The Survivors
A profile drawn only from the winners. An analyst studies only the company's best customers to learn what makes a great one. Dr. Bayes asks about the customers who left.
Behind the joke.
Studying only the customers who stayed is survivorship bias. If churned customers also bought frequently or opened emails, those traits cannot be what separates success from failure. To learn what makes a great customer, compare the customers who stayed with the ones who left; a profile drawn from survivors alone only describes the survivors.
The transcript.
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Analyst: We analyzed our best customers. Now we know what makes a great customer.
Dr. Bayes: Extraordinary.
Dr. Bayes: Compared to whom?
Analyst: Our other great customers.
Dr. Bayes: What about the customers who left?
Analyst: We didn't include them. They weren't successful customers.
Dr. Bayes: You studied the survivors and discovered they survived.