churn parallels mortality rate in populations. Just as populations need birth rates exceeding death rates to grow, businesses need acquisition exceeding churn. High churn indicates poor 'habitat quality'—customers are leaving because their needs aren't being met.
Business Application
Small reductions in churn compound dramatically over time. A 5% monthly churn means losing half your customers in a year. Retention economics often dominate acquisition economics for subscription businesses.