Churn

Rapid turnover, especially in personnel. Dot coms often churn through their human resources at a rate consonant with their cash burn rate.

The term churn has also been used to explain the Cream of the Cool feature on E2; since creamed writeups usually get voted up beyond the Cream of the Cool parameters, there's a decent amount of churn to keep things fresh.

Churn is a marketing term, one of those cute little euphemisms that sounds good but means less than one would think (see: shrink) The term refers to loss of sales revenue due to customer defection to the competition.

Note that the term does not encompass loss of revenue to other sources, such as a cell phone customer deciding they can survive with only a land line or automobile owners deciding to sell the car and bike to work. Churn refers specifically to those who are dissatisfied with the company's product to the point of giving money to a competitor.

The figure is generally represented as a percentage of overall customer loss ('we lost 500 customers last month, half of which was due to churn') and is a pretty solid indication of customer dissatisfaction - the lower the churn, the better.

Churn (?), n. [OE. chirne, cherne, AS. ceren, cyrin; akin to D. karn, Dan. kierne. See Churn, v. t.]

A vessel in which milk or cream is stirred, beaten, or otherwise agitated (as by a plunging or revolving dasher) in order to separete the oily globules from the other parts, and obtain butter.

 

© Webster 1913.

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Churn, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Churned (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Churning.] [OE. chernen, AS. cernan; akin to LG. karnen, G. kernen, D. karnen, Dan. kierne, Sw. karna, and also to E. corn, kernel, the meaning coming from the idea of extracting the kernel or marrow. See Kernel.]

1.

To stir, beat, or agitate, as milk or cream in a churn, in order to make butter.

2.

To shake or agitate with violence.

Churned in his teeth, the foamy venom rose. Addison.

 

© Webster 1913.

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Churn, v. i.

To perform the operation of churning.

 

© Webster 1913.