Ep 1.9 - Protecting Against Churn - 5 Key Strategies to Implement Today

Let's talk about that ugly word that makes us all shudder... Churn. How do we reduce it effectively? There are a number of phases to successfully optimize against churn. Of course the obvious choice is to provide a product that is amazing, but there are actually a number of other nuances to it, that I'll cover in this podcast session. It actually starts with the pre-conversion phase and goes on long after the person has become a customer. Implement these 5 key things today to help your business scale in the way it should.

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Hey folks. Welcome back to the podcast today. I want to talk about that ugly word churn. And really what I want this session to be about is arming you with the right tools and approaches and strategies to protect and optimize your customer churn from day one. And I'm going to talk a little bit about a multifaceted approach that we use and that you can deploy today to do just that. First of all, what is customer churn? If you're not aware, customer churn is when a customer basically leaves. Your business.

So a subscription entrepreneurs, the last thing we want is for that to happen, because it means that our business is feeling at some. Core component of what are our true business. Objective is, and not as to onboard a customer and keep them forever. Right. And that's of course what we want for any business, but particularly for subscription business. It is like the leaky faucet. Or tap. If you are leaking. Customers all the time, you are never going to right the ship because you're, maybe pumping thousands and thousands of dollars into advertising to even try and just kind of keep that churn ratio kind of a break even.

So you lose five, you gain five, you lose 10, you gain 10. And that is not optimal because that means your business isn't growing. So what we want to do is optimize from day one from even the onboarding experience. Your customer needs certain things in place to be able to stay with you longer term. And so that's kind of what we're going to talk about today. And, you know, I see it too often where businesses are doing what I just described there, where they're paying. Tens of thousands of dollars in advertising on there, bringing on board X number of customers. In a month and they're also losing the cm or more on a course.

That is not what we want to see. So I think a lot of us assume that really churn customer churn rate. Is protected against in maybe one phase of the business. And that is. Logistics fulfillment. Right? So we sound things on time. People receive them. They're happy with them. And that's kind of what protects against churn.

And that is very, very true. If you deliver great products on time. And there's no reason for people to even want to churn. Then you're doing a great job at that, but there are other components to it. And I want to go back to the very start of the user journey. Unexplained high, this component. Affects churn.

So if you think about it, when you onboard a customer and you convert them, Depending on your product or service, it can be very easy to convert them into the subscription. If maybe the, onboarding deal is like 50% off and a free gift, something like that. It's very attractive. For people. And, you know, you can actually sort of blind them. With pizazz and, you know, flashiness a bite. This is the deal it's limited edition. , this is what you get is your bonus gift. You know, massive discount from month, one on board and I, and I've seen it and I've suffered from this as well in the past. And that's why I want to really dive in. And discuss. Why it's important that we really nail this out of the gate. And so the first thing you want to do when you're onboarding somebody, yes.

You can dazzle them with an amazing deal that they cannot do without. But you also want to back that up with clarity. And focus on explanation of by what they're getting. So thinking that through what does that really mean? Well, what we want to do when somebody is being onboarded into our business, we want to educate them. And engage with them, but be very, very clear about what they're getting when they're getting it, what they can expect on high. It works. And so a lot of the kind of strategy of that has done on the front end of the site or in any explainer videos or sales videos you have, where you're basically saying to people, Hey, This is what happens when you come on board with us, you've got, for example, a minimum three month commitment or three delivery commitment. Uh, you also will be billed on the first of the month be shipped by the 15th of the month. Um, this is what you can expect in your shipment.

Six items, free gifts, bonus materials, a VIP experience, free shipping, et cetera, et cetera. Okay. So even from that early station, what are we laying out in front of people? Is it really as clear as it can be? Because a lot of the dissatisfaction, the customers experience. Is because something happens along the journey that they didn't expect. Uh, not in a good way.

So for example, if they're billed for three months up front, And they didn't know about that. That's not going to be good. If they are waiting six weeks for the first shipment and they didn't realize, they thought they were getting that immediately. That's not good. All of those things will. Attribute to a higher churn rate because it creates this friction.

We talk about friction in the onboarding experience in the sales process. A lot, because we want to create a frictionless process. That's true, but also after the fact and through the fact of conversion, we want to show people in a very clear way, what they're getting, why they're getting it, that way, how it's being delivered, what they can expect. D it's billing, uh, mines, frequencies, all that kind of stuff, because that when they have that clear in their mind, there's no reason for any friction. After the fact. So let's get our onboarding experience really, really dialed in. And make sure it has absolute clarity.

