East Coast SaaS HUG on May 25, 2021. This HubSpot User Group was part of the 75 HUGs in 5 Days Campaign.

2. Using HubSpot to
Reduce Churn
East Coast SaaS HUG | May 25,
2021

3. Is this thing on? Are we
recording?

4. Light up the
chat!

5. Agenda
1. Meet Christina + Her Mentors
2. Customer Retention vs. Acquisition
3. Importance of Customer Retention for Saas Companies
4. Reasons Why Customers Churn
5. Strategies to Reduce Churn (and Keep Customers Happy + Engaged)
6. Pulling It All Together With HubSpot

6. TODAY’S GOAL
We’ll explore the reasons customers churn, the
importance of customer retention, and strategies you can
use to keep your customers happy, engaged, and ready
to purchase more from you.
Then we’ll tie it all together by walking through how to use
HubSpot’s tools to decrease churn and increase
retention.

7. Christina
Bockisch
Blogger. Poet. Ravenclaw. INFJ. Mud Runner. Mental Health
Advocate. Dog Mom x3 (and Best Zoom Co-Host Winners). 2020
Global Customer Success Top Performer.
Inbound Consultant at HubSpot
Meet the Speaker

8. Meet the Mentors
Hendrix
• Service dog
• Hufflepup
• Frequent visitor to HQ (and
well-loved by the Pro
Services team)
Canine Executive
Officer (CEO)
Khaleesi
• Resident trouble-maker
• 100% lives up to her name
• Never would’ve gotten into
Hogwarts (but if she did,
she’d be a Slytherin)
Growth
Barketer
Benny
• Gryffindog
• Loves the camera and
being in the Zoom spotlight
• Gives his bark of approval
during my consulting calls
Emotional Support
Specialist

9. Quick Story: We’ve
All Been There

10. We’ve all been there
A moment that’s made us say “see ya later!” to a company
● Sometimes, it’s because the product or service no longer fits
our needs
● But quite often, it has something to do with our experience
as a customer
● We know that poor customer service, not getting what you
need from a business and not seeing value all lead to
customer churn

11. But we often forget the flip side:
The impact of investing in and creating a remarkable
customer experience.

12. Customer
Retention vs.
Acquisition

13. Customers are a SaaS company’s
lifeblood
● Customer acquisition cost (CAC). Conversion rates. Customer
lifetime value (CLV). Your most profitable acquisition channels.
● These are the things that will keep you up at night – and be on
the top of your mind when you wake up in the morning.
● But what about customer retention?

14. Customer retention takes a backseat
● Yet it’s arguably more important than those acquisition metrics
you’re thinking about – and more important than customer
acquisition
● But why?

15. Because
of this

16. Customer acquisition is expensive
The average cost of acquiring a new customer is 5 to 25 times more than retaining a current
customer

17. Customer retention is far less expensive
(and way more beneficial to your business)
● Business revenue often (but not always) follows the 80/20 rule:
80% of future profits will come from 20% of existing customers
● A 5% increase in customer retention increases company profits
anywhere from 25% to 95%.
● A repeat customer spends 67% more than a new customer.
● 82% of companies agree that retention is cheaper than
acquisition.

18. Focusing on retention is a no-brainer
● Customer retention costs less because instead of spending time,
money and resources attracting and engaging new customers,
you just need to delight the ones you already have
● The statistics alone should be enough to convince you to put
customer retention higher on your to-do list, but we’re not all
math people.
● And there’s more to it than just the statistics.

19. The Importance of
Customer
Retention for Saas
Companies

20. It’s all about the business model
● The importance of customer retention boils down to how the
SaaS model is structured from a financial and mathematical
perspective.
● (Just a little more math and nerdy stuff. I promise.)

21. Mathematics of the SaaS business model
● For many businesses, a closed-won deal is immediate cause for
celebration – and it should be. Every new customer is a big deal.
● But remember: Acquisition isn’t the end game for SaaS
companies. It’s retention.
● The reason has everything to do with how the SaaS business
model is structured from a financial perspective.

