PROBLEM: Fortune 500 subscription business experienced growing subscriber churn.

FINDINGS: In depth analysis revealed many attributes and behavioral factors that correlated with higher levels of churn, and inversely some that correlated with low churn and longer customer lifetimes and thus lifetime value.

• Payment methods had become an issue as more customers' credit cards were expiring (standard expiry and fraud issues).
• Customer initiated contacts with Customer Service for specific types of issues (technical issues, satisfaction issues) correlated strongly with higher churn rates.
• The timing of account activation showed a relationship with churn (fast activation: lower churn, slow or no activation: higher churn).
• Specific feature usage and adoption showed correlation with lower rates of churn.

ACTION: Actions were taken to address most of the issues identified in the analyses:

• Customer Service addressed card expiry well in advance or immediately when possible in the case of lost cards or fraud card replacement.
• Technical and satisfaction issues were addressed large scale.
• Emails were created and sent to new customers touting features and benefits of activation.
• Features that correlated with higher retention were given higher levels of promotion to drive users to adopt.

RESULTS: Retention was improved by 30% over the course of one year.