As any product manager or entrepreneur knows, customer churn is the death knell for any business. It’s the bane of our existence and it can be a tricky beast to tame. But what if I told you that there was a way to prevent churn before it even starts? This is where product design comes in. That’s right—by designing a product or service with churn in mind, you’ll be able to keep your customers happy and engaged for as long as possible.
In the last 4 years building SitEat and Dinesurf, I’ve been able to find and plug churn holes in my user funnel primarily by doing these 3 things. Read on to find out how!
1. Design for Usability
The first step to preventing customer churn is designing a product or service that is easy-to-use and intuitive.
Before we read further, I must confess I’ve been guilty of this so many times in the past, researching why a feature isn’t used or why users churn has helped me identify some of my design errors in the past.
Here’s how not to make my mistakes
- Don’t create a product that requires users to jump through hoops or read lengthy instruction manuals just to use it correctly; instead, focus on creating an experience that users will enjoy and find useful.
- Think about what would make your product easier and quicker to use, and then implement those changes into your design. Not only will this help you keep customers around longer, but it will also make them more likely to recommend your product or service to their friends.
2. Prioritize Customer Support
No matter how great your product design is, there are bound to be some bumps along the way—and when they do pop up, you need to have excellent customer support in place ready to handle them quickly and efficiently.
This means having knowledgeable staff available 24/7 who can answer questions and troubleshoot problems without delay. Having someone on hand who can help customers feel valued will go a long way towards keeping them from leaving in frustration.
In all your communication effort, in and out of your product, make sure users know how to reach you, a lot of these can also be automated
3. Stay Innovative
Finally, in order to keep customers around for the long haul, you need to stay ahead of the curve by introducing new features regularly. Whether it’s adding additional functionality or improving existing features, staying innovative will show customers that their needs are being met and give them an incentive to stick around for even longer periods of time. Plus, staying innovative will also help you stay competitive against other companies offering similar products or services.
Conclusion
Preventing customer churn doesn’t have to be a mystery—with some simple tweaks like better usability designs, prioritizing customer support, and staying innovative with new features and updates, you’ll be able set yourself apart from the competition while also giving your customers exactly what they’re looking for!
PS
I’m actively building a community for current and prospective product managers and entrepreneurs, it’s free to join, just click the link here to get access to product tips, learn from collective experiences and access resources, templates and guides to speed up youowth.
So don’t wait—start designing with churn prevention in mind today! Happy designing!
