We know the truth, and so do you: Acquiring new customers is hard sometimes. It’s also true that losing the ones you already have can be devastating to your bottom line.
And during tough times, when customers are looking for any way to cut costs, including dumping vendors, churn becomes more likely.
But the good news is that churn is not inevitable, and you can put a stop to it. Customers often leave clues before they churn, and by identifying these signals early, customer success teams can turn potential churn risks into opportunities for deeper engagement, and even upsell.
Here’s how you can proactively prevent churn and transform at-risk customers into power users and loyal advocates.
The Cost of Losing Customers
Customer churn is more than just a hit to your recurring revenue — the effects ripple across every facet of your business. Each lost customer weakens your brand, hampers future renewals, and stymies your long-term growth potential.
When customers leave, they often take with them their endorsement of your brand, which can negatively impact your reputation. A dissatisfied former customer may spread their discontent, which can have major impact in B2B industries where word of mouth and reputation matter significantly.
From a financial perspective, it’s well known that acquiring a new customer is substantially more expensive than retaining an existing one. That significant upfront investment in marketing, sales, and onboarding makes churn a costly setback for customer success teams trying to drive profitability and sustain growth.
Churn also shuts down potential upsell opportunities. By focusing on churn prevention, customer success teams can not only retain the revenue that’s already on the books but also uncover critical moments to engage with customers in more meaningful ways, whether through upsell opportunities or building long-term loyalty that contributes to your company’s overall growth trajectory.
But how do you know when you’re in danger of losing customers? Don’t get caught unaware, read on to learn the signs and symptoms of churn.
Recognizing the Warning Signs of Churn
Churn rarely happens out of the blue. It’s usually a gradual process that leaves behind clues in customer behavior and interactions. Customer success teams must become adept at recognizing these early warning signs to prevent churn before it’s too late.
What Customer Behavior Signals Potential Churn?
There are several key behaviors that indicate a customer may be on the verge of disengaging, such as:
- Lack of engagement, whether that’s fewer touchpoints with the CS team or a drop in overall communication. When customers stop reaching out for support or fail to take part in regular check-ins, it may mean they’re losing interest or no longer seeing value in the solution.
- Declining usage rates or failure to adopt key features. When customers aren’t actively using the solution, or only engage with a limited subset of features, it signals they may not be fully leveraging its value—or worse, they don’t believe the product can meet their needs. This drop in usage often precedes a decision to churn.
- Increased complaints or dissatisfaction also signal trouble. If a customer’s tone shifts from positive to frustrated, or they become more critical of the product, it’s a clear indication that their satisfaction is waning. Frequent issues or support tickets can point to deeper frustrations that may prompt them to seek other solutions.
- Researching competitors or alternatives. If you have insight into buyer behavior and notice that a customer is comparing your product with others, it’s a clear sign that they’re evaluating their options and may be preparing to make a switch.
Churn Prevention Through Pattern Recognition
While individual behaviors can serve as red flags, patterns of disengagement and dissatisfaction are even more telling. Customers who regularly skip meetings or take longer to respond may be deprioritizing your solution in favor of exploring alternatives or addressing internal concerns.
Another critical pattern is failing to hit key milestones for success or missing KPIs. Customers who are consistently falling short of these benchmarks are likely not seeing the expected value from your product. This unmet potential can lead them to explore other options, especially if they don’t feel adequately supported in overcoming these hurdles.
Finally, low or declining Net Promoter Scores (NPS) or Customer Satisfaction Scores (CSAT) are clear indicators of dissatisfaction. A downward trend in these scores suggests that the customers’ perception of your product is slipping, and without intervention, churn may increase.
By closely monitoring these behaviors and patterns, Customer Success teams can take proactive steps to re-engage customers, address their concerns, and guide them back to a path of success.
Turn a Churning Customer into a Super-User
Don’t see a customer showing signs of churn as a lost cause, but rather as untapped potential for success. By taking a proactive approach, Customer Success (CS) teams can not only prevent churn but transform dissatisfied customers into highly engaged super users. Here’s how to turn those warning signs into an opportunity to re-engage and elevate their experience.
