We run a software-as-a-service company and our customer success team only reports lagging metrics like monthly churn, which tells us when it is too late. What weekly leading indicators should our customer success leader own?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Tracking monthly churn is like looking in your rearview mirror; by the time the customer cancels, the damage is done. To protect your business and prepare for an exit, your customer success leader must own weekly metrics that predict client dissatisfaction weeks before a renewal window opens. In a software-as-a-service business, this starts with tracking weekly active users relative to total licenses sold. If a customer is paying for one hundred seats but only ten people log in during a given week, that account is a churn risk. Second, track your weekly customer support ticket escalation rate. A high volume of unresolved support tickets or long resolution times is a leading indicator of frustration. Finally, track weekly platform adoption of core features. Identify the top three features that drive high retention and track the percentage of accounts utilizing those features every week. If these adoption numbers dip, your customer success team must proactively intervene. By adding these leading indicators to your scorecard, you move from reactive damage control to proactive retention. When these metrics turn red, they are immediately placed on your Level 10 Meeting™ Issues list for IDS®, allowing your team to save the client before they ever think about leaving.