A marketer's guide to reducing SaaS churn
Picture this: Your company has just launched a SaaS product and pumped resources into marketing to attract new leads.
You have also spent months fine-tuning a marketing campaign to turn these leads into paying customers.
At first, everything looks promising. Sign-ups are pouring in, and your hard work is paying off. However, before you can nurture those new users, they begin to drop off one by one.
If this seems familiar, you're not alone. Customer churn is one of the biggest challenges SaaS companies face, and it's often up to marketing teams to keep customers engaged and reduce attrition.
In this guide, I'll explain why SaaS customers churn and discuss proven strategies marketers can use to re-engage churned customers.
By understanding why users leave and employing personalized, data-driven win-back campaigns, you can easily transform churn into a growth opportunity for your SaaS business.
Here’s everything I’ll cover:
Ready to end SaaS churn for good? Let's go!
Why churn is bad news for your marketing strategy
Churn, often referred to as SaaS churn or churn rate, is the percentage of customers who stop using a service within a given time frame.
It’s a key metric for any SaaS business because a high churn rate not only hints at customer dissatisfaction but also undermines your marketing efforts. When you invest heavily in attracting new leads, losing customers can negate all that hard work.
Impact of high churn rates
Here’s a vivid image of how churn rates impact a business. Think of churn as a basket: no matter how much water you pour in (that is, how many new customers you attract), your business can't grow if users keep slipping out.
High churn rates can significantly impact revenue, increase customer acquisition costs, and damage brand reputation.
Image source: BotPenguin
To tackle this challenge effectively, you must recognize that not all churn is the same. Different types of churn can have unique causes and impacts on your business.
Types of churn
There are two main types of churn:
Voluntary churn— users choose to leave, often due to dissatisfaction or a lack of perceived value.
Involuntary churn— users churn for reasons beyond their control (for example, payment failures).
The good news is that each type of churn has a unique solution.
Common reasons why SaaS customers churn
Here are five common reasons why SaaS companies often experience customer churn.
1. Poor onboarding experience
If your onboarding process is confusing or inadequate, it can lead to early user frustration and eventual churn. A good rule of thumb is to aim for simplicity in your onboarding guides—if a 10-year-old can't grasp it, it's time for a revision.
2. Lack of product adoption
If users don't understand or adopt core features, they won’t see the full value of your product. They’re like someone with a pantry full of food but only choose one option because they don’t know what the others offer or how to access them.
3. Unmet expectations
Misalignment between marketing promises and product delivery can lead to disappointment. If customers feel misled, they are more likely to churn.
Favour Yusuf, the product marketing lead at Applai, put it this way: "When customers churn, it’s usually because they aren’t seeing the value that was promised, or they’ve already achieved what they needed to with your product."
“The biggest mistake marketers make is assuming that because they care about the product, customers will care about it too. The reality is, customers don’t care about your product; they care about how you solve their problem.”
4. Competitive offerings
Competitors can entice your customers with better features or pricing, making customer retention challenging. This is common, especially for products in saturated industries.
5. Customer support issues
Slow or unresponsive customer support can frustrate users and push them to other, more helpful alternatives.
Strategies to reduce saas churn
It’s not doom and gloom over here. If you’re already experiencing churn, I’ll share five steps you can take to reduce it.
I spoke with Lasandra Barksdale, a SaaS founder of ReviewKompass, and she suggested some tested and trusted strategies:
1. Optimize the onboarding process
According to Lasandra, “customers often churn because they had difficulty getting started.” A frictionless and engaging onboarding experience can help demonstrate product value quickly to users in their first few minutes of using a product.
Steps to take:
Personalize your onboarding flows: Segmenting users by role, industry, or use case at signup is most effective for personalizing user onboarding.
First, use a welcome screen to ask a few basic questions, then direct each segment down a tailored onboarding path.
Here’s an example of a great personalized onboarding flow by Canva.
Image source: Canva
Use interactive product tours: Guide users through essential features using in-app walkthroughs and tooltips. Doing this can help users navigate tasks on the app, such as setting up a profile, creating their first project, inviting team members, and so on.
A good example is Slack’s interactive tooltip here, which shows users how to send a message easily.
Image source: Slack
Provide milestone-based checklists: Break onboarding into clear, achievable steps. Show progress visually so users know what’s next and feel accomplished as they complete each task.
Here’s an example from UserPilot’s onboarding checklist.
Image source: UserPilot
Supplement with contextual help: Add embedded videos, tooltips, and a resource center. Making these accessible from within the app would provide users with smooth self-service support.
Here’s a look at Canva’s guided design tutorial.
Image source: Velaris
2. Install customer feedback loops on time
As a marketer, part of your work is to gather feedback through reviews and surveys—and more importantly, to act on it.