Do the three-step process or four step process, then lay it out for people, do onboarding videos or product tours where you can actually say, look, Hey, this is what you do. Click the button here. You get started. You go through the onboarding, you fill in a style questionnaire or a customization questionnaire.

Then you can expect your first shipment within five days. And then after that, you're going to be build recurring the first of every month and shipped by the 15th of every month. Uh, we'll keep in good contact with you. Et cetera and so forth. Right. That's a solid onboarding experience that will protect against churn. However, that's only a small component of the user journey.

So why are, where can we go next with this? Bolstering and protection against churn.

The next phase of this is engagement and further or future communication. So, what I mean by that is engagement. If somebody buys into your subscription business, it's not just a product. They're not just buying in, unless it's a true replenishment type of product where they just want, you know, some bleach for their toilet every month.

And you know, they're buying that, but that's not normally what we're doing as subscription first entrepreneurs, we're trying to create. A movement, a community. Uh, passion behind our business, where people are loyal. They're fervent supporters, they're raving fans is you'll often hear, you know, when sales Potter, but all of that's really important.

And how do you do that? You can't do that just by delivering a really good product. It has to be that we engage with people. We build a community, we communicate with them, things like email newsletters, competitions, giveaways. Um, surveys build a community, a private group. Uh, all those types of things will create engagement around your brand.

If you can continue to enhance the product that they're already receiving with those types of things, you're going to build a much more robust, stronger experience that is protected against churn. So there's just some ideas for you. If you're not implementing them already, maybe a weekly. , or monthly newsletter. Build a private group. Uh, give you an example. In one of our businesses, the watch club. We have a private group. Of 2000 something people. And they go in there where they can buy, sell, trade watches, discuss watches, uh, experience auctions, where we'll auction off, you know, bundles of watches and stuff. Um, like that, but that brings people back. It creates extra touch points for our brand. And it makes them engaged with our brand.

So even if, and here's an example, Even if they do journ, right. What that does is it keeps them in touch with our brand. And then when we're creating new future launches, We can inform them about that. We can listen to their feedback of what they want to see why they maybe aren't on a monthly subscription.

Now what they would like to see why, what would bring them back. And then we can start to customize our product launches around what people truly want to see. And so it's communication, it's engagement, it's listening. It's adopting refining, pivoting, whatever you need to do in your business. With new launches, new product lines, new features. Uh, to bring those people back.

So even if you're protecting against churn upfront, As I mentioned at the start, you're always going to experience churn. It's just at what reissue that is or what red. And frequency. And so if we can protect against it, but also what the backend bolster and engage with people and keep them loyal with our brand. To hopefully bring them back on board when they're ready or, uh, when we list a product line or new plan that speaks to their need. That is going to reduce the attrition. Of churn on Hyde impacts the business longer term.

Third on the list is offering personalized experiences.. So. Customization and personalization is really an absolute must in subscription. First these days, you know, moving through 20, 24 and beyond people want that experience, they want the customized experience and a lot of the systems. I'm just thinking through, we just had a, an early release, um, view on what somebody are doing the platform suddenly, which is my preferred platform for subscription first, but they're actually launching a customizing, a bundle type approach for their checkout, where you can actually build a product and offer basically a dynamic. Discount approach.

So somebody adds five of something or bolts on X number or different additional products into their subscription. They'll get better and better discounts and things like that. So, What they're doing is they're adopting even the product line where we can actually customize and offer better value for people buying more from us.

And that's just the checkout process. That's not even the customer, uh, personalization surveys that we would use. Um, or style profilers or, um, you know, different, different things like that. But what customers want is personalization. So things where they can, they feel they've got control over the delivery, even if it's just, I've got one client who. Ally's customers maybe once or twice a year to customize a particular component of their box. That's one way to do it. Other clients have businesses where they allow people to built on. Uh, X number of add-ons to really customize and, build their own unique box every month.

So let's kind of go into the nth degree of that. But whatever you can do think about your business, your product line Hyatt works, how you could enhance that and add onto it in better and better ways that will keep people. In control, at least feeling that they have control and engaged with the personalized, customized experience that they can get.

