How to Win Back Lost Subscribers
Most “retention teams” focus on keeping customers from canceling in the final days of their subscription term, trying to save them at the moment of cancellation, and then trying to win them back once they’re gone.
It’s much easier to build good habits with customers just after they’ve subscribed, in the “onboarding phase.”
But if you find yourself with a lot of lost customers, it might be worthwhile to develop some systems to win them back.
After all, they know you already. And their needs aligned with your offerings, at least at some point.
If this sounds like your organization and you want to win back lost subscribers, here are some tactics that will help.
1. Understand why they left.
Most organizations have an Exit Survey, but the reasons on the survey usually aren’t that actionable or useful. For example, most customers will say things like “I can’t afford it” or “I keep forgetting to use it.” What they really mean is, “I don’t see enough value relative to the cost,” or “I don’t find it valuable enough to make time.” To build a good survey, start with qualitative Exit Conversations and really probe to understand their rationale. (See below for more details on this)
2. Determine how to plug the leaks.
For each reason, there is a solution. For example, if they don’t see enough value to justify the cost, you can offer a lighter, less expensive tier focused on that segment. Or if they “used up” the product, figure out if they really used it up, in which case you’d add more content, or whether they just weren’t aware of all the categories of content, in which case you need to improve communication and onboarding.
3. Communicate the plugged leaks.
Once you fix issues, ensure subscribers who have left because of those issues know you’ve improved them. Let them know that your service is faster, or you’ve added new content or fixed annoying bugs, and maybe sweeten the deal with a “we-want-you-back” offer.
How to Have Effective Exit Conversations with Customers
Your exit interviews can be relatively informal. Start by thanking the customer for being willing to share valuable information. You might even tell them that you aren’t going to ask them to stay–you genuinely want to understand the issues so you can fix them. And you might add that you are part of the “research” or “product” team and not from sales.
You want to convey that you are interested in learning, not selling.
Once you have explained your objectives, ask them why they canceled. Your goal is to understand. Why did they sign up in the first place? Were their initial expectations incorrect? Or did the person simply never use the product–and if not, why not, and what substitutions did they make to solve the problems or achieve the goals that had brought them initially?
If they say it’s about the price, probe by asking, “At what price would it have been a good deal?” You’ll find that most of the time, the person wouldn’t have stayed on at any price because the problem wasn’t about price at all–it was about value. You might also probe to see if something has changed in their life to drive the cancellation–a move, a new job, or access to another offering that could be used as a substitute. By getting curious, you’ll learn a lot and be able to use these new insights to develop hypotheses to test via survey.
I had a client who had a sports streaming business with a retention problem. They thought the issue was with their call center not being convincing enough and retaining subscribers when they called to cancel. But it turns out there were a bunch of other issues. First of all, subscribers were being “lured” with an annual championship match, and many people signed up for one month (often for free) with no intention of staying beyond that one match. Second, the organization did a lousy job of surfacing all the other great content that was available and driving habits among new subscribers. Third, and most importantly, it turns out their streaming technology was unreliable and didn’t work well during that big match.
So, in addition to improving the call center scripts, we changed the initial marketing to feature ongoing series rather than just one-time events, and we developed an onboarding sequence to educate new subscribers about all the content and benefits they were entitled to. And after they implemented new infrastructure to optimize streaming, they emailed all of the subscribers they had lost in the prior year, with a particular focus on the ones who seemed to have canceled while in the middle of streaming a playoff game. Many of these sports fans returned, and new subscribers were twice as likely to stay after our adjustments.
I encourage you to focus on retention. Learn why they left, plug the leaks, and communicate the fixes. It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3!
BONUS: Standard Exit Survey — Download this and use it!
There are two different cases of customers leaving a business. Some leave after a while, and some walk in the door and walk back out. (Essentially, failure to launch.) Based on the nature of how the customer left, adjust your questions and optional responses so you know how to adjust.