22. Mathematics of the SaaS Business Model
● SaaS companies spend anywhere from 1-3x the Annual Contract
Value (ACV) to acquire a customer.
● From a mathematical and financial perspective, on the day you
acquire a customer, you’ve incurred a financial loss.
● But there has to be a reason, right? (Right)

23. So, why do we do this to ourselves?
Why not spend less money to acquire customers?
● One: Because acquiring new customers is expensive (that’s
just a fact these days)
● Two: Because the SaaS business model is rooted in
customer retention
● So, if your customers churn before making enough
payments for you to break even on acquisition costs, you’ll
never be profitable

24. And this is why
we focus on
customer
retention

25. Shifting your mindset
● Unfortunately, too many companies put their focus on the “bright,
shiny objects” os the SaaS world
○ Trial to paid conversions
○ Quick sign-ups
○ Getting new customers after a demo
● As a result, customer retention becomes an afterthought

26. What needs to change?
● Shifting your mindset means recognizing that customer retention
is starts at the very moment a customer purchases and begins
the onboarding process
● Onboarding should be your new “bright, shiny object”
● Great onboarding experience sets the foundation for a strong
customer experience and healthy customer retention rate.

27. Focus on
customer
retention first

28. It just makes sense
● The SaaS business model is rooted in customer retention, which
is designed to increase profitability over time.
● We need our customers to stay with us. It’s how we make
money.
● But if we want to decrease customer churn and keep customers
longer, we need to prioritize customer retention.

29. Reasons Why
Customers Churn

30. Common reasons customers churn
● They’re switching to a competitor
● Organizational changes and/or a tightened budget
● Poor customer fit
● Failure to achieve their goals
● Product lacks functionality they need

31. Common reasons customers churn
● Lack of engagement with product
● Poor user experience with the product
● Poor customer experience
● Lack of proactive support

32. Strategies to
Reduce Churn
(and Keep Customers Happy and
Engaged)

33. Improve your onboarding process
● Customer retention starts during onboarding, so you want to
make sure your onboarding process is seamless and makes it
easy for them to get started.
● They shouldn’t have to look for the information they need to use
your product or service.
● New customers need hand-holding. Show them exactly what
needs to be done to get up and running.

34. Identify inactive customers
● When you notice customers aren’t using your product, don’t wait.
Reach out.
● We’re not talking about a one-week absence. Instead, focus on
repeated and consistent lack of product usage.
● Look at how frequently they engage with your product.
○ How many times per day they log into your software
○ Length of sessions
○ How many tools/sections/parts of your software they’re
using

35. Take action to re-engage those customers
● Common strategy: A re-engagement campaign to encourage
customers to login to your platform and use the product again.
● Remind them of the product they have access to, the
features/benefits and what they’re missing out on by not using
your product.
● Don’t forget to incorporate a human element. At some point,
you’ll want to reach out via phone or email and try to re-engage
the customer that way.

36. Engage with your customers
● Stay in touch with your customers. Let them know what’s going
on with your product and company. Keep them informed.
Promote success stories and check in with customers who might
need assistance with your product.
● Be proactive instead of reactive in your outreach, especially for
things like:
○ Upcoming contract renewals
○ Changes to your pricing or subscription model
○ Major company updates

37. Ask for feedback
● Feedback is the breakfast of champions...and customer retention
● Make sure you’re asking for feedback at the right times
○ Major customer milestones and value points. Examples:
■ After a free trial (regardless of whether they become a
paid customer)
■ Throughout and after onboarding
○ Other situations where you want feedback. Examples:
■ When health score drops below a certain threshold
■ After a customer contacts Support

38. How to get feedback from customers
● Formal feedback surveys
○ Net Promoter Score (NPS): Track how likely your
customers are to recommend your company to other
people.
○ Customer Satisfaction (CSAT): Tells you how satisfied a
customer is with a product, service, or experience. It
measures how a customer feels about a brand interaction.
○ Customer Effort Score (CES): Measures the ease of a
user's interaction with your business
● Informal check-ins (temperature checks)

