# Churn prediction goals: it’s not about accuracy, it’s about impact

When building a churn prediction model, the goal isn’t to be “accurate”—because accuracy is often misleading. If only 1% of your customers churn and your model predicts “no churn” for everyone, you’ll still get **99% accuracy**—but provide **zero value**.

#### What You *Should* Optimize For

Instead, you should focus on two key metrics:

* 🔍 **Precision**: Of the customers flagged as *at risk*, how many actually churned?
* 🎯 **Recall**: Of *all customers who actually churned*, how many did your model correctly identify?

#### Why Relative Performance Matters

If your baseline churn rate is 1% and your model identifies churners with 10% precision, that’s already **10× better than random**.\
That leverage is where real business value is created.

But ideal targets depend on your business model and the **cost of acting** on churn signals.

#### Realistic Benchmarks by Industry

📦 **B2B SaaS (Low-touch, High-volume)**

* **Churn**: 5–15% monthly
* **Target**: Recall 70–85%, Precision 20–30%
* **Why**: Outreach is cheap and scalable—casting a wide net works.

**📰 Publishers / Media**

* **Churn**: 3–10% monthly
* **Target**: Recall 60–80%, Precision 20–35%
* **Why**: Low-cost interventions (email nudges, personalization) are effective at scale.

**🏋️‍♂️ Fitness & Wellness**

* **Churn**: 7–20% monthly
* **Target**: Recall 60–75%, Precision 30–40%
* **Why**: Actions often use limited resources (e.g. trainer time)—precision is critical.

**💳 NGOs / Recurring Donors**

* **Churn**: 20–35% annually
* **Target**: Recall 65–80%, Precision >40%
* **Why**: Donor value is high, and most interventions are worth the effort—even with some false positives.

**💡 Energy Providers**

* **Churn**: 10–20% annually
* **Target**: Recall 60–75%, Precision 35–50%
* **Why**: Churn often follows rate changes; success depends on delivering the right message to the right people.

**🎲 Lotteries & Games of Chance**

* **Churn**: 15–40% annually
* **Target**: Recall 70–85%, Precision 25–40%
* **Why**: High natural churn; reactivation is possible—timing and messaging matter most.

**🧩 Digital Platforms / Marketplaces**

* **Churn**: 5–20% monthly (often defined as inactivity)
* **Target**: Recall 60–80%, Precision 20–35%
* **Why**: Reactivation is typically low-cost and scalable; depends on monetization model.

**💼 B2B SaaS (Tech-touch)**

* **Churn**: 2–8% monthly
* **Target**: Recall 60–75%, Precision 25–40%
* **Why**: Mid-scale users benefit from lifecycle emails and nudging—good recall drives growth.

**🤝 B2B SaaS (High-touch)**

* **Churn**: 5–15% annually
* **Target**: Precision >50%, Recall 40–60%
* **Why**: CS time and incentives are costly—false positives are expensive.

#### 🎯 Final Takeaway

Don’t obsess over abstract model scores.\
Measure your model’s **uplift versus random**, and **balance precision and recall** based on the **cost and value of acting**.\
That’s how churn prediction drives real, measurable business impact.