Health & RetentionHealth Score
Combine usage, outcomes, relationship and support signals into one simple score, and check it really predicts churn.
A health score lets you see trouble before a customer tells you. Built carelessly, it's a dashboard of guesswork that turns green right up to the cancellation. Keep it simple, and keep testing whether it predicts anything.
How to use it
- Pick four to six signals across four areas: usage, outcomes, relationship and support.
- Score each signal red, amber or green with simple thresholds, and combine them with plain weights you can explain.
- Back-test it: score last year's customers and check whether those who left were mostly red or amber beforehand.
- Drop signals that don't help and adjust weights.
- Use the score to decide whom to call this week, not as a performance target.
Example
A software team's first score was mostly logins. Back-testing showed it missed many churners, so they add support contacts and outcome measures, and it improves.
Watch out
- Making the score a target for account managers, who then work on the score instead of the customer.
- Trusting it without re-checking each year.
Watch for drops with Signals Before Cancelling, and use it to plan Renewal Runway.