Dear SaaStr: What Do You Do With Churned Customers?
Dear SaaStr: What Do You Do With Churned Customers? You put them into a Get Them Back bucket and re-market to them with a dedicated program. And you have sales especially follow-up twice. Once in about 90 days, to see if they might want to come back —...
Dear SaaStr: Should We Drop Customers That Complain Too Much?
Dear SaaStr: Should We Drop Customers That Complain Too Much? Sometimes, yes. But just as often, the ones that complain are the ones that care. And oftentimes, their complaints help focus you on the gaps you really do need to fix. One thing most SaaS companies get...
Dear SaaStr: What Types of Customers Should be Avoided and How Do I Recognize Them?
Dear SaaStr: What Types of Customers Should be Avoided and How Do I Recognize Them? You will get lots of advice on “bad customers”, “firing customers”, and the like. For the most part, in SaaS, I don’t agree. The “Bad Customer” Myth: Why Your Most...
Dear SaaStr: How Did You Get Your First Major Customers?
Dear SaaStr: How Did You Get Your First Major Customers? Secret here: every story is different. In my first start-up, it was pure hustle. We had a concentrated number of high dollar customers, so I did “outbound”. I found the right decision makers, got on the phone,...
Dear SaaStr: Is It Ridiculous To Call Yourself the CEO When Your Startup is Tiny?
Dear SaaStr: Is It Ridiculous To Call Yourself the CEO When Your Startup is Tiny? I used to feel that way, at least a bit. I used to look at tiny little startups and wince when a founder went around talking about himself as “CEO”. But then I had to learn how to Sell...
The Silent, Lurking Churn: Activation Rates Less Than 90%
It took me a little while to see activation rates as literally one of the 3-4 most important metrics in SaaS, but it probably is. I started to track activation rates at a lot of start-ups I work with, and I saw numbers that shocked me. I often see 60% or so...
The 10% Rule: How Much Should You Really Invest in Customer Success? With the CRO of Notion and VP of CS at GitHub
The 10% Rule: How Much Should You Really Invest in Customer Success? With the CRO of Notion and VP of CS at GitHub Every B2B CEO asks this question. So at SaaStr Annual + AI Summit we brought together the CRO of Notion and VP of CS at GitHub to answer it. Featured...
At Least 20% of Your New Customers Should Come from Referrals and Word of Mouth. Ideally, 50%.
Dear SaaStr: What Percent of My Revenue Should Come from Referrals and Word of Mouth? "Word of mouth is ultimately the only way you can scale in SaaS." pic.twitter.com/UAsIkG4Ixx — Jason ✨👾SaaStr.Ai✨ Lemkin (@jasonlk) December 18, 2024 Ultimately, most...
Sometimes All Your Bigger Customers Want is Just To Be Heard
A ways back we put together a series of SaaStr posts on how the customers I visited in person never churned. Some almost churned, but if I went out in person, and built a relationship, they never left. At least, not on my watch: I Never Lost a Customer I Actually...
You’ll Lose Customers. It Hurts. But Don’t Let Them Become Angry Ex-Customers.
When a customer leaves happy, they often still recommend you When a customer leaves unhappy, they always recommend a competitor — Jason ✨👾SaaStr 2025 is May 13-15✨ Lemkin (@jasonlk) February 19, 2025 The other day, I had an experience I’ve never had in 14...
Is Your Customer Success Team Helping or Harming Your Word-of-Mouth?
So we had another 2025 Customer Success experience the other day. A CS exec at a somewhat dated platform we used pushed us and pushed us to take a Zoom to do a “roadmap review”. We finally did, and it turned out, the agenda was just Yet Another Upsell. They wanted...
Dear SaaStr: How Do I Convince My Customers with Monthly plans to Upgrade to Annual Plans?
Dear SaaStr: How Do I Convince My Customers with Monthly plans to Upgrade to Annual Plans? My advice: Don’t. It’s too many calories expended for not enough benefit. Let me explain what I mean … Large customers only pay via invoices, especially for any deal of any...
Why I’m Scared to Buy New SaaS Apps Now
So many of you may find this ironic on SaaStr, but I’m scared to buy new SaaS apps today. Genuinely. Why? Let’s make a list. But the uber-reason is buying and renewing has in many cases gotten much less customer-friendly than it used to be. With one big exception:...
Dear SaaStr: How Do You Handle Customers Upset About an Autorenewal?
Dear SaaStr: How do you handle B2B customers who want a refund on an annual subscription because they didn’t realize that their credit card would get charged again a year later? Yes, autorenewals likely are in your T&Cs. And yes, if your customer keeps...
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