Start Your Retention Program: Talk With Customers First

You’re focused on acquiring new customers, but you’ve found you’re losing too many of them, weeks or even days after they sign up. You’re convinced you have to put some energy into retention efforts.

One reason it may be so hard to understand why customers leave and how to keep them is that you never really knew that much about why they tried your product in the first place.

There’s advice out there to use apps to learn more about your customers’ interactions with your product — essentially using other people’s software to learn about what customers are doing with your software.

Take a step back for a minute. Consider these two phenomena:

Software developers tend to overestimate:

1. The extent to which customers understand the problem they’re trying to solve, and
2. The ease with which customers can use their system.

So, what are some possible scenarios behind customers leaving? In every case, they believed they had a problem, tried your product, and now think they don’t need it.

1. They had a good understanding of their problem at the outset, learned how to use your product, it worked and they don’t see any further use for it.
2. They had a good understanding of their problem, and learned how to use your product but gave up before success.
3. They had a good understanding of their problem, but never learned to use your product at all.
4. They had only a vague understanding of their problem when they tried your product, learned how to use it, and it worked, but they realized their problem was different from what they originally thought, and found your system did not apply.
5. They had a vague understanding of the problem, and never learned how to use your product.

Notice that of the 5 scenarios listed, in only 1 of them did the customer actually understand their problem, learn your system sufficiently and push through to success. In the other 4 they either didn’t understand their own problem, didn’t learn your system or didn’t push through to get the result they wanted.

With a little information from these customers, you can go into triage mode to help them understand their problem better, learn your system better and get over whatever obstacles they’re experiencing in using it that are keeping them from getting the result they want and expect. If they are in category 1, where they actually solved the original problem, you can help them see how your product can be used to solve another problem they’re wrestling with.

But to know what kind of help is needed, you’ve got to actually talk to customers!

You can interview them when they leave:

1. What attracted you to our software?
2. What did you want and expect to do with it?
3. Were you able to do that satisfactorily?
4. Why are you leaving: Is it not doing what you expected or did your needs change?
5. Are you wrestling with another problem we might help you with?

Ideally you’d start the conversation during the on boarding process:

1. What attracted you to our software?
2. What do you want and expect to do with it?
3. Will you let us know how you’re doing?

Then talk with them again after they’ve been using it a little while:

1. What attracted you to our software?
2. What do you want and expect to do with it?
3. How’s it going?
4. Repeat 1 – 3 frequently

Once you’ve engaged with a few customers and get them through to success, you can develop a few problem-solving templates that are directed to either problem definition, basic product navigation or troubleshooting.

When you created your software, you had a particular set of customer problems you knew it could solve. When people leave, they’re not getting the benefit of all your hard work. But you can’t help them unless you find out the reason they gave up.

Whether your product is a tangible good or software, whether you’re selling face to face or online, there’s no substitute for talking with customers.

“The most productive and valuable business conversations take place between a buyer and seller in the presence of the product.” Anonymous