Introduction
Understanding why customers leave is crucial for long-term success in SaaS. Churn analysis provides insights into customer behavior and allows you to proactively address issues, improve retention, and stay ahead of the competition. Let's delve into how you can analyze customer churn to uncover actionable trends.
Why does this matter?
Customer churn can be categorized as either controllable or uncontrollable, making it important to qualify and report on churn events. By conducting thorough churn analysis, you can:
- Uncover patterns and trends
- Identify areas for improvement
- Develop targeted strategies to mitigate churn and improve retention
How to get started
- Develop a Comprehensive Survey: Start by designing a survey that collects detailed reasons for churn and gauges the likelihood of re-engagement. Collaborate with Customer Success Managers (CSMs) or Primary Account Owners to ensure the survey captures relevant insights.
- Define Reason Codes: Establish both Primary Churn Reason Codes and Contributing Factor Codes to maintain consistency and facilitate trend analysis. These codes will serve as a framework for categorizing churn reasons and identifying common themes.
- Targeted Survey Deployment: Send the survey to customers when they reach a specific stage, such as "Churn" or a similar milestone. This targeted approach ensures timely feedback collection and enhances the accuracy of churn analysis.
- Leverage External Surveys: In addition to internal surveys, consider utilizing external post-churn surveys to gather feedback directly from customers. External surveys provide an unbiased perspective and offer valuable insights into customer sentiments and experiences.
Gainsight features you’ll need
- CTA Reasons: Utilize the CTA (Call to Action) Reasons feature within the Gainsight platform to track and categorize reasons for customer churn. This feature streamlines data collection and analysis, enabling you to identify trends and patterns more efficiently.
- Surveys: Leverage the survey functionality in Gainsight to design, deploy, and analyze customer surveys seamlessly. With customizable survey templates and robust reporting capabilities, you can gather actionable feedback and drive informed decision-making.
What’s next?
Having analyzed the reasons behind customer churn, explore advanced strategies to address these issues and enhance your retention efforts.
Further reading and inspiration