Here's why and how to use it to drive retention.
I often get asked the following question...
"When customers say they're satisfied, aren't they basically saying that they are getting good results?"
The short answer is NO. To understand why and what's going on, we need to look at some data...
📊 It starts with astonishing research revealing there's zero correlation between customer satisfaction scores and customer lifespan! Happy customers don't stay longer on average than unhappy customers.
But how can that be true?
A fascinating insight comes from another counterintuitive research finding:
📊 Customers who've had negative experiences stay more than twice as long on average than customers who've only had positive experiences.
Why would that be?
When we look closely at the data, we find that customers with more negative experiences also consistently spend more time in the solution and adopt it more deeply.
This is the first clue:
💡 Customers who try harder to use the solution are also more likely to encounter problems and limitations. But—and this is the key—these customers are also much more likely to achieve results!
This leads to the second data-driven insight:
📊 Customers who achieve measurable results stay on average SIX TIMES LONGER than customers who don't! In fact, measurable results are by far the best predictor of individual customer retention.
So, we can see that the customer behaviors that lead to negative experiences also lead to better results.
🧠 Think about it...
✅ Customers who get the best results are those who've put in the most effort.
✅ As a result, they are more aware of the difficulties and have experienced more frustrations.
✅ Their efforts to use the solution have revealed its flaws and limitations.
On the other hand,
❎ Less engaged customers tend to have fewer negative experiences.
❎ But, these low-engagement customers also tend to get little or no results.
HERE'S THE BIG TAKEAWAY:
👉 Getting results and being "happy" about the experience don't necessarily go together. 👈
When we ask customers how satisfied they are with their experience working with us or our product, they answer that question! This is what customers express on satisfaction surveys like NPS.
However, the data shows that results overwhelmingly win at renewal time!
THIS IS THE ESSENTIAL HIGH-RETENTION STRATEGY:
🙌 Focus on identifying, driving, and measuring every customer's results!
