Churn rate (sometimes called attrition rate), in its broadest sense, is a measure of the number of individuals or items moving out of a collective over a specific period of time. It is one of two primary factors that determine the steady-state level of customers a business will support. The term is used in contexts, but is most widely applied in business with respect to a contractual customer base. For instance, it is an important factor for any business with a subscriber-based service model, including mobile telephone networks and pay TV operators. The term is also used to refer to participant turnover in peer-to-peer networks.
The phrase is based on the English verb churn, meaning "to agitate or produce violent motion".
Famous quotes containing the words churn and/or rate:
“the churn of stale words in the heart again
love love love thud of the old plunger”
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)
“If you could choose your parents,... we would rather have a mother who felt a sense of guilt—at any rate who felt responsible, and felt that if things went wrong it was probably her fault—we’d rather have that than a mother who immediately turned to an outside thing to explain everything, and said it was due to the thunderstorm last night or some quite outside phenomenon and didn’t take responsibility for anything.”
—D.W. Winnicott (20th century)