Use this data to inform product updates or improvements. Take it a step further by notifying customers when a feature they requested has been implemented. This shows you’re listening and builds trust.
Steps to take:
Trigger in-app surveys at key moments: Prompt users for feedback during critical touchpoints—after onboarding, feature adoption, or when they downgrade or cancel. Keep surveys short and targeted to understand user behavior and motivations better.
Consider this simple customer feedback survey from UserPilot:
Image source: Userpilot
Close the loop: If you release a feature or improvement based on user input, proactively notify those who requested it. This builds trust and shows you value their input.
3. Understand why customers leave
You can’t fix what you don’t understand. Identifying the root causes of churn allows you to address them directly and block the “holes in the basket.”
Learn why your customers are leaving and address the problem. Use reviews and exit surveys to find out the reason your customers abandon your product.
According to Favour, "You need to track what users are doing—what pages they’re landing on, what pages they’re exiting from, and what buttons they’re clicking or not clicking. These insights can reveal where users are getting stuck or frustrated."
Steps to take:
Conduct exit surveys: When users cancel, prompt them with a short, optional survey asking why. You can use predefined answers with an “other” field for specifics.
Here’s an example of an exit survey by Asana:
Image source: Asana
Analyze usage data: Compare behaviors of churned vs. retained users. Look for patterns such as feature adoption gaps, infrequent logins, or support requests before cancellation. A good example of this is what Groove did with its churn reduction strategy. We’ll discuss this further down in this article.
Run churn interviews: For high-value accounts, reach out personally to learn more about their decision to leave.
Share findings with product and support teams: Use insights to improve products and refine onboarding or support processes.
💡 Pro tip: Want to learn how to analyze and use customer data the smart way? Get lifetime access to Smarketers Hub marketing analytics masterclass replay.
4. Provide exceptional support
Responsive, multi-channel support allows customers to get help as soon as they need it. This can help them overcome obstacles before they consider leaving.
Steps to take:
Offer support across multiple channels: Ensure your SaaS company provides support via email, phone, and social media to make sure that no customer request goes unnoticed. “If you can call them, do it,” Lassandra says. “A phone call can add a meaningful personal touch.”
Build a robust knowledge base: Create a comprehensive, searchable library of help articles, FAQs, and video tutorials so users can find answers quickly.
For example, HubSpot’s Help Center offers free online training resources that empower users to troubleshoot and learn independently.
💡 Read: How to create content for every stage of the buyer’s journey
Image source: HubSpot
5. Offer incentives to stay
Sometimes, a timely incentive or flexible option can turn a potential churn into a loyal customer.
Everyone loves a treat, after all. A good incentive will make your customers feel valued and encourage them to stick with you for the long term.
Steps to take:
Loyalty discounts: Reward long-term customers nearing renewal with special pricing or exclusive perks to show appreciation and encourage continued commitment.
Flexible downgrades: Allow users to switch to a lower plan or pause their subscription rather than cancel outright. Make this process simple and transparent. For example, Slack allows users to easily switch between paid and free plans, providing flexibility that helps prevent churn.
Personalized retention offers: When a user initiates cancellation, present tailored offers based on their usage or account history. You can offer them extra features, an extended trial, or a consultation with a customer success manager, for example.
5 tools for improving customer retention and analysis
Here are some tools you need in your tech stack to tackle churn and boost customer retention:
1. Intercom
Intercom is a customer messaging and support tool that comprises live chat, email, in-app messaging, and help desk features. It’s widely used for onboarding, support, and engagement automation.
Key features:
Live chat, pop-up chat, and in-app messaging
Automated targeted emails and notifications
Knowledge base and self-service support
Ticket and case management
Customer segmentation and personalization
Workflow automation and integrations with CRM/support tools
Pricing
Essential: Starts at $29/month per seat
Advanced: Starts at $85/month per seat, billed annually
Expert: Starts at $132/month per seat, billed annually
Note: Pricing is highly variable based on company size, features, and volume
2. HubSpot CRM
HubSpot CRM is a widely used customer relationship management platform that supports sales, marketing, and service teams.
It’s known for its user-friendly interface, scalability, and deep integration across marketing, sales, and customer success functions.
Key features:
Organize contacts, track deals, and manage sales pipelines
Send, track, and automate emails with templates and notifications
Assign and monitor tasks, log calls and meetings
Automate email campaigns and lead nurturing
Customizable analytics for sales and marketing performance
Connect with 1,000+ apps (e.g., Gmail, Outlook, Slack)
Manage CRM on the go
Ticketing, knowledge base, and shared inbox
Pricing
Free: $0/month
Starter: Starts at $15/user/month
Professional: Starts at $1300/month
Enterprise: $4700/month
3. Mixpanel
Mixpanel is a leading product and user analytics platform designed to help SaaS teams understand user behavior, track key metrics, and optimize product experiences.
