Customer churn prediction using machine learning will help understand why customers stop buying or using the services you provide completely. It is helpful to understand customer churn; every brand in today’s time faces this problem.
Customer churn is the worst nightmare of every business. Once your customers decide that they are no longer interested in your products or services, it doesn’t take long for them to jump ship.
Your focus shifts from acquiring customers to retaining your existing customers; this is where the focus on customer churn prediction proves its worth.
How to get started with customer churn prediction
Customer churn prediction is a business challenge every company faces at some point. It does not matter what size the business you are into and the model of your operation; if you are someone into selling the products and the services. It is important to know that every business faces the problem of customer retention using machine learning.
The first step toward customer churn prediction is to define what it means to keep customers. The second step is to identify all possible factors that affect customer retention and determine which ones impact your business’ performance.
Once you have done this, it is time to find out which factor impacts customer retention and how much it costs you if one of your customers decides to leave your service or product.
Churn Rate refers to the percentage of customers that leave over a specific period (usually monthly). It’s calculated by dividing the total number of customers who left during a given period by the total number of active customers at the beginning of that period, then multiplying by 100%.
Customer Churn Prediction: It refers to predicting when customers will leave so that appropriate actions can get taken before they do so.
Top reasons affecting customer churn
Customer churn is a problem that can affect any business. If you know how to get started with customer churn prediction, then knowing the main reasons that affect customer churn will help predict the churn and help avoid it.
Poor customer service is one of the main reasons that can cause customer churn. Another factor is the price; you must keep comparing the prices with the competitors.
If your product does not meet the needs of your customers, then they will leave you for another brand that meets their needs.
Another reason for customer churn is when you do not meet their expectations; if they do not get what they expect from your product or service, they will leave you and go somewhere else where they can get what they need and want.
How to work on predicting customer churn using machine learning
Customer churn prediction is a critical part of customer success and growth. It helps you understand why customers are leaving and how to prevent it.
The best way to customer churn predicts using machine learning. The reason is that machine learning can help find any risky customer and help you understand why they want to leave. It’s also an excellent way to improve your marketing campaigns and make them more effective, so your customers stay with you longer.
There are many types of machine learning algorithms you can use for churn prediction. Here are some of them:
Decision trees: This algorithm uses decision trees to identify the riskiest customers based on their historical data. Decision trees are easy to understand but can be very complex because they have many branches and leaves.
If you use this technique, ensure all branches are tested for accuracy before choosing one branch as the final result because it may not be accurate enough for your needs.
Neural networks: This algorithm uses artificial neural networks (ANN) to find patterns in data sets and then make predictions about future events or outcomes based on those patterns. ANNs learn from previous experiences and apply what they’ve learned during training sessions when making new predictions; this makes them more accurate than others.
There is a five-step process to help in predicting customer churn using machine learning. They are as follows:
Knowing the problem and the goal: The first step in any machine learning project is to understand the problem and the main goal related to the analysis. That will help in determining the type of machine learning to use.
For example, if you want to predict customer behavior, you might use a classification model (like an SVM or a Naive Bayes). However, if you are trying to determine whether an image has been altered, you probably want to use a regression model (like a neural network or linear regression).
Once you have determined what type of model you want to use, it is time to collect data and prepare it for training.
Data collection: Once you have finalized the type of machine learning, you have to finalize the data sources needed for modeling and forecasting. That includes:
Data collection: Data should be collected from all relevant sources, such as web pages, social media posts, and emails.
Data cleaning: Data can contain errors and duplicates, so it must get cleaned before being used in the analysis.
Data preparation: Data may need to be aggregated or converted into a uniform format before analysis.
Preparation of data: It is that stage where the collected data gets converted into the best format that is helpful in machine learning. The main purpose is to prove that all the information units get collected using logic and the data is consistent.
Testing and modeling: In this stage, machine learning prediction will get created. It will also have validation of the model and performance monitoring to help get the correct customer churn prediction from the historical data.
Monitoring and implementation: It is the final stage of machine learning development to help predict customer churn. A customer churn-based model got created on machine learning.
Conclusion
Customer churn prediction using machine learning is difficult for companies because churn is not one-dimensional. To accurately predict customer churn, you need data on each customer interaction; thus, gathering such data is a difficult task.
Even if we have multiple data points like product usage, transaction history, and engagement behavior, the root of customer churn can be delved into using just simple customer profiling.
The biggest challenge in this process is how organizations put their customer holdings into different segments or buckets to measure loyalty and propensity to churn.
