Skill: jk-0001/customer-retention (version 0.1.0)

--- name: customer-retention description: Build and execute customer retention strategies for a solopreneur business. Use when reducing churn, improving customer lifetime value, building loyalty programs, re-engaging inactive users, or creating retention-focused product and communication strategies. Covers churn analysis, retention cohorts, lifecycle marketing, win-back campaigns, and loyalty mechanics. Trigger on "customer retention", "reduce churn", "keep customers", "improve retention", "churn rate", "customer loyalty", "win-back campaign". --- # Customer Retention ## Overview Retention is the foundation of sustainable growth. It costs 5-7x more to acquire a new customer than to keep an existing one. For solopreneurs, improving retention by even 5% can dramatically increase lifetime value and profitability. This playbook shows you how to measure, understand, and improve retention systematically. --- ## Step 1: Measure Your Retention You can't improve what you don't measure. Start by calculating your retention and churn rates. **Key metrics:** **Churn Rate (monthly):** ``` Churn Rate = (Customers Lost in Month / Customers at Start of Month) × 100 ``` Example: Started month with 100 customers, lost 5 → 5% churn rate **Retention Rate (monthly):** ``` Retention Rate = 100% - Churn Rate ``` Example: 5% churn = 95% retention **Cohort Retention:** Track what % of customers stick around after 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months. Example: ``` Jan Cohort (100 customers signed up in Jan): Month 1: 90 still active (90% retention) Month 3: 75 still active (75% retention) Month 6: 65 still active (65% retention) Month 12: 55 still active (55% retention) ``` **Benchmarks (SaaS):** - **Healthy:** Monthly churn < 5%, 12-month retention > 70% - **Needs work:** Monthly churn 5-10%, 12-month retention 50-70% - **Critical:** Monthly churn > 10%, 12-month retention < 50% **Where to track:** Your payment processor (Stripe, Paddle), CRM, or manual spreadsheet for small customer counts. --- ## Step 2: Understand WHY Customers Churn Churn has patterns. Identify the top reasons so you can address them systematically. **How to find out why:** ### Method 1: Cancellation survey When someone cancels, ask them why (1-2 questions max): ``` "We're sorry to see you go. What's the main reason you're canceling?" - Not using it enough - Too expensive - Missing a feature I need - Found a better alternative - Product didn't deliver expected value - Other: [text field] ``` ### Method 2: Exit interviews (for high-value customers) If a customer paying $100+/month cancels, reach out personally: ``` "Hey [Name], saw you canceled. Totally understand if the timing isn't right. Would you be open to a 10-min call? I'd love to understand what wasn't working so we can improve for future customers." ``` ### Method 3: Churn cohort analysis Look at customers who churned vs. those who stayed. What's different? - Did churned customers have lower usage in their first 30 days? - Did they skip onboarding steps? - Did they have a specific profile (industry, company size, use case)? **Common churn reasons and what they tell you:** - "Not using it enough" → Onboarding problem or product didn't fit their workflow - "Too expensive" → Pricing/value mismatch or they didn't see ROI - "Missing a feature" → Product gap (track which features are requested most) - "Found a better alternative" → Competitive positioning issue - "Didn't deliver expected value" → Product-market fit problem or messaging mismatch --- ## Step 3: Retention Strategy by Customer Lifecycle Stage Different stages require different retention tactics. ### Stage 1: First 7 Days (Onboarding) **Goal:** Get them to activation (see customer-onboarding skill) **Tactics:** - Welcome email sequence (see email-marketing skill) - In-app onboarding flow (tooltips, checklists) - Quick win template or tutorial - Proactive check-in (automated or manual): "How's it going? Need help?" **Why this matters:** Most churn happens in the first 30 days. Fix onboarding, fix half your churn. ### Stage 2: Days 8-90 (Habit Formation) **Goal:** Turn them into regular users **Tactics:** - Usage-triggered emails: "You haven't logged in in 7 days — here's what you're missing" - Feature discovery emails: "Did you know you can [do X]?" - Weekly/monthly usage reports: "Here's what you accomplished this month" - Engagement loops: In-app notifications for new content, features, or milestones **Metric to track:** Weekly Active Users (WAU) or Monthly Active Users (MAU). Engaged users don't churn. ### Stage 3: Month 4+ (Ongoing Value) **Goal:** Keep delivering value, prevent complacency **Tactics:** - Product updates and new features (show you're actively improving) - Customer success check-ins: Quarterly email or call for high-value customers - Exclusive content or community access (make them feel special) - Cross-sell or upsell: "Based on how you're using X, you might benefit from Y" **Metric to track:** NPS (Net Promoter Score) — are they likely to