Fuzzy particle swarm optimization (FPSO) based feature selection and hybrid kernel distance based possibilistic fuzzy local information C-means (HKD-PFLICM) clustering for churn prediction in telecom industry

Abstract

Abstract Customer churn has been considered as one of the key issues in the operations of the corporate business sector, as it influences the turnover directly. In particular, the telecom industries are seeking to develop new approaches to predict potential customer to churn. So, it needs the appropriate algorithms to overcome the increasing problem of churn. This work proposed a churn prediction model that employs both strategies of classification and clustering, that helps in recognizing the churn consumers and giving the reasons after the churning of subscribers in the industry of telecom. The process of information gain and fuzzy particle swarm optimization (FPSO) has been executed by the method of feature selection, besides the divergence kernel-based support vector machine (DKSVM) classifier is employed in categorizing churn customers in the proposed approach. In this way, the compelling guidelines on retention have generated since the process plays a vital role in customer relationship management (CRM) to suppress the churners. After the classification process, the churn customers are divided into clusters through the process of fragmenting the data of churning customer. The cluster-based retention offers have provided by the clustering algorithm of hybrid kernel distance-based possibilistic fuzzy local information C-means (HKD-PFLICM), whereas the measurement of distance have accomplished through the kernel functions such as the hyperbolic tangent kernel and Gaussian kernel. The results reveal that proposed churn prediction model (FPSO- DKSVM) produced better churn classification results compared to other existing algorithms such as K-means, flexible K-Medoids, fuzzy local information C-means (FLICM), possibilistic  FLICM (PFLICM) and entropy weighting FLICM (EWFLICM). Article highlights Customer churn is a major concern in most of the companies as it influences the turnover directly. The performance of churn prediction has been improved by applying artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques. Churn prediction plays a crucial role in telecom industry, as they are in the position to maintain their precious customers and organize their Customer Relationship Management.