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The Relevant Length of Customer Event History for Churn Prediction: How long is long enough?

Author

Listed:
  • M. BALLINGS
  • D. VAN DEN POEL
Abstract
The key question of this study is: How long should the length of customer event history be for customer churn prediction? While most studies in predictive churn modeling aim to improve models by data augmentation or algorithm improvement, this study focuses on a another dimension: time window optimization with respect to predictive performance. This paper first presents a formalization of the time window selection strategy, along with a literature review. Next, using logistic regression, classification trees and bagging in combination with classification trees, this study analyzes the improvement in churn-model performance by extending customer event history from 1 to 16 years. The results show that, after the 5th additional year, predictive performance is only marginally increased, meaning that the company in this study can discard 69% of its data with almost no decrease in predictive performance. The practical implication is that analysts can substantially decrease datarelated burdens, such as data storage, preparation and analysis. This is particularly valuable in times of big data where computational complexity is paramount.

Suggested Citation

  • M. Ballings & D. Van Den Poel, 2012. "The Relevant Length of Customer Event History for Churn Prediction: How long is long enough?," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 12/804, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    • Handle: RePEc:rug:rugwps:12/804
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    File URL: http://wps-feb.ugent.be/Papers/wp_12_804.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    2. Buckinx, Wouter & Van den Poel, Dirk, 2005. "Customer base analysis: partial defection of behaviourally loyal clients in a non-contractual FMCG retail setting," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 164(1), pages 252-268, July.
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    10. P. Baecke & D. Van Den Poel, 2009. "Data Augmentation by Predicting Spending Pleasure Using Commercially Available External Data," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 09/596, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. M. Ballings & D. Van Den Poel & E. Verhagen, 2013. "Evaluating the Added Value of Pictorial Data for Customer Churn Prediction," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 13/869, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    2. Schaeffer, Satu Elisa & Rodriguez Sanchez, Sara Veronica, 2020. "Forecasting client retention — A machine-learning approach," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    3. Matthias Bogaert & Michel Ballings & Martijn Hosten & Dirk Van den Poel, 2017. "Identifying Soccer Players on Facebook Through Predictive Analytics," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 14(4), pages 274-297, December.
    4. Gattermann-Itschert, Theresa & Thonemann, Ulrich W., 2021. "How training on multiple time slices improves performance in churn prediction," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 295(2), pages 664-674.
    5. Bram Janssens & Matthias Bogaert & Astrid Bagué & Dirk Van den Poel, 2024. "B2Boost: instance-dependent profit-driven modelling of B2B churn," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 341(1), pages 267-293, October.
    6. Hemlata Jain & Ajay Khunteta & Sumit Srivastava, 2021. "Telecom churn prediction and used techniques, datasets and performance measures: a review," Telecommunication Systems: Modelling, Analysis, Design and Management, Springer, vol. 76(4), pages 613-630, April.
    7. Matthias Bogaert & Lex Delaere, 2023. "Ensemble Methods in Customer Churn Prediction: A Comparative Analysis of the State-of-the-Art," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-28, February.
    8. Fan, Zhi-Ping & Sun, Minghe, 2015. "Behavior-aware user response modeling in social media: Learning from diverse heterogeneous dataAuthor-Name: Chen, Zhen-Yu," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 241(2), pages 422-434.
    9. Ballings, Michel & Van den Poel, Dirk, 2015. "CRM in social media: Predicting increases in Facebook usage frequency," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 244(1), pages 248-260.
    10. De Caigny, Arno & Coussement, Kristof & De Bock, Koen W., 2018. "A new hybrid classification algorithm for customer churn prediction based on logistic regression and decision trees," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 269(2), pages 760-772.

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    Keywords

    Predictive Analytics; Time window; Length of customer event history; predictive customer churn model;
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