Glossary
What is churn rate?
Churn rate is the share of customers, or of recurring revenue, that you lose in a period. Customer churn counts accounts that cancel. Revenue churn counts the money lost, including downgrades. A small monthly churn adds up: losing a few percent each month means replacing a large part of the customer base every year.
Published by Sellinger AI. Numbers and settings checked on 24 October 2026 against the fact register. Report an error.
How do you calculate it?
Customer churn rate = customers lost in the period / customers at the start of the period x 100. An example with made up numbers: 200 customers on 1 March, 6 cancel during March, churn is 3% for the month. Do not count customers who joined during the month in the base.
What is the difference between customer and revenue churn?
| Measure | Counts | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Customer churn | Accounts that leave | Treats a small and a large account the same |
| Gross revenue churn | Recurring revenue lost to cancellations and downgrades | Ignores expansion |
| Net revenue churn | Revenue lost minus expansion from remaining customers | Can hide high customer churn behind upsells |
Why do customers churn?
The common reasons are a champion who leaves, a product that never became part of the routine, a cheaper alternative, or a change in the customer's own business. Many of these are visible in advance: usage drops, the champion changes job, the renewal contact goes quiet. Outreach that starts early, before the renewal date, catches more of them.
How Sellinger handles it
The customer renewal and churn outreach use case shows how an agent can check in before renewals and hand risks to a person. Sellinger's own terms: cancel, upgrade or change modules at any time. There are no lock in contracts and no setup fees on self serve plans.
Common questions
What is a good churn rate?
Is monthly or annual churn better?
Can outreach reduce churn?
Sources and method
Formula and example are illustrative. Sellinger contract terms from the fact register, checked 24 October 2026.
Related: Customer lifetime value, Renewal and churn outreach, LinkedIn outreach for customer success managers, Customer success teams.
