4 tips for managing and reducing customer churn during Covid-19
Right now companies are experiencing an increase in customer churn due to the impact of Covid-19. This pandemic has completely disrupted the normal routines of consumers and businesses and a lot of customers want to (understandably!) cancel. If you’re a subscription company, you don’t have to experience churn en masse. Adjusting to customer needs can help slow cancellations while providing flexibility with your loyal customer base.
We’re working with Brightback customers to develop best practices for responding to customer churn during a crisis. The following tactics are being put into practice right now, and we wanted to share these learnings with other subscription businesses facing similar challenges.
Have questions about how to respond to high customer churn? Get in touch.
Start measuring Covid-19-related churn now
Understanding how many customers are being affected by current events can help your team better respond. To measure the impact on their customer base, Unbounce recently added “Global events” as a reason for cancellation on their Brightback cancel page. Adding a reason specific to the crisis provides data on customer loss related to the crisis and separates it from any other potential product or experience reasons taking speculation out of your churn measurements. Knowing what churn is out of your control (and what’s within your control) can help your team devise a more impactful game plan for saving customers or winning them back when conditions improve.
Show customers you’re there for them
Many customers are facing evolving forecasts and budgets. Because their needs are fluid, it's important to take a flexible approach to managing churn. Understanding that customers are in need and personally addressing their concerns drives customer satisfaction and loyalty. For example, instead of pausing an account, a customer may need access to certain features as their team transition to remote work. Or instead of pausing payment, consider offering credits toward another purchase.
When in doubt, offer a chance to connect with your customer support team by email or chat. Pipedrive is using Brightback and Intercom at the point of cancel to open up a dialogue with their customers on a case-by-case basis. Letting customers know that you're willing to work with their unique situation is not only great customer service, but also meaningful to those experiencing uncertainty.
Offer to temporarily suspend payment
Naturally, consumers and companies are evaluating their wallets and current investments as economic change continues. Some of your customers may rely on you for day-to-day operations, but are facing a future of being strapped for cash. Adding an option to suspend payment for a month or more is a great way to let your customers know that you've got their back while they figure out their best move.
Hit the Pause button
This isn't a permanent situation, so give your customers some time to figure out a plan before canceling. In the world of box subscriptions and other home delivery services, many customer living situations are temporary. Consider making it clear to customers that they have the option to skip deliveries easily or pause their subscription all together. You can offer pauses for a fixed time or indefinitely, but the flexibility will be greatly appreciated.
We’re here for you
Need to make changes to your Brightback Page? We’re all hands on deck to get changes up and running as quickly as possible.
Not using Brightback? We're helping subscription businesses stay on top of churn and retention during this crisis by providing free Covid-19 response pages. Set yours up here.
