As a SaaS company, you have to be proactive if you want to reduce churn. You need to know what your customers are doing and offer solutions before they even realize they have a problem. You need to be a step ahead.
This is especially true in the world of customer service. If you can solve your customers’ problems as quickly as possible — and ideally before they even know there’s a problem — then you can reduce churn and increase customer lifetime value.
In this post, I’m going to share some of the best proactive service tactics that I’ve learned from my time working with SaaS companies.
1. Set up a welcome call
The first 90 days of a customer’s journey are the most critical. It’s when they’ll be forming their opinion of your company, deciding if they want to continue to use your product, and whether or not they want to refer their friends. This is also the perfect moment to introduce the idea of your referral program. Many SaaS teams use tools like ReferralCandy to make referrals simple and automatic, turning early positive experiences into advocacy that reinforces long-term retention.
If you’re operating on Wix, this guide to the best Wix referral apps can help you choose a referral tool that supports churn reduction through customer-driven growth.
One of the best ways to make a great first impression is to set up a welcome call with new customers. This allows you to introduce them to your customer success team, answer any questions they have, and make them feel like they’re a top priority.
Pro tip: Make sure to have an agenda for your welcome calls, and don’t let them run too long. You want to make sure you’re providing value, but you also don’t want to take up too much of your customer’s time.
2. Send a personalized onboarding email series
Onboarding emails are a staple of the SaaS customer success world. These emails are sent to new customers to help them get started with your product and set the tone for your relationship.
The problem is, most companies send the same series of onboarding emails to every new customer. This is a missed opportunity to personalize the customer experience and reduce churn.
Instead, try sending a personalized onboarding email series. You can segment your new customers based on data you have on them, such as the plan they signed up for, the features they’re using, or the industry they’re in. Then, you can tailor your onboarding emails to speak directly to those segments.
Personalizing your onboarding email series will show your new customers that you understand their unique needs and are invested in their success. This will help you build a stronger relationship with them and reduce churn.
3. Create a customer onboarding checklist
The onboarding process is a critical stage in the customer journey. If you don’t set the right expectations or show value quickly, you’re setting your customer up for failure.
A great way to set the stage for a customer’s success is to create a customer onboarding checklist. This checklist should include all the tasks and goals you want to achieve with your customer in the first 30, 60, and 90 days.
The checklist should be personalized for each customer based on their needs and goals. These checklists help you set clear expectations and keep your customer on track.
This also allows you to show value quickly and build trust with your customer.
4. Develop a customer education program
Customer education is an essential part of the customer success strategy. The more your customers know about your product, the more they’ll be able to get out of it. If your SaaS includes transactional tools such as QR code payments, this is the perfect place to explain how they work and how customers can get the most value from them. Plus, educated customers are more likely to be satisfied with your product and less likely to churn.
Developing a customer education program can take many forms. You can create a library of support articles and videos, offer webinars and online courses, or even provide one-on-one training. The key is to make sure that your customers have access to the information they need when they need it.
Customer education is a great way to build trust with your customers. When you take the time to teach your customers how to get the most out of your product, they’ll be more likely to stick around.
5. Create a customer community
When you’re a SaaS company, you’re really selling a service. You’re not just selling a product, and you’re not just selling a solution. You’re selling an ongoing service.
That means that the relationship with your customers is one of the most important parts of your business. And, one of the best ways to build a relationship with your customers is to build a community.
A customer community can take many forms. It could be a Facebook group, a forum on your website, a Slack channel, or even an in-person event. The idea is to create a space where your customers can connect with each other and with your team.
Customer communities are great for reducing churn because they create a sense of belonging and connection. When your customers feel like they’re part of a community, they’re more likely to stick around.
6. Set up a customer success team
While your customer service team is reactive, your customer success team is proactive.
Customer success is the business practice of managing, nurturing, and growing customer relationships. Customer success teams are responsible for onboarding new customers, engaging with existing customers, and minimizing customer churn.
The main goal of customer success is to make sure your customers get the most value out of your product or service. When your customers are successful, they’re more likely to stick around and continue to pay for your product or service. To further minimize the risk of customer attrition, it’s crucial to address issues like involuntary churn, which can occur unexpectedly and disrupt the positive momentum of your customer relationships.
In addition to reducing churn, customer success teams also help increase customer lifetime value (CLV). Customer lifetime value is the total amount of money a customer is expected to spend on your products or services throughout their entire relationship with your company.
7. Use a CRM system
Customer relationship management (CRM) systems are a must-have for any SaaS company. They help you keep track of all your customer data in one place, so you can easily see what’s going on with each account.
CRMs also allow you to segment your customer base and identify which customers are at risk of churning. This gives you the opportunity to reach out to those customers and take proactive steps to prevent churn.
There are a lot of different CRM systems out there, so you’ll want to do your research and find the one that best meets your needs. Some popular options include HubSpot, Salesforce, and Zoho. In addition, you can use an AI data analytics tool on top of your CRM or SaaS database, easily query the data and let AI run recurring reports for you and identify churning customers.
8. Send a customer satisfaction survey
It’s important to know how your customers feel about your product and service. The best way to do that is to ask them.
You can use a customer satisfaction survey to get feedback on your service and support, and to gauge how likely a customer is to continue using your product.
There are a few different ways to ask customers for feedback. You can send a survey via email, embed a survey form on your website, or use a tool like HubSpot’s Customer Feedback Survey to collect feedback in real time.
The key is to make it easy for customers to share their thoughts, and to ask for feedback on a regular basis. That way, you can identify any issues early on and take steps to address them before they lead to churn.
9. Set up a customer feedback program
It’s important to not only collect feedback from your customers, but also to act on it. Customers want to know that they’re being heard, and the best way to show them that is to make changes to your product and service based on their feedback.
There are many ways you can collect feedback from your customers, including surveys, interviews, and more. The key is to make it easy for your customers to provide feedback, and to make sure you’re asking the right questions.
You can also set up a customer feedback program to make it easy for your customers to provide feedback. This can be as simple as creating a dedicated email address where customers can send their feedback, or you can use a tool like GetFeedback to create surveys and collect feedback in a more structured way.
In conclusion
Reducing churn is a top priority for SaaS companies. When customers leave, it can have a big impact on your MRR and ARR, and it can even slow your company’s growth.
But, by being proactive and providing excellent service, you can keep churn to a minimum. This means identifying and addressing potential issues before they become major problems, and making sure your customers are getting the most out of your product.
By following the proactive service tactics outlined in this article, you can reduce churn and keep your customers happy. This will not only help you maintain your MRR and ARR, but it will also help you grow your business.