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Blog · AI and self-service analytics

Account health score: why a computed score beats a colour-coded one

What is wrong with the red-amber-green account health field most CRMs carry, what a computed health score is made of, five inputs from the ledger and the CRM with stated weights, how the weights are set from the company's own churn history rather than opinion, why the score is shown with its inputs and never alone, the identity that every account has one score from the same rule, and how the score is validated against what happened.

The short answerA colour-coded health field is a rep's opinion, set once and rarely updated, and it predicts nothing because it was not built from anything. A computed health score is five inputs from the ledger and the CRM, run-rate trend, contact recency against cadence, products used against norm, ticket surge or repeat rate, and pipeline slip, each scaled and weighted, with the weights set from the company's own history of which inputs preceded churn. The score is shown with its inputs, recomputed monthly for every account by the same rule, and validated each quarter against what happened to the accounts it scored low.

Most CRMs have an account health field with three colours, set by the rep when the account was created, and it is green on accounts that left last year. A computed score from the ledger and the CRM is a different thing: the same rule for every account, inputs the reader can see, weights from what actually preceded churn, and a quarterly check that it predicts anything. This guide sets out the five inputs, the weights, the display, and the validation.

The five inputs

Input Source Scaled how What it catches
Run-rate trend Ledger This quarter's run rate ÷ trailing four Shrinking spend
Contact recency Activities, tiers Days since qualifying touch ÷ tier cadence Neglect
Products used vs norm Ledger, norms Products used ÷ segment norm Shallow relationship
Ticket signal Ticket export Surge ratio, or repeat rate vs base Friction
Pipeline slip Pipeline snapshots Slip count on open deals Stalled expansion

Each scaled to a range, each with a threshold below which it counts against the account.

The weights, from history

Input below threshold Share of churned accounts, two quarters prior Share of retained accounts Weight
Run-rate trend 74% 18% High
Contact recency 61% 30% Medium
Products vs norm 48% 35% Low
Ticket signal 39% 9% High
Pipeline slip 22% 14% Low

The weights follow the separation. Stated on the report; recomputed annually.

The score, shown with its inputs

Account Score Run rate Contact Products Tickets Slip Act on
4471 31 −24% 71 days vs 45 2 vs 4 Surge 4.7× 2 Contact and the surge
2210 78 +4% 12 days 4 vs 4 0 Nothing
9034 55 −6% 30 days 3 vs 4 Repeat 41% 1 The repeats

The score ranks the list. The inputs say what to do at each account.

The identity

every account has exactly one score, from the same rule, on the same date

An account missing an input is scored on the rest with the missing input shown, not silently defaulted to healthy.

Validation, each quarter

Score band a quarter ago Accounts Churned or shrank since Rate
Bottom 20% 240 71 30%
Middle 60% 720 58 8%
Top 20% 240 7 3%

Ten times the rate at the bottom against the top. The score is working. If the bottom band were at 9 percent, it would not be, and the weights would be revisited before the score was shown again.

Where it goes wrong

Colour code kept beside the score. Two versions; the rep trusts the colour.

Weights from opinion. The score is the workshop's guess, with decimals.

Score without inputs. A number nobody can act on.

Never validated. Green on the accounts that left.

Every month, a score with its reasons

Mapped once, the ledger, the activities, the norms, the tickets and the pipeline snapshots produce the five inputs, the score and the validation table for every account. Covirage builds this from the exports as they are. The sales insights solution describes the setup, and the surge list guide covers the input that separates churn most sharply at most companies.

Questions people ask

How are the weights set?

From history: for accounts that churned or shrank in the last two years, which inputs were below threshold in the two quarters before. An input present in 70 percent of churn cases and 20 percent of healthy ones carries more weight than one present in both equally. The weights are stated, and they are recomputed annually.

Why show the inputs?

Because a score of 42 tells an account manager nothing to do. A score of 42 with run rate down 20 percent, no contact in 60 days and two repeat tickets tells them three things. The score ranks; the inputs act.

How is it validated?

Each quarter, the accounts that scored in the bottom band a quarter earlier are checked: how many churned, shrank or stayed. If the bottom band's churn rate is not well above the top band's, the score is not working, and the weights are revisited. A score that is never validated is a colour code with decimals.