Top 3 tips to reduce customer churn

First, evaluate and improve on-boarding.

"A recent Preact survey revealed that poor onboarding practices were related to almost a quarter of total customer churn. The onboarding process is important, but it shouldn't stop after the initial meeting. The customer success team should closely monitor performance indicators for signals that customers don't understand how to use products or services correctly. Customer success should also keep an eye on the metrics that indicate clients are becoming engaged as these show the onboarding process has been completed successfully," said John Rode, Senior Director of Demand Generation, Preact

Second, detect and address product underperformance issues.

"Product underperformance is the second leading cause of churn according to the survey. To counter this threat, the customer success team should regularly check in with customers, such as during the quarterly business review, to highlight any future customer product needs," said Rode. "Customer success can work with the product group to share new insights gathered from customers for features that may have broad applicability to other customers."

Third, build strong, productive customer relationships.

"The third-ranked cause of customer churn according to survey participants is substandard relationship building," said Rode. "While focusing on product and process improvement, the customer success team should never lose sight of the importance of building and managing productive relationships, which starts with making sure customers know they are valued. Overselling can damage a new relationship, so customer success should work with sales to define the ideal approach. Cross-departmental cooperation is the key, with transparent qualification processes and sales strategies."

www.bizreport.com/2015/06/top-3-tips-to-reduce-customer-churn.html