How to recognise a customer at risk of leaving

A customer at risk of leaving is one who is using the service less and seeing less benefit in it, even though they are not complaining yet. One weaker answer means nothing, the warning is a combination of several signals.

• Expectations have decreased: the customer expects less from the cooperation than at the beginning. They no longer count on you to help with anything else.
• Uses it occasionally or minimally: they pay for something they do not use. At the next cost review your service will be first in line.
• Features or services do not match the needs: the most serious of the obstacles. Lack of time and knowledge can be solved by training, a mismatch with needs only by changing the offer.
• Continuing below 50 or I do not want to rate: the customer is thinking about leaving or does not want to talk about it. Both are a reason to call.
• Recommendation 0 to 6: a detractor who stays only out of inertia or because of the contract.

Anyone who meets two or more signals belongs on the list for personal contact. Anyone who uses the service to the full, wants to continue and would recommend you is a candidate for a reference and an extended cooperation.

How to send the retention survey to customers from Quanda

Send the retention survey to named recipients, not through a public link. The point is to know which customer answered what and to get back to them.

1. Create a new survey in Quanda and enter the nine questions of the template. The help article Creating and setting up an online survey describes the procedure.
2. Choose the recipients: customers whose contract period ends in a few months, and long-term customers whose orders are declining.
3. In the Distribution step switch the survey status to Ready to use and choose Distribute by e-mail, so the answers are saved to the contact.
4. Create a campaign signed by a person the customer knows, and put the survey link into a button.
5. In the survey automations set the Send notification action, so you know about every new answer right away.

How to evaluate the answers from the retention survey

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a measure of willingness to recommend based on the 0 to 10 scale question. With a retention survey, however, the view of individual customers matters more than the average for the whole database.

1. Open Analysis of answers in the survey. For each question you see how many people answered and how many skipped it.
2. Use the advanced filter to select customers who use the service occasionally or minimally, and read their obstacles.
3. On the slider about continuing the cooperation, treat answers below 50 and the option I do not want to rate as customers at risk.
4. Calculate NPS from the recommendation question: the share of answers 9 and 10 minus the share of answers 0 to 6.
5. Download the results as a PDF in the Final report or e-mail them to the sales team from there.

How to react to warning signs

A retention survey only works when a warning answer is followed by a quick and personal reaction. A customer who wrote what bothers them and heard nothing back will leave with more certainty than one you never asked.

• Lack of time: offer a short consultation in which you set up the most important things for the customer or together with them.
• Insufficient knowledge: send training, help articles or a webinar invitation, and ask a month later whether it helped.
• Features do not match the needs: find out by phone what exactly is missing. Sometimes a solution exists and the customer does not know about it, other times you have input for product development.
• Decreased expectations: go back to the goal the customer came with and show them the specific results the cooperation has brought.
• An answer to the question what to change: write to the customer what you will do with their suggestion and when. Even an answer that it is not possible yet is better than silence.

Repeat the survey with the same customers after six months and compare whether usage and the likelihood of continuing have moved.