November was a tough month for me. Two paying customers churned, and one downgraded to a cheaper plan.

Of course, as a perfectionist and imposter, I instantly thought that the problem was in my product. I reached directly to churned customers to understand what happened. And I was surprised by their response.

Reach out for feedback

I couldn’t imagine writing an email to churned customers a year ago. But it happened. I wrote three emails in November and received a response to each of them.

And the reasons why the customers unsubscribed:

1. One of them temporarily needs to generate screenshots and may subscribe again. I will consider adding a pay-as-you-go option or a yearly plan.
2. One of them has built MVP with a screenshot feature, but after rebuilding it without and don’t need to use the project anymore.
3. And the one that downgraded changed how they use screenshots so that it helped to reduce the number of screenshots rendered monthly.

Nobody mentioned that my product had bugs or that they weren’t pleased to use it. It was the opposite. They applauded the product and were deeply satisfied with it.

People are friendly and responsive. Many might not answer, but you need to try anyway.

I might automate the process in the feature to collect feedback on churn.

3 lessons

Attachment to MRR hurts

Internal deep attachment to the MRR number is not sustainable and negatively impacts my mental health. I haven’t found a solution to it yet, but Satvik Pendem gave me a direction to consider:

Focus on those who pay

A churn is not a positive or negative event. Treat the churn as a point of information.

In my case, all these churns don’t tell me how I can improve the product and serve my current paying customers better. Maybe, I might change the pricing structure and billing approach, but I don’t know need to test.

I will second the advice that Val shared with me. While analyzing churn is good until it is about your product, it is much better to double down and what works and try to satisfy your current paying customers.

Ask for testimonials

Yes, a customer is gone. But as I shared earlier, the customer can return later. So, try to stay in touch with them.

In addition, if you haven’t done it earlier, you might ask about testimonials. If satisfied with your product and service, they might leave you a good testimonial.

That might help you attract and convert visitors into friends and customers.

Afterthought

Not everything goes as you wish. If your growth doesn’t have dips, it is not growth at all.