Customer Health Score: Why Does it Matter?

Published: October 16, 2023, Last Updated: August 5, 2024

Writer at Finturf.com
Writer: Martha Pierson
Editor at Finturf.com
Editor: Anais Osipova
Reviewer at Finturf.com
Reviewer: Michael Needham

In today’s fast-paced business environment, it’s more important than ever for companies to understand and engage with their customers. One powerful tool for achieving this is the customer health score. A customer health score is a numerical representation of the well-being and engagement of a company’s customer base.

By regularly monitoring the customer health score, businesses can gain valuable insight into customer engagement and loyalty, which can be used to improve retention, revenue, and customer satisfaction. In this article, we will explore the concept of a customer health score, its importance, and how it can be used to improve business performance.

What Is a Customer Health Score?

A customer health score is a metric that measures the likelihood of customer churn. It is a numerical value that can help companies evaluate and track the performance of their customer relationships over time. The metric is designed to provide a holistic view of customer interactions with a company and how likely they are to continue doing business with the company.

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A customer health score is valuable because it allows companies to prioritize their resources and efforts and make data-driven decisions about where to invest their time and money. Additionally, by identifying which customers are most valuable, a company can focus on retaining and growing those relationships.

Additionally, it allows companies to identify and address issues proactively before a customer churns, such as taking action to prevent product or service dissatisfaction. This can help improve customer retention and overall satisfaction. Here are some common metrics that businesses use to track customer health:

Engagement Metrics

  • Frequency of engagement with the company’s products or services
  • Duration of each engagement
  • Number of active touchpoints with the company
  • Conversion rate from engagement to action (e.g., sale, lead, etc.)

Satisfaction Metrics

How to Calculate Customer Health Score?

There are many ways to calculate customer health scores, and your chosen method will depend on specific metrics. Here are a few customer health score templates and the metrics used in them:

Simple Scoring System

This method assigns a point value to each customer health metric, and each metric is treated with equal importance. For instance:

  • 1 point for a purchase in the last 30 days
  • 1 point for a high lifetime value
  • 1 point for a high level of engagement on the website

The total score is the sum of all the points, with a higher score indicating better customer health.

Example: Consider a customer who made a purchase in the last 30 days (1 point), has a high lifetime value (1 point), and has a high level of engagement on the website (1 point). Their total score would be: 1 (purchase) + 1 (lifetime value) + 1 (engagement) = 3 points.

Weighted Scoring System

This method assigns a weight to each customer health metric, with more important metrics given a higher weight. Commonly, metrics that might be given a high weight include:

  • Purchase history
  • Customer’s engagement level
  • Satisfaction and feedback
  • Net Promoter Score (NPS)

The total score is the sum of the weighted values, with a higher score indicating better customer health.

Example: Suppose a customer has made a purchase in the last 30 days (weight of 1), has a high lifetime value (weight of 2), and has a high level of engagement on the website (weight of 3).

If the customer has:

  • Made a purchase in the last 30 days: Yes (1 point)
  • High lifetime value: Yes (1 point)
  • High engagement on the website: Yes (1 point)

Their total score would be calculated as: (1 x 1) + (1 x 2) + (1 x 3) = 6 points.

Normalized Scoring System

This method is used to standardize and compare different metrics that may have different units of measurement or ranges. As a result, the normalized scoring system makes it easier to understand the relative importance of each metric.

Positive customer review

In a normalized scoring system, each metric is assigned a score between zero and one, with one representing the highest possible value and zero representing the lowest possible value. The score is calculated by dividing the actual value of the metric by the highest possible value of the metric.

For example, let’s say a business wants to track the customer engagement level and has set the maximum possible value of engagement as 1,000. A customer with an engagement level of 600 will be assigned a score of 0.6 (600/1000).

What Is a Customer Health Scorecard?

A customer health scorecard is a visual representation of a customer’s health score. It is a tool that allows companies to quickly and easily understand the health of their customer base and identify which customers need the most attention.

A customer health scorecard typically includes the following elements:

  • Customer Name and Contact Information: This allows the company to quickly identify and contact the customer.
  • Health Score: The customer’s health score is prominently displayed, usually as a number or a color-coded system (e.g., green, yellow, red)
  • Key Metrics: Metrics that contribute to the customer’s health score are displayed, along with their current and target values.
  • Risk Factors: Factors that put the customer at risk of churning or not renewing their contract, such as low engagement or high customer support inquiries.
  • Action Items: Recommended actions that the company can take to improve the customer’s health, such as increasing engagement, personalized communication, improving customer experience, etc.
  • Timelines: Dates for when the actions should be taken and when the customer’s health score should be re-evaluated.

