#24 The Surprising Way To Avoid Summer Churn
Hello, July Holiday. Hello, Europe Summer. Hello, OOO Auto-Responders.
Nobody wants to be on their computer or in front of the TV for long days in the summer. Because of this it’s harder to sell new digital products and therefore retention of current customers is extra crucial to your cash flow.
And that’s not ideal because it’s also the trickiest time of the year to keep retention high on subscription products.
Summer is a great time to do a discovery research initiative.
I know it might feel a little early to talk about capitalizing on “back-to-school” energy but I’m here to help you increase your customer retention and we’re right in the summer slump.
Doing research now means launching product experiments, new programming or new products just in time for back-to-school.
You should meet with your customers on an ongoing basis and do continuous research, but when you do a larger research initiative – your customers notice.
Give your community something to look forward to when the summer days wane into a distance. If you talk about the why behind your research they’ll stick around to see what happens next.
If your customers feel like you are taking the time to learn more about them and what’s not serving them right now, they will feel cared for and they are less likely to cancel.
People stick around when you promise new + exciting. But be warned: you have to deliver on your promises… or churn will ensue.
No Customers? No Problem.
If you don’t have customers or an audience yet, that’s okay! Reach out to prospect customers. Try to find them in other online communities. Review reddit threads.
While this essay is more targeted at people that already have digital products, this is still a great practice for you. Your discovery research is going to help you discover a problem to be solved and what direction to take your business.
The Script
Sharing why you’re doing the research is important. And try to be more creative than “improve your experience”. Here is an example script:
Hey <Customer Name / Reference>,
Thank you for being a part of our community – we wouldn't exist without you!
What we build here is nothing without our members and that’s why we’re launching a research initiative to learn more about you, what challenges you’re faced with and how we can better serve you.
On the other side of this research we’ll be [launching new products, programming, improving our membership with new features] and we want to bring you along for the ride.
To kick things off we’re running a member survey. It takes 5 mins to complete and we’re raffling a [$X amazon] gift card for those who take it.
BUTTON: Take The Survey (5 mins) →
You want to use variations of this messaging during the entire research cycle. The idea is to get your customers hyped that you’re creating something new and exciting.
Discovery Research Vs Validation Research
For the purposes of this essay we’re focused on discovery research.
Discovery research is conducted earlier in the product development journey. Our goal is to better understand the problems our customers face and be very open to new directions and opportunities. This type of research is more qualitative in nature (see below).
Validation research is conducted once you have a proof of concept or idea for a product. You want to get your ideas in front of people and test if it works or not. This is core to product experimentation. I’ll do a deeper dive on validation research in a future essay.
Qualitative Vs Quantitative Research
Qualitative research focuses on collecting non-numerical, descriptive data. It helps us understand the underlying meanings, motivations, behaviors and experiences of our customers. It helps us get to a deeper ‘why and root cause.
Quantitative research focuses on collecting numerical data and measurements. It helps us establish statistical relationships and draw general conclusions such as demographic, environmental and usage data.
If you find yourself wanting to ask ‘why’ after a question then it’s better to pursue the answer to the original question as part of your qualitative data collection.
The most important factor is that you have both qualitative + quantitative data before jumping to conclusions and analyzing results.
Keep It Simple
There are many research methods but for the purposes of this essay we will start with the basics:
Run a survey to capture quantitative data.
Conduct customer interviews to capture qualitative data.
You can supplement your research with other quantitative data you might have such as website analytics, stripe exports, product performance, etc. Or with qualitative data via community posts, call chats or customer service email replies.
Your Quick Discovery Research Action List:
Send a survey to your community, customers or prospect customers
At the end of the survey allow users to enter their email + check a box to opt-in that they are willing to do a 30 min customer interview
Identify 1 to 2 segments (groups) of customers from your survey results that you would like to serve with new products, content or programming.
Target 5 customer interviews per segment – that’s all you need no matter your list size. You’ll see trends among similar segments that quickly.
Talk about your research initiative to your customers often (this is the part that creates curiosity to stay)
Survey Do’s + Don’ts
DO
Keep it short. Most survey tools will give you a time to complete estimate and you want that to be under 10 mins, even better if its under 5. I like using TypeForm but it doesn’t really matter what tool you use.
Get someone (or a few people) to review your survey questions before sending. You want to make sure you didn’t miss any responses or people don’t get hung up anywhere.
Use clear + concise questions and answers. If you find that your responses are getting very wordy, it’s probably too complicated to be a survey question.
Use opposites when using scales. For example, on a scale from 1 to 5, 1 being not at all important and 5 being very important…
DON’T
Ask more than one or two open ended questions. Surveys help you get quantitative data and when you ask ‘why’ or want a paragraph response that’s better suited for an interview.
Ask questions that you can get the answer to elsewhere. If your customer thinks you already have the information, this is a good way to upset them.
Interview Do’s + Don’ts
DO
Use open ended questions that start with words like What, How & Why.
Encourage your interviewees to tell you stories from their life (this displays behavioral data) “Tell me about the last time you…”
Follow up with why and go deeper
Record the interviews - when you try to take notes while interviewing you can’t practice deep listening and you add inherent bias to your notes
Offer incentives if you’re asking for more than 30 minutes of their time. A $50 - $150 gift card is customary.
DON’T
Lead the witness - keep your questions OPEN
Avoid closed questions or yes/no questions that are better suited for a survey
Let your interview script hinder finding the deeper why and meaning behind challenges and pain points. Feel free to throw the script out and follow your curiosity.
That’s it! Share the behind the scenes of your research with your community and you’ll peak their curiosity to stick around. You’ll also have the opportunity to improve your products and launch something fresh + new for the ‘back to school’ season.
If you want help with any of this, that’s what I do! Feel free to book a free strategy call with me here to discuss how I can help.
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