It enables marketers and product managers to analyze user journeys, retention, and conversion funnels, making it easier to identify risks of churn and growth opportunities.
Key features:
Real-time event tracking and analytics
Funnel, retention, and cohort analysis
Custom dashboards and unlimited collaborators
Behavioral segmentation and user cohorts
Advanced reporting (multi-touch attribution, custom properties)
Data modeling and API access
Integrations with popular SaaS tools
Pricing:
Free: $0/month
Growth: Starts at $20/month
Enterprise: Custom pricing (starting at $1,667/month)
4. Userpilot
Userpilot is a no-code tool that helps SaaS companies create in-app experiences like onboarding flows and feature announcements—without needing developers. It’s designed to help them boost engagement and reduce churn.
Key features:
No-code onboarding flows and in-app guides
Product analytics and user segmentation
NPS surveys and feedback collection
Customizable UI patterns and resource centers
Advanced event-based triggers and feature tagging
AI-powered content localization and multi-language support
Integrations with major SaaS tools
Pricing
Starter: $249/month
Growth: $749/month
Enterprise: Custom pricing
5. ChurnZero
ChurnZero is a customer success platform built specifically to help SaaS companies reduce churn, increase product adoption, and drive account expansion.
It’s best for customer success and marketing teams who want to proactively manage customer relationships, automate engagement, and gain insights into customer health.
Key features:
Real-time customer health scoring and alerts
Automated playbooks and journey mapping
Segmentation and advanced reporting
In-app messaging and NPS surveys
Renewal management and expansion tracking
Deep integrations with CRMs, support, and billing tools (e.g., HubSpot, Zendesk)
Custom dashboards and API access
Pricing:
ChurnZero does not publish pricing publicly. Their pricing plans are custom and typically based on the number of customers or accounts managed, the required features, and the level of support.
Real-life instances of churn reduction
Consider how the following SaaS companies cut back their churn rates:
Case study 1: Groove
Groove, a help desk software company, reduced churn by 71% with a simple, data-driven outreach program.
They analyzed their users’ first-session behavior and found that users who stuck around spent an average of 3 minutes and 18 seconds exploring the product, compared with just 35 seconds for those who abandoned it.
Also, loyal users logged in 4.4 times per day, while churned accounts averaged only 0.3 logins.
Image source: Kissmetrics.com
Armed with these insights, Groove’s team set up an automated alert for anyone whose initial sessions with the product lasted less than 2 minutes.
Those users received customized emails featuring clear setup checklists, targeted feature tutorials, and bite-sized training videos—all aimed at helping them unlock value immediately.
Image source: CXL
Image source: Neil Patel
By proactively guiding new customers through the onboarding journey, Groove dramatically reduced churn! They also demonstrated the importance of understanding why customers leave and how effective a data-driven customer win-back strategy can be.
Case study 2: Baremetrics
Baremetrics, a subscription analytics company, reduced churn by an impressive 68% in just a few months. Here’s how they did it:
At the beginning of 2024, the team noticed an increase in both revenue and user churn.
Image source: Baremetrics
This led them to take quick, strategic action. Their first move was bold: They replaced the self-serve account cancellation feature with a compulsory "Contact Us" option.
Users could no longer cancel on their own—instead, they were directed to speak with the team via live chat or in-app messaging.
Image source: Baremetrics
This approach allowed Baremetrics to collect detailed feedback on why users wanted to cancel and how the product could have served them better.
The result? They prevented about 15% of cancellations through these direct conversations.
Next, the team prioritized and delivered several features users had been requesting for a while. Addressing these long-standing needs showed customers that their feedback was valued, giving them more reasons to stay.
Finally, they provided users with more education. A common complaint from users was confusion about how to use specific data effectively.
To address this, Baremetrics ramped up its customer education efforts by:
Expanding their help desk
Hosting webinars
Adjusting lifecycle emails to match user behavior
Proactively reaching out to users to guide them through key features
These combined efforts paid off. Within a few months, Baremetrics successfully reduced churn by 68%, turning a growing churn problem into a major retention success story.
Conclusion
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed with the responsibility of tackling customer churn, you aren’t alone.
Rather than viewing churn as a problem, it’s helpful to treat it as a signal. It highlights aspects of your customer journey that require attention, such as your onboarding process, support system, or the way you communicate value.
The strategies we've discussed—from personalized onboarding and proactive support to gathering and acting on feedback—are all about building stronger relationships with your customers.
It's about understanding their needs, addressing their concerns, and showing your interest in their success.
By staying attuned to your customers and continuously refining your approach, you can transform churn from a challenge into an opportunity for growth.
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