A customer health scorecard is a useful tool for customer success teams, account managers, and other customer-facing teams to quickly identify which customers need the most attention and take action to improve their health.

It can also be used by upper management to track the performance of the customer success team and identify any patterns or areas that need improvement.

Why Is Customer Health Scoring Important?

Customer health scoring allows companies to gain a deeper understanding of their customer base and make more informed decisions about how to grow their business. Here are a few reasons why customer health scoring is beneficial:

  • Prioritizes Resources: By identifying which customers are most valuable and at risk, companies can prioritize their resources and efforts to retain and grow those relationships.
  • Improves Customer Retention: By identifying and addressing issues early on, such as product dissatisfaction or lack of engagement, companies can take action to prevent customers from churning. This can help improve customer retention and overall customer satisfaction.
  • Increases Revenue: By identifying potential upsell or cross-sell opportunities, companies can increase revenue from existing customers. By evaluating a customer’s engagement, loyalty, and overall value to the business, a customer health score can provide insight into which customers are most likely to be receptive to upselling and cross-selling efforts. For example, if a customer has a high health score, they may be more likely to be interested in purchasing additional products or services that complement their current purchase.
  • Improves Decision-making: By having a clear and consistent way of evaluating customer health, companies can make data-driven decisions about where to invest their time and money.
  • Identifies and Solves Issues: By having a customer health scorecard, companies can identify and track issues, such as low engagement, high support tickets, or low adoption, and take action to solve them.
  • Improve the Customer Experience: By regularly monitoring customer health metrics, companies can identify areas where they can improve the customer experience, such as providing more training or support or developing new features that meet their needs.

How to Use a Customer Health Score?

Various industries can use a customer health score to improve their businesses and measure customer loyalty.

For example, a customer health score can help retailers identify which customers are most likely to make repeat purchases, allowing the merchant to target promotions and discounts to those individuals. In the case of SaaS companies, a health score can help these businesses identify which customers are at risk of churning and target resources to improve retention.

Additionally, a customer health score can help banks identify which customers are most at risk of defaulting on their loans and allocate resources to those accounts to improve collection efforts. And finally, these metrics can help healthcare providers identify which patients are most at risk of developing chronic conditions and develop preventive care to those individuals.

Tips for Better Health Scoring

Here are some tips for creating a more effective customer success health score:

  • Define clear metrics: Identify the key metrics used to measure customer health, such as purchase frequency, customer engagement, or customer support tickets.
  • Use data from multiple sources: Gather data from multiple sources, such as customer interactions, surveys, and website analytics, for comprehensive insight.
  • Regularly update the score: Regularly update the customer health score to ensure that it accurately reflects the current state of customer health.
  • Use automated scoring: Automate the scoring process as much as possible to ensure that the score is updated in a timely manner and that the process is consistent.
  • Communicate the score: Share the customer health score with key stakeholders, such as sales teams and customer service teams, so that they can use the information to improve customer engagement and retention.
  • Use the score to drive actions: Use the customer health score to drive specific actions, such as reaching out to at-risk customers or focusing on high-value customers.
  • Evaluate the score regularly: Evaluate the score regularly, and adjust it as needed based on the performance metrics.
  • Be transparent: Be transparent about how the score is calculated and used so that customers understand the value of the score and can provide feedback.

Final Thoughts

Customer health scores can help businesses measure customer retention, satisfaction, and overall loyalty. Additionally, customer health scores can help businesses identify potential opportunities for growth and expansion. By understanding customer health scores, companies can make informed decisions about how to best serve their customers and increase their bottom line.


Martha Pierson

Content CreatorMartha Pierson is a marketing strategist and business development expert based in Glendale, California. As a content creator for the Finturf blog, Martha shares her vast knowledge and experience with readers to help them build and sustain successful businesses. Her articles offer practical tips and actionable advice that entrepreneurs can implement immediately to achieve their goals. Martha also provides insightful analysis of current trends across different industries and offers expert guidance on how businesses can adapt to changing market conditions.

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