User eXperience Design: A tool for reducing customer churn (part 2)
Depending on the industry, customer churn is usually blamed on three things: 1. Price / cost; 2. Product issues; 3. Customer service issues. While all these factors need to be closely monitored, a product’s design can play a big role in minimizing churn.
So here are ELEVEN of my favourite strategies:
1. Branding and Personalization. Let your customers alter your product so it integrates into their business model. If a customer can look into your product and see themselves, they’ll be less tempted to walk away.
2. Continuously prove the marketing pitch / ROI / value prop. Probably the last time your customer heard anything about return-on-investment, or amount of efficiency gained was when they first talked to your marketing rep. Memories are short. Design the product to automatically report back value metrics, so there is always the reminder that you’re saving them money or effort.
3. Feed the marketing team. Core functionality is important, but also design in little extras that make demoing the product memorable. Work with the sales team to uncover little gems.
4. Develop the user community and make it visible within the product. Sure, everyone’s got a user forum, or blog somewhere. Typically, only a small percentage (4-6%) of your customers access these tools, and even less participate (.5%). Build in-line contextual links right into the product. Make visible agregated stats across your customer base. Make 100% of your users feel like they’re part of a community.
5. Create anticipation. Everyone want to know what’s next. When can I get it? Product cycles can be long – 6 to 18 months. Architect your product so that you can deliver new value on a modular basis on short regular intervals (1-2 months). Build up curiosity by releasing preview videos (easily created with products like Adobe Captivate).
6. Mobility and widgets. People love their gadgets. If your product extends out to the smartphone or even the desktop, you’ve added one less reason to leave.
7. Enable / promote a developer community. There’s always a minority of people who love to take things apart, rebuild, add-on… If your product is one that collects some some of data… create a simple API and offer it up to your customers. It’s a certainly that a few will build some interesting add-on. Encourage them to share their inventions with the rest of the user community.
8. Reward the customer for long-term use: better data analysis / unlock new features. An interesting feature of Nintendo’s Wii fitness platform is that it tracks your personal program of excersise. At various points the Wii unlocks new functionality. This motivates one to keep going, but it also re-inforces that the more you put into a product, the more you get out. If the value your product delivers grows as users keep using it, there’s much less chance they’ll want to switch!
9. Benchmark / know the verticals. Except perhaps for video games, users don’t know how they fare against other similar users. If you have the capability to capture analytics on product usage across your customer base – why not provide aggregated data and analysis as a service. This is especially appealing for niche players or verticals. Everyone appreciates a benchmark.
10. Integrate with existing systems / data. The more you can integrate and leverage the other stuff that your customer uses, the more invaluable you become. This can be especially important for products that have a long lead time before they become useful. If you can just plu into a system and deliver a bit of instant value, you’re made a lasting impression!
11. Turn customers into shareholders. Large manufacturers rely on reward programs. If you’re a smaller company, or even a startup you don’t have that option. But it is easy to create a stakeholder program. Customers that choose a startup’s product is as much a risk-taker as the entrepreneur. Why not reward customers with options in the company? Your customers now feel like owners – why would they leave???
12. Give something away. Even the cheesiest infomercial gives away something to entice you. Face it – everyone’s a sucker for free stuff. If you just sold some “Acme” software, why not mail them an “Acme” coffee mug? or a cap? Really… it’s just about expressing gratitude for the purchasing decision.
Got other ideas to protect against customer churn?? Comment them in!
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