recommend you? ### Stage 4: At-Risk (Low engagement or cancellation intent) **Goal:** Win them back before they churn **Tactics:** - Re-engagement email campaign (see Step 4) - Personal outreach (if high-value): "Noticed you haven't been active — everything okay?" - Special offer or discount (last resort): "We'd love to keep you — here's 30% off next month" **Trigger:** User hasn't logged in for 30 days, or usage dropped 50%+ from baseline. --- ## Step 4: Build a Re-Engagement Campaign For users who've gone inactive but haven't canceled yet, a re-engagement campaign can bring them back. **Re-engagement email sequence (3-5 emails over 14 days):** ``` EMAIL 1 (Day 0): "We miss you!" Subject: "Still getting value from [Product]?" Body: Acknowledge they've been away. Ask if something's blocking them. Offer help. EMAIL 2 (Day 3): "Here's what you're missing" Subject: "3 things you can do with [Product] this week" Body: Share quick wins or new features. Reframe the value. EMAIL 3 (Day 7): "One-click back in" Subject: "Your account is ready — pick up where you left off" Body: Direct link to their account or a specific feature. Remove friction to re-engage. EMAIL 4 (Day 10): "Can we help?" Subject: "What's one thing we could do better?" Body: Ask for feedback. Make them feel heard. Offer a call or direct message. EMAIL 5 (Day 14): "Last call" Subject: "We don't want to see you go" Body: Mention upcoming cancellation (if auto-renewing). Offer a discount or pause option. ``` **Response rate:** 5-15% of inactive users will re-engage from a well-designed campaign. --- ## Step 5: Build Customer Loyalty Loyal customers stay longer, spend more, and refer others. Build loyalty proactively. **Loyalty tactics:** | Tactic | How | When to Use | |---|---|---| | **Loyalty program** | Points or rewards for usage, referrals, or tenure | B2C or high-volume B2B | | **VIP tier** | Exclusive access to features, content, or community | When you have 100+ customers | | **Annual discounts** | 20-30% off for committing to annual vs monthly | SaaS, subscriptions | | **Customer advisory board** | Invite top customers to give feedback and shape the roadmap | B2B, high-touch | | **Surprise and delight** | Send unexpected value (free month, gift, handwritten note) | High-value customers | **What builds loyalty most:** Delivering consistent value + listening to feedback + treating them like partners, not transactions. --- ## Step 6: Retention Experiments to Run Test these to see what moves the retention needle for your business: **Experiment 1: Onboarding call for new customers** - Hypothesis: Personal touch in first week increases activation and retention - Test: Offer 15-min onboarding call to 50% of new signups - Measure: 30-day retention rate (call group vs no-call group) **Experiment 2: Usage milestone celebrations** - Hypothesis: Celebrating progress builds emotional investment - Test: Send automated email when user hits milestones ("You've completed 10 projects!") - Measure: Do users with milestone emails have higher 90-day retention? **Experiment 3: Pause option instead of cancel** - Hypothesis: Offering a pause (1-3 months) instead of cancel reduces churn - Test: Add "Pause my account" button on cancellation page - Measure: How many choose pause vs cancel? Do paused users return? **Experiment 4: Quarterly check-in for high-value customers** - Hypothesis: Proactive check-ins catch issues before churn - Test: Email or call top 20% of customers quarterly to ask how it's going - Measure: Churn rate of check-in group vs no-check-in group --- ## Step 7: Track Retention Over Time Monthly retention review (15 min): - [ ] Churn rate this month vs last month (trending up or down?) - [ ] Cohort retention (are recent cohorts retaining better or worse?) - [ ] Top 3 churn reasons this month - [ ] Which retention experiments are running? Any results yet? - [ ] One action to improve retention this month **Leading indicators (predict future churn):** - Declining usage (logins, actions per session) - Support tickets with frustrated tone - Not opening emails (disengaging from communication) - Failed payment attempts (passive churn) If you see these signals, intervene before they cancel. --- ## Customer Retention Mistakes to Avoid - **Only focusing on acquisition.** New customers don't matter if they all churn in 3 months. Retention > acquisition for sustainable growth. - **Not measuring churn by cohort.** Overall churn rate hides patterns. Cohort analysis reveals whether you're getting better or worse over time. - **Waiting until they cancel to act.** By then it's too late. Catch at-risk users while they're still customers. - **Ignoring low-engagement users.** Low engagement = future churn. Re-engage them proactively. - **Not asking why people churn.** If you don't know why, you can't fix it. Always run exit surveys or interviews. - **Treating all customers the same.** High-value customers deserve more attention (personal check-ins, dedicated support). Don't over-automate at the high end.


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