Churn prediction · Medium-sized business (50 to 249 staff) · Media and broadcasting
Customer churn prediction for a mid-sized publisher with subscribers
A churn model for a mid-sized publisher with subscribers that scores which customers are likely to leave and why, fed into the CRM so the retention team can act on it. Reading behaviour is the strongest signal.
Illustrative cost
£11,000 to £36,000 ex VAT
- Typical
- £20,000
- Duration
- About 11 weeks
- Effort
- 24.5 to 48.5 days
Illustrative estimate, not a quote. Real prices vary.
Worked out from UK freelance contractor day rates in job adverts, with no consultancy or agency margin added. Consultancies and agencies usually charge more.
Source: IT Jobs Watch. Rates read on ; costs computed on .
What is included
- Customer data preparation
- Churn model with explanations
- Scores written to the CRM on a schedule
- Measuring the effect of retention actions
Deliverables
- Churn model and validation report
- Scheduled scoring
- CRM fields and views
- Measurement plan
Assumptions
- At least a year of customer and transaction history
- A CRM with an API
- Cloud costs are paid by the client
Not included
- Running retention campaigns
- A new CRM
Project plan
Phases run one after another, about 11 weeks in all.
| Phase | Weeks | Main tasks |
|---|---|---|
| Data preparation | 3 | Extract and join data; Define churn |
| Modelling | 4 | Features; Model and explanations; Validation |
| CRM integration | 3 | Scheduled scoring; CRM fields |
| Adoption | 1 | Team training; Measurement plan |
Who does the work
Person-days per role in each phase, low and high effort.
| Phase | Role | Days (low to high) |
|---|---|---|
| Data preparation | Data engineer | 3.5 to 7 days |
| Data preparation | Data analyst | 3.5 to 5.5 days |
| Modelling | Data scientist | 9 to 18 days |
| CRM integration | Machine learning engineer | 3.5 to 7 days |
| CRM integration | AI engineer | 2 to 5.5 days |
| Adoption | Data analyst | 2 to 3.5 days |
| Adoption | Change manager | 1 to 2 days |
How the cost adds up
| Role | Low (days × 25th percentile) | Typical (days × median) | High (days × 90th percentile) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data engineer | 3.5 × £425 = £1,488 | 5.25 × £500 = £2,625 | 7 × £688 = £4,816 |
| Data analyst | 5.5 × £393 = £2,162 | 7.25 × £475 = £3,444 | 9 × £625 = £5,626 |
| Data scientist | 9 × £481 = £4,329 | 13.5 × £600 = £8,100 | 18 × £788 = £14,184 |
| Machine learning engineer | 3.5 × £500 = £1,750 | 5.25 × £564 = £2,961 | 7 × £738 = £5,166 |
| AI engineer | 2 × £488 = £976 | 3.75 × £589 = £2,209 | 5.5 × £863 = £4,747 |
| Change manager | 1 × £458 = £458 | 1.5 × £525 = £788 | 2 × £711 = £1,422 |
| Total, rounded | £11,000 | £20,000 | £36,000 |
How these estimates are worked out
Effort: for each phase we estimate how many days each role works, as a low and a high case. These are our estimates for a typical project of this kind, not measured data.
Rates: each role's daily rate comes from UK contract job adverts over the last six months, as published by IT Jobs Watch. These are freelance contractor rates as advertised, not what was paid, and not what a consultancy or agency charges.
Low end: the low-effort days at each role's 25th-percentile rate. We use the 25th percentile, not the 10th, because the lowest effort at the cheapest rates gives a floor few buyers would ever meet.
Typical: the mid-point between low and high effort, at each role's median rate.
High end: the high-effort days at each role's 90th-percentile rate.
Totals are rounded to the nearest £500 below £10,000 and the nearest £1,000 above, and exclude VAT. Phases run one after another.
Not included:
- Software licences, model and hosting fees
- Travel and expenses
- Your own staff's time
- A consultancy's or agency's margin, overheads and risk
Real prices vary with the supplier, the state of your data and systems, how much of the work your own team does, where the work happens and how much risk the supplier carries. Consultancies and agencies usually charge more than these contractor rates, and a fixed price usually costs more than time and materials because the supplier takes the risk.
Sources
Source: IT Jobs Watch: UK contract job adverts quoting a daily rate, 6 months to 15 November 2026. Each role's page was read on . Published under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
| Role | IT Jobs Watch page | Rates quoted | 25th percentile | Median | 90th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data engineer | Data Engineer | 1,275 | £425 | £500 | £688 |
| Data analyst | Data Analyst | 511 | £393 | £475 | £625 |
| Data scientist | Data Scientist | 201 | £481 | £600 | £788 |
| Machine learning engineer | Machine Learning Engineer | 92 | £500 | £564 | £738 |
| AI engineer | Artificial Intelligence Engineer | 384 | £488 | £589 | £863 |
| Change manager | Change Manager | 193 | £458 | £525 | £711 |