Understanding the core drivers of churn and how to reduce them will lead to a dramatic improvement in your business, resulting in happier customers, higher morale, and greater results.

1. A Systematic Approach to Reducing Churn
‘
Anticipate Churn. Reduce Churn. Reignite Growth.
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2. Leaders Fund is a B2B focused VC firm
We are currently investing $100M into Series A/B SaaS
companies
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3. David Stein
Co-Founder & Managing Partner
@ d s t e i n
Co-Founder of Leaders Fund
1
2
3
Co-Founder of Workbrain, bought by Infor
Scaled to $100M+ in annual revenue in 6 years
Co-Founder of Rypple, bought by Salesforce
Created category of enterprise social performance
$100M fund co-founded w/ Steve Debacco & Gideon Hayden
Experience
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4. REDUCING
CHURN
A SYSTEMA TIC A PPROA CH
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5. Core
Team
Product
GA
$$$
Raised
Customer
Acquisition
Brand
Recognition
Your SaaS business is growing fast
ü ü ü ü
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But momentum is slowing
Growth
Time

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Warning signs foreshadow increased churn
Selling
Effort
Onboarding
Effort
Product
Usage
User
Growth

8. Increased churn can lead to a death spiral. . .
Business Impact
Customer Impact
Company Impact
Bookings Net MRR LTV:CAC
Usage
Monthly
Users
ROI
Employee
Turnover
Economies
of Scale
Morale
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LEADS TO
RESULTING IN

9. Now what?
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10. How do you sustain growth and avoid dramatic churn?
MRR
Time
Delighted customers
Low Churn
? Unhappy customers
High Churn
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11. Focus on and address likely causes:
SALES
Setting unrealistic expectations. Solution
not linked to key buyer priorities
ROI is not clear. Too much effort
to operate; limited integrations
Onboarding and customer success
program are too lightweight
PRODUCT DESIGN
CUSTOMER SUCCESS
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12. SALES
SALES PRODUCTDESIGN CUSTOMER SUCCESS
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13. Solve a customer problem that matters
Clear description of expected impact and ROI
1
2
3
Solution value is high relative to all options
Set proper expectations of effort to launch and run
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14. Best in category Key Solution for Buyer
Ease of Use
Utility
Systems used by your customers
YOUR SOLUTION
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15. Effort
Value
2) Clearly explain operating effort vs. value delivered
Perception
Time
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16. Actual Results
Expected Results
3) Set realistic expectations on impact and ROI
Expectation Gap
Perception
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Time

17. PRODUCT DESIGN
SALES PRODUCTDESIGN CUSTOMER SUCCESS
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3. PLATFORM + DATA
Seamless integration
with core systems
1. USABILITY
Quick to setup and
operate, fits existing
work flows; no friction
2. INTEGRATIONS
Path to System of Record;
More usage = more value
5. REPEAT VISITS
Product keeps
users coming back
4. ANALYTICS
Showcase ROI to
multiple users
Design for customer delight
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19. EASY INITIAL
SETUP
INDUSTRY
STANDARD UI/UX
MINIMAL TRAINING
REQUIRED
FAST
PERFORMANCE
Complicated setup
causes customers
to churn early in
adoptionprocess
Avoid changing
industry standards
that customers are
used to
Intuitiveproduct
allowsfor quick
adoption/scale
throughout
organization
Slow user
experience
affects utilityof
product
1) Usability drives stickiness and user delight
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Your
Solution
Avoid:
Duplicate entries
Additional time/effort
Synchronization problems
2) Don’t be an island, integrate with core systems
Provide:
Rich API
Headless operation
1 + 1 = 3
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3) Become a core System of Record (SOR)
What is a SOR? Core system for a business function
How being a SOR reduces churn?
Data tie-in
Difficult to
transfer data to
new solution
Business Critical
Key place where
work gets executed
Platform potential
Becomes a hub
where other
systems connect

22. Example - Zaius (B2C Marketing Platform)
4) Showcase impact on business, for multiple roles
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23. PRODUCT STICKINESS
5) Design supports continuous usage
Users quickly complete core tasks that drive their jobs
1
3
4
User notifications and updates drive engagement
Users easily achieve their goals with minimum steps
2 Users can access from device of their choice
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24. CUSTOMER SUCCESS
PRODUCT PRODUCTDESIGN
CUSTOMER
SUCCESS
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25. Customer
Success
Asking for a renewal
once a year
=
Customer Success is an ongoing area of focus
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26. 2. COMMUNICATIONS1. ONBOARDING
3. ENSURE SUCCESS4. EXPAND VALUE
Establish a Customer Success playbook. . .
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27. Users can be activated
quickly
User training is minimal
Complete integrations
within 30 days
Initial value is realized
within 30 days
1) Gain momentum with rapid onboarding
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28. How many clients can a customer
success manager manage?
How often does customer success
check up on customer?
Which communication method is
used?
Is customer aware
of the value that
customer success
can provide?
2) Build communication plan with continuous checkpoints
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29. § Integration suggestions
§ Proactive issue notification
§ Usage suggestions
§ Product training
PROVIDE VALUE
§ Usability issues
§ Feature requests
§ Integration issues
§ Price concerns
LEARN
3) Lead your customer to success, solve their big problem
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30. New capabilities enhance current solution
Lead to deeper engagement/usage
Value delivered > effort to use
4) Increase value through an expanded offering
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31. SALES PRODUCT
DESIGN
CUSTOMER
SUCCESS
In summary, focusing on these key areas. . .
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32. Leads to customer delight and accelerated growth
Business Impact
Customer Impact
Company Impact
Bookings Net MRR LTV:CAC
Usage
Monthly
Users
ROI
Employee
Turnover
Economies
of Scale
Morale
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33. Thank you
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