39. Act on the feedback you receive
● It’s not enough to just ask for feedback. You need to take action
on the feedback you receive.
● Follow up with customers to learn about their experience.
○ If they had a poor experience, look for ways to make things
better/right and solve for the customer (SFTC)
○ Lead with empathy, take feedback seriously and makes
changes to improve the experience for your customers

40. Deliver remarkable customer service
● Poor customer service is one of the biggest reasons customers
churn.
● Ways to deliver a remarkable customer experience:
○ Implement feedback
○ Give people ways to self-service
○ Don’t block the exit
○ Proactively reach out to customers
○ Be genuine and authentic in your interactions
○ Admit when you’ve made a mistake – and do what you can
to make it right

41. Pulling It All
Together With
HubSpot

42. Improve your onboarding process
For a self-service onboarding process:
● Workflows
● Landing pages
● File manager
● Knowledge Base or FAQ page
If customers work with an onboarding specialist:
● Projects
● Meetings, Templates and Sequences

43. Identify inactive customers
● Identifying inactive and disengaged customers is usually done
within your product/platform
○ Then, you need to sync the data to HubSpot (either
manually or via a tool like Zapier)
● Tools:
○ Custom properties
○ Active lists
○ Workflows
○ Meetings, Templates and Sequences

44. Engage with your customers
● Email
● Landing pages
● Forms
● Feedback surveys
● Workflows
● Meetings, Templates and Sequences

45. Ask for feedback
● Feedback Surveys
○ Net Promoter Score (NPS)
○ Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)
○ Customer Effort Score (CES)

46. Act on the feedback you receive
● Feedback Survey Automation
○ Done within the survey itself
○ Create workflows to automate follow-up based on the response
someone gave
● Meetings, Templates and Sequences
○ For 1:1 follow-ups as a result of survey feedback
○ Gives people the opportunity to meet with you and discuss their
responses
● Tasks

47. Deliver remarkable customer service
● Customer Support and Success
○ Tickets
○ Feedback surveys
○ Tasks
● Self-Service
○ Chatflows (live chat and bots)
○ Knowledge Base or FAQ Page
○ Landing Pages
○ Blog

48. Deliver remarkable customer service
● Feedback
○ Feedback surveys and in-survey automation
○ Forms to gather more information
○ Templates to use for 1:1 email follow-ups

49. Deliver remarkable customer service
● Communication
○ Active lists
○ Workflows
■ Internal processes: Automate ticket assignments, updating/setting
ticket properties
■ Customer support workflows: Escalating unanswered tickets after a
certain amount of time, tasks to follow-up with a customer that goes
silent
■ External: Send reminders about upcoming changes to their contract
(renewal, price increases, etc.)
○ Email:
■ Newsletters or one-time emails with company and/or product
updates, educating customers about your product, sharing success
stories,etc.
○ Meetings Link, Templates and Sequences

50. Thank you

52. Appendix
1. Resources
2. Let’s Connect!

53. Resources

54. ● Google Doc: Strategies for Reducing Churn + HubSpot Tools to
Use
● HubSpot Blog: How to Prevent Customer Churn
● HubSpot Blog: Customer Churn: 7 Tips to Stop the Attrition
● HubSpot Blog: 5 Reasons for Customer Churn Your Company
Needs to Address
● HubSpot Blog: How to Stop Customer Churn Like an Expert (7
Examples + Solutions)
Resources: Google Doc + HubSpot Blogs

55. ● HubSpot Blog: A Former HubSpot CSM Explains How to Predict
(& Prevent) Customer Churn
● HubSpot Blog: 22 Examples of Customer Retention Strategies
That Work
● HubSpot Pillar Page: Customer Satisfaction: The Ultimate Guide
Resources: HubSpot Blogs

56. ● Knowledge Base: Create and conduct customer loyalty surveys
(NPS)
● Knowledge Base: Create and conduct customer satisfaction
surveys (CSAT)
● Knowledge Base: Create and conduct customer support surveys
(CES)
Resources: Knowledge Base

57. Let’s connect!

58. My Contact Information
Have a question? Want to chat and/or connect? Please reach out!
Email: cbockisch@hubspot.com
Meetings Link: Meet With Me!
LinkedIn: Christina Bockisch
Twitter: @clbockisch