4 Signs You Aren’t As Data-Driven As You Think: Part 4- Customers Too Often Surprise You

No one likes a curveball. 

Whether that’s in baseball (hello Mariners, A’s and Giants!), or in business- they can really rock you.  

And not in a good way. 

But at least in baseball we can replay the tape. We can see how the pitcher threw the ball which caused the curveball. 

Ever lost a customer? 

Haven’t we all. 

But do you know why exactly you lost them? 

Or is it just thrown to the wind with a shrug and a “we’ll do better next time”? Or maybe it’s being chalked up to a tough month/quarter/year/decade economically? 

Yikes! If you’re shaking off losses as normal and not doing your due diligence to figure out why they happened, you’re probably not using your data to its full potential. 

And that just can’t happen. The data you’re collecting every day is simply too valuable to go to waste. 

Being data-driven is going to divide the winners and losers of these upcoming years.

Don’t use your data properly, and you’ll be left in the dust. 

Undiagnosed Churn is Unacceptable in 2023 

The customers you currently have are a much better investment in keeping than attempting to fill the bucket. 

Making sure they have an excellent experience, no matter what that looks like, is an important component of a long, profitable relationship. 

However, things happen. You will lose some customers at some point, no matter how awesome their experience has been. Are you able to use these experiences of loss though to teach you and your team? 

Can you accurately say what went wrong in the relationship before that happened? 

A churned customer is obviously never a good thing.

But, at the very least, you and your company should be figuring out why exactly you lost them- so then you can take your learnings to your current and future customers. 

And the best way to do that? 

Carefully examining your data. 

And moving away from surface-level anecdotes and assumptions. 

By aggregating the numerous data points that enterprise companies are collecting, you should be able to figure out why you lost a customer, and what in the future you could act on to retain similarly-behaved customers. 

We’ll jump into something that can help with this (sometimes monstrous) task later on... 

How are you dividing your time amongst enterprise accounts versus smaller ones? 

And maybe part of why these customers are surprising you is that they aren’t the big money makers. 

Are you laser-focused on your enterprise accounts, and deprioritizing your mid-market and smaller accounts? 

The pain of churn might be somewhat less with these smaller-level accounts, but, churn still cuts your bottom line. 

And misunderstanding why you’re losing smaller accounts might just mean you’re on a path of losing your bigger, more profitable ones. 

And isn’t that why in the first place you focused more energy on them? 

So yes, while your bigger accounts may demand more time and touch for them to have the best possible experience, don’t skip learning more about smaller accounts.  

These smaller account relationships matter a lot too- and who knows- if they grow, you might just have another enterprise account on your hands. 

The best way we’ve seen successful businesses manage both large and small accounts is by using a system that aggregates numerous data points from various sources, from their CRM, to their support systems, to their product telemetry.  

They then analyze these combined data points using AI to figure out the exact patterns that actually make your best customers your best customers.

With this system, they get actions to move all your customers to that “best” tier.  

More on that later! 

Fully understanding why any account, small or large, was lost is key to being a truly data-driven business. 

You Might Not Be Able to Save Everyone- But Use The Data You Already Have to Get the Full Picture 

Unfortunately, some churn is going to be inevitable.

Tough but true.

Not every customer you onboard is going to be a perfect fit- even if it seems that way in the beginning. 

But, if you can at least learn from the churn you’ve dealt with, you can go into the future and handle current customers better.  

You can have a better idea of what you need to be mindful of.

And being able to understand and articulate why an instance of churn occurred allows you to take better responsibility for what’s going on with your team and with your customers. 

Understanding past tough experiences can help put you on the path of being predictive rather than reactive.

Yes, some churn is inevitable. But how you handle it is really what’s going to determine if the experience was even worth it.

If you aren’t learning from these past experiences, how can you expect to prepare better for what’s next? 

What kind of heads-up is it possible for Tingono to give you? 

So if you’re regularly getting shocked by customers, and you’re not happy about it, that’s a pretty big indicator that you need to get your data in order so it can do more for you. 

And that shock can come from a lot of places- it's getting to the root of those different reasons that are going to be the most important. 

When Parry and Sami came up with Tingono, it was because they knew that surprise churn was being shaken off too much.

It’s too accepted.

But, there’s a better way to go about solving it. 

Tingono’s AI-driven solution has helped companies improve their bottom line already.  

In one of our partners, we’ve already achieved an 8% increase in their annual retention rate (ARR).

We’re helping others grow their post-sales motion with increased upsell leads (as much as a 19% increase), and smarter, improved win rates in their sales motion. 

We’ll help you find your best customers, and if they’re not your best yet, we’ll help make them that. 

No more accepting the unexpected.  

Are you ready to use your data smarter? Are you ready to get on board with Tingono? We want to talk!