Re-Engaging Customers on the Verge of Churn
The first step in saving a customer on the verge of churning is to reach out. But keep in mind that generic messaging won’t cut it when a customer is at risk, as it only contributes to customers feeling unimportant and unheard.
CS teams must take the time to tailor their messages to address the unique pain points and concerns of the specific customer and consider:
- What are the issues causing disengagement?
- Are they underusing the platform or a feature within it?
- Are they not seeing the results they expected?
By addressing these specifics in your outreach, you demonstrate that you understand their challenges and are committed to helping them succeed.
Once you’ve re-established communication, it’s time to focus on re-educating the customer on your solution’s features and benefits. In many cases, customers churn because they’re not using the product to its full potential. This could be due to a lack of awareness of key features, or simply underutilization of the tools available to them. By walking them through how to unlock more value from your solution, you can reignite their interest and demonstrate how your product can directly solve their problems.
A crucial aspect of this process is identifying and solving the customers’ biggest obstacles standing in the way of their success. Whether it’s a technical issue, an implementation challenge, or a misunderstanding of how certain features work, removing these roadblocks can quickly restore customer confidence. Taking the time to get to the root of their frustrations and removing those obstacles shows that you’re invested in their success.
Coaching Customers to Win
Once you’ve re-engaged the customer, the next step is to coach them toward success. This means offering more than just technical support — you need to provide strategic advice that helps them achieve visible, quick victories using your product.
These small wins are huge, because they’re critical to rebuilding trust and confidence, and they reinforce the value of your solution in their day-to-day operations. When customers experience success firsthand, even on a small scale, they’re much more likely to stay engaged and renew their commitment.
Collaboration is key here: work with your customer to build a clear plan that aligns with their specific goals. This might mean setting measurable milestones or mapping out a strategy for how they can leverage different features to meet their objectives.
Once you’ve worked with the customer to identify what their success state looks like in both the short- and long-term, offer them resources that will help them reach those goals. This could include access to additional training, detailed product documentation, or case studies that demonstrate how other customers have achieved success using the same solution.
By empowering them with the knowledge and tools they need, you not only help them feel more confident but also encourage deeper product engagement, ultimately turning them from a potential churn risk into a loyal super user.
Strategies to Ensure Long-Term Retention
It’s best to be proactive to prevent churn and ensure long-term retention. Here are some key strategies customer success teams can use:
Proactively Preventing Churn with Engagement
Engage with customers before warning signs appear. Regular check-ins are essential, and should include meaningful feedback loops, where customers have the opportunity to express their concerns, share their goals, and discuss how the solution is working for them. By regularly gathering feedback, CS teams can stay ahead of potential issues and ensure customers feel heard and supported.
Implement customer health scoring. This system provides a clear picture of how well a customer is doing by tracking a range of indicators from product usage to engagement frequency to satisfaction scores,.
Monitor changes in buyer behavior. Intent data isn’t just for customer acquisition. Customers don’t always complain before they churn. Keep tabs on what your existing customers are researching so you can spot when they are researching competitors or keywords that indicate pain points. This is also incredibly useful for spotting upsell opportunities.
Always Add Value
Keep customers in the loop about product enhancements and best practices to keep customers excited about new ways to use the solution. By continually educating customers on how to leverage new features, you help them get more value over time. This proactive communication ensures that customers remain invested in your product as their needs grow and evolve.
When and How to Upsell
Upselling should be a natural extension of your customer success strategy. Timing is everything: upsell opportunities should be introduced when customer satisfaction is high and measurable wins have been achieved. If a customer has seen success with your product and feels confident in its value, they are much more likely to be receptive to expanding their usage or purchasing additional features.
When pitching an upsell, it’s important to frame the offer as an enhancement to their success, rather than simply an opportunity to sell more. This approach keeps the focus on customer value.
The Bottom Line
Customer churn doesn’t have to be inevitable, even in tough times. By recognizing the early warning signs and acting decisively, customer success teams can not only retain more customers, but also transform them into advocates for your solution. With proactive outreach, value-driven conversations, and dedication to soothing your customers’ pain points, you can turn potential loss into opportunities for deeper engagement and upsell.
