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 wrong in customer success is they don’t spend enough time surfacing customers that are truly at risk, but aren’t complaining.
The thing is:
- Somewhat and even very satisfied customers that still want more from you and your product often complain the most.
and
- Unhappy customers that are planning to leave often don’t complain at all. They just find another solution and leave. And …
- Once usage drops, it’s too late. You’ve already lost them. They’ve already gone somewhere else. So pure usage meters don’t really work.
So … #1 We all spend too much time on complaining customers and #2 We spend too much time looking at usage and even engagement metrics. They matter. But once they drop — it’s often too late.
You have to find the Almost Churn.
A related post here:
A knock-on effect of those that complain the most even if they like it, is that their complaints dissuade other people from trying your service, thus creating legions of “Almost Tried” as well. But that’s another matter…
Now I have to see about creating a trigger for “Almost Churn” that doesn’t rely too much on usage and engagement metrics. That raises the question – what exactly would it do (push CSM’s to be more proactive? Or the unhappy users to be more vocal?) and what would trip such a trigger?