Um, so make sure you're also doing that now after the fact, how do we protect against churn further? What we're doing a lot is implementing feedback loops. What I mean by that is customer experience surveys, answering customer concerns. Doing a live streams, you know, maybe answering some, some questions that people have communicating with customers on a regular automated basis every single month.

So people feel heard, they feel listened to. And also a thing that builds upon that. Is when we do multiple launches every year.

So we may be, have a number of different launches that are coming through through eight a year where we're adopting, we're refining, pivoting our product line. As I mentioned earlier, On the feedback of customers. And so when people see that they see that you're listening as a business, they see that you're listening to the community, there's engagement.

There there's a value. There's this loop. Uh, feedback that really enhances customer loyalty, as much as you possibly can. And so it's really important that you do that. We actually are automating a lot of this in our systems by sending out monthly or quarterly feedback requests. So sending people into surveys, communicating new launch. Uh, processes to customers or prospects saying, Hey. We've got this new thing coming.

We'd love to hear your, your thoughts on it. And it sort of creates that intrigue and engagement. And, understanding of what we're trying to do as a business and that our core. As a business is listening to customers and prospects on community members. So that's another great way to do it.

Now the final way you can protect against customer churn. Is through loyalty programs and incentives. So, you know, creating either affiliate loyalty programs where people can repair on their friends and family and get discounts or credits. Is a great way. Um, loyalty programs where maybe they've bought X number of products from you.

And so you reward them with something else, whether it's a gift. And our watch club. One thing we do is that we automate. Credits and emails to go out to customers when they reach certain milestones. So, for example, if they've been a customer or a member for six deliveries, we will send them an email saying, Hey, you know, here's A celebration of your six month or six delivery membership.

We hope you're having a great time at two. Thank you for your loyalty. We are automatically issuing you with a coupon that will be applied. Uh, to your next, uh, shipment. For a value of X number of dollars, like $50 off their membership. Um, so things like that as well, you can really enhance. That loyalty just by little surprises, gifts and things like that. Uh, something like that, maybe on their birthday, which you've, um, you know, onboarded. Uh, taken that information from them as they're onboarding and your kind of conversion strategy. What you could do is get that type of information and then send them free gifts on their birthdays and stuff like that. Um, that type of thing. Is really a good way to engage with people.

You know, it gives them incentives to stay longer term nice surprises, delight. All those types of feelings. Around your business. And when people think about your business, I think that's really what we have to get to the crux of, is. When they think about your brand, your business, what do they feel? You know, do they feel heard, listened to engage with surprise, delighted.

You even goes back to the unboxing experience, you know? , so you've maybe delighted them through the onboarding and now you've delivered a product in a beautiful unboxing experience. That feeling that they have, particularly in like your first box. Is going to stay with them as long as you keep delivering that.

And that goes all the way through to this last stage of loyalty programs, incentives, ways to delight them further, moving forward with your brand. And all that does is create that artist loyalty. So hopefully those five things that I just discussed are achievable for you within your business. So enhancing the customer onboarding experience, being very clear with absolute clarity about what they're getting and why they're getting it and the sequencing and all that kind of stuff.

, that's the first stage of, of protecting against churn. The second is improve your customer engagement and communication. Things like private groups, VIP experiences, newsletters, uh, live podcasts, streams, that kind of stuff. Number three is offering personalized experiences and their customization options. And then following up from that implementing feedback loops. Again, let's people know that they're heard and listened to and valued. And then the final thing, number five on the list.

Introducing loyalty programs and incentives, ways to delight and reward. People, it just kind of creates that final element to the customer experience journey. So hopefully I was of help guys just Nightline and some strategies and ideas and lose five important components from. Even the onboarding experience right through to longer-term customer engagement and retention. Um, if you've any questions as always, let me know, I'm here to help.

Um, maybe there are some things in there you can just pick up and run with today and start implementing them in your business. Hopefully that's the case. And, , by doing so you start plugging that hole of, you know, the, the churn, that ugly word churn of people leave in our business. If we can plug that. And then continue our onboarding. On our ads and our traffic coming into the site, into your funnel.

You're going to see a massive uptick in the success of your business because by creating that strong foundation where churn is optimized, not eradicated, as I mentioned at the start, but optimized. And then building upon that with your onboarding. and your new member. A new customer strategies. You're going to see a lot, a lot more revenue in your business, a lot more profitability in your business. A lot more success and scalability.

Longer-term take care, guys. I'll see ya in the next one