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Data behind keeping customers happy
BlogData behind keeping customers happy
Data behind keeping customers happy
Hoshang Mehta
Hoshang MehtaPublished 03/07/2025

Losing customers feels a lot like a bad break-up—it stings because often, it could’ve been avoided. We get that.

In our case, we’re a product-led company, and we spend our days knee-deep in data from the moment someone clicks onto our site, to each customer call, down to every issue raised to the point they make payments and everything after as well. We see patterns and we've come up with a plan to keep our customers around, not just by reacting to problems, but by being proactive when it comes to retention.


Support with Usage & Revenue Impact

Here’s a practical look:

Think about how your customers use your product. The ones logging in daily, using all the key features? They're not just users; your product is a core part of their operations. A hiccup could throw a wrench in their day-to-day—something we aim to avoid at all costs.

  • List of Unresolved Tickets: We track all open tickets. Long unresolved high-priority tickets? Big alarm bells.
  • Revenue Impact: Each ticket is tied to a customer. More tickets may mean more problems. We find patterns and fix them. We also look at the revenue at risk tied to each ticket. A high-revenue customer with urgent tickets gets priority to prevent major revenue loss.
  • Product Usage: We look at our customers’ behavior on the product. What are we solving for them, their use-case as well as their activity? This is crucial to understand how critical we are in their day-to-day operations. Highly active users facing issues get the utmost priority.

List of Unresolved Tickets

We’re vigilant about tracking every ticket that comes in. It’s not just about counting them—it’s about understanding the urgency. Tickets that have been unresolved for too long set off alarm bells. These are potential crisis points that could escalate into customer departures if not addressed promptly.

Here's where ticket severity comes in. A high-priority ticket is a red flag, indicating a big problem that needs to be addressed immediately.

Every ticket is more than an issue; it's a window into the customer's experience. By linking each ticket directly to a customer profile, we can see patterns emerging:

  • Are there recurring issues for certain users?
  • Are specific problems tied to recent updates or system changes?

This linkage helps us diagnose systemic issues that might be affecting multiple customers or pinpoint specific areas where a customer might need more guidance.


Revenue Impact

Understanding the financial weight of each ticket changes how we prioritize. A high-revenue customer facing critical issues isn't just a support ticket; it's a priority that could impact our bottom line.

Mapping number of tickets and revenue impact by customers

Mapping number of tickets and revenue impact by customers

This helps us make calculated decisions on where to allocate our resources most effectively to mitigate risks.


Product Usage

The activation score is a pivotal metric, derived from product usage or behavior. It quantifies how deeply integrated our service is into each customer's daily operations. A high activation score means a customer isn't just using our product; they're relying on it heavily.

How Understanding Customer Activation Guides Our Support Strategy:

  • Early Detection and Support: Monitoring product activation scores helps identify which customers might be most affected by even minor disruptions. A high-score customer gets preemptive checks to ensure everything runs smoothly.
  • Customized Communication: High activation score customers receive tailored communications. If an update might affect features they rely on, we notify them first with guides to manage these changes.
  • Priority Issue Resolution: Their tickets are automatically flagged as high-priority due to the potential impact on their operations.
  • Feedback Loop for Product Improvement: High activation users provide valuable feedback, which is fast-tracked to product development to refine features.

Understanding which customers are highly active, have more tickets, and have high revenue at risk. Understanding which customers are highly active, have more tickets, and have high revenue at risk

A high score indicates high dependency, which, paired with unresolved issues, could spell trouble. This measure helps us preemptively intensify support for our most reliant users, aiming to resolve issues before they even become aware of them.


Helping CSMs Prioritize Better

Monitoring CSM Workload and Performance

Tracking our Customer Success Managers (CSMs) gives insights into their workload and efficiency. If a CSM is managing a high volume of high-risk tickets, it might indicate they need more support or resources.

Practical Scenario:

  • CSM A: Handles 30 open tickets with a total revenue at risk of $50,000.
  • CSM B: Handles 10 open tickets with a total revenue at risk of $100,000.

On the surface, it might seem that CSM A is more burdened, but CSM B’s tickets represent a higher potential revenue loss.

Understanding which CSMs have higher revenue at risk along with ticket volumes.

Understanding which CSMs have higher revenue at risk along with ticket volumes.

This ensures balanced workloads among CSMs, preventing burnout and ensuring high-quality service.


Customer Priority Framework

Every customer is important, but in a growing startup with constrained resources, we need to prioritize support efforts.

Our Simple Prioritization Method:

UsageRevenueSeverityPriority
HighHighHigh🚨 Immediate action
HighLowHigh⚠️ Crucial support
LowHighHigh📌 Keep them happy
LowLowHigh✅ Address as needed

Priority List - High Usage, High Severity, High Revenue Customers

Priority List - High Usage, High Severity, High Revenue Customers

Retention Is a Team Sport

Retention isn’t just a Customer Success or Support issue; it’s on the whole business.

Every piece of the puzzle—from how often someone uses our product, to the revenue they bring in, and how we handle their problems—tells a part of the story.

It’s not just about solving issues as they pop up; it’s about understanding and integrating every interaction they have with our product into a broader strategy.

Everyone Has a Stake in Retention:

  • Product Managers build roadmaps that keep users engaged.
  • Marketers craft messages that reinforce product value.
  • Sales Teams ensure the right fit from the start.
  • Support & Success Teams ensure ongoing success.

We track how our users engage, how much value they get from us, and how effectively we solve their issues. And we make it everyone’s business to know these numbers. Because when one of us wins, we all win.

We have made this template ready for you to use. You can try it out here.

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