Title: Identification of customer churn determinants using censored log file data in the Iranian mobile telecommunications service industry

Authors: Abbas Keramati, Ali Azadeh, Mehrdad Mohammadi, Hamideh Rostami

Addresses: Industrial Engineering Department, University of Tehran, P.O. Box 11365-4563, Tehran, Iran. ' Department of Industrial Engineering, Department of Engineering Optimization Research, Center of Excellence for Intelligent Based Experimental Mechanics, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, P.O. Box 11365-4563, Tehran, Iran. ' Department of Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, P.O. Box 11365-4563, Tehran, Iran. ' Department of Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tabriz, P.O. Box 11365-4563, Tehran, Iran

Abstract: Retaining customers is one of the most critical challenges in the maturing mobile telecommunications service industry. Therefore, as one of the most important part of customer relationship management (CRM) strategy, a lot of researchers try to know the reason of their switching. In this paper by using a Cox regression model based on a survey of 3,150 mobile users in Iran, the determinants of subscriber churn and customer loyalty are identified in the Iranian mobile telephony market. We consider the remaining customer as a right-censored data. In this paper, we present the hazard function for each remaining customer. The probability that a subscriber will switch carrier is dependent on the level of satisfaction with alternative specific service attributes including call failure, tariff plan, complains, charge amount, seconds of use, frequency of use, frequency of SMS, distinct called numbers, age group, subscription length, and status.

Keywords: churn analysis; survival analysis; censored data; Cox regression; Iran; customer churn; mobile communications; telecommunications services; customer retention; customer relationship management; CRM strategy; subscriber churn; customer loyalty; mobile phones; cell phones.

DOI: 10.1504/IJECRM.2011.041261

International Journal of Electronic Customer Relationship Management, 2011 Vol.5 No.2, pp.111 - 129

Published online: 27 Sep 2014 *

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