Definition

Inactive accounts or deleted user profiles that persist in analytics and reporting, inflating your actual user base. They're the ghost accounts that haunt your CAC calculations.

Example Usage

We cleaned our database of zombie accounts and discovered our actual active user base was 40% lower than reported.

Origin

From data hygiene terminology in analytics communities

Fun Fact

Zombie accounts can represent 30-50% of your recorded user base depending on how aggressively you delete inactive users.

Source: Data Quality and Analytics

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See “Zombies” in Corporate Speak, Gen-Z Slang, Pirate Speak, and more.

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