“Green” Customer Churns: What went wrong?

Three (3) reasons why “green” customers leave

There are times that we get surprised by unexpected churns. We believed that everything was going well with the customers, their health scores were all green, and they appeared to be utilizing your product or services well. Then suddenly, they decided to leave. These “green” customers who left are known as blind churns.

Blind churns are when customers seem to leave for no reason. However, Iceberg IQ stated that there is no such thing as blind churns. Customers leave due to various reasons that you have failed to identify.

It is crucial to reach out to these “green churns” and ask what went wrong with their experience. Is it the product, process, system, or the employees that have failed them? Having this information gives power to Customer Success Managers to intervene and prevent more churn.

Remember that the customers who always seemed happy with your product or service, stating that they will renew, are always looking for better options. Conducting a churn interview helps reveal churn opportunities to keep the customers for a longer time.

Here are three (3) reasons why “green customers” leave.

1. Lack of Self-Evident Value

A CSM’s responsibility is to help customers attain value, and though the customers receive it- they may not be aware. Communicating the value being delivered continually is essential for the customers to see what they have done with your product/service. It requires a presentation of the impact your product or service is bringing them through metrics.

Some customers may use only specific functions from your product. You can remind them what they use and do not use, connect with them, and provide them with options that will work best for them.

2. General Lack of Value Attained

There are times when customers do not achieve their desired outcome. Hence, Customer Success Managers need to identify what hindered them from achieving value and find a solution to get the customers back on the journey towards success.

In this situation, data analysis would be beneficial. Using the customer’s continuously monitored metric, you will identify where the problem lies. Is it an onboarding issue, training, or time?

3. Health Score Might Be Wrong

While there might have been a problem with value realization, it’s also a possibility that the established Health Score metric is wrong. This results in you, a Customer Success Manager, believing everything’s going well with a false positive customer experience.

To prevent this from happening, reevaluate your metrics regularly and assess the need to change the metric used.

To wrap it up,

Metrics help Customer Success Managers easily identify which customers need more attention. However, do not trust these metrics as they can also be wrong. Offer yourself to the customers and help them tell you what the problem is. This improves the relationship with the customers and provides you with real insights into their experience that will aid you in developing a strategy that works for them.