Smart Tips for Tackling Customer Churn

Customer churn is one of the the biggest threats to businesses that operate on a subscription billing model. If you’re new to running a subscription-based business, you’re probably thinking of ways to eliminate or minimize customer churn.

There are plenty of ways to tackle customer churn and to keep it down to a minimum but having limited resources means you might not be able to employ every possible option. You need be smart about picking out the right approach or you’ll just end up spending more while your revenue keeps going down. Here are a few smart recommendations that can help you keep your customer churn rate down.

Know What Your Subscribers Want

The key to fighting customer churn is to keep your subscribers engaged. You don’t want to offer products or services that they don’t really need. Sure, they did sign up because they found a product or service that they wanted from you when they first found your business, but even these can get old or inadequate over time. The more irrelevant your offerings get, the more customers will realize that they’re not getting a lot of value out of their subscription.

You need to take a more proactive approach to keeping your customers engaged. Ask them what they think of your products or services by giving out surveys from time to time. Be open to suggestions, and see if you can apply the changes being suggested. If you’re coming up with new additions to your products or services, let your subscribers know through newsletters and other channels so that they’ll get the chance to assess your new offerings or the improvements you’ll be making before they roll out.

Use Social Media Wisely

Many businesses use social media to advertise their brand, but most of these end up as glorified “like” pages with very little activity going on. While it’s good to know how many people like your business, it’s better if you can make the most out of your business’ Facebook page or Twitter account by using it as a means to connect with your subscribers.

The most important thing is to use your page as a platform where you engage with your customers. Instead of ignoring negative feedback on your page, reach out to the people who write such comments and see how you can improve your business to compensate for your shortcomings. Updates and promos are also more visible in social media pages since the average person spends several hours on social media sites every day.

Participate in social media communities to form better relationships with your subscribers, but avoid advertising in every comment. A simple comment or like on your subscribers’ posts, or sharing fun or lighthearted posts every now and then may be enough to show that you want to connect with your audiences.

Make Things Convenient for Your Customers

It’s difficult to put up with any form of inconvenience, especially for subscription-based services. Even something mildly annoying as clunky login interfaces in your website can become extremely aggravating after some time. Something as simple as an overhaul of your homepage or product pages can go a long way in convincing subscribers to stay.

Reducing points of friction is particularly helpful for billing-related issues, which can be more than enough to discourage subscribers from continuing their subscription even if they are satisfied with your product or service. This is why it’s highly recommended to use a subscription-billing software that smooths out the payment process and helps minimize problems caused by failed payment transactions and lack of compatible payment options.

Getting new subscribers is good, but subscription-based businesses should also be able to take care of their existing customers. If subscribers can get what they want in a very convenient way from your business, there’s very little reason for them to leave and look elsewhere. This helps keep your customer churn rate down to a minimum.