Churn Risk Outreach

Churn-risk cohort report with diagnosis per account. 3-touch cadence executed per matched play. CRM updated with health flag, save play tag, and outcome. Weekly save-play scorecard for retention leadership.

Before you start

Customer health scoring documented (usage, NPS, support volume)
Approved retention playbook with discount and concession guardrails
CRM linked to product analytics
List of accounts with health score below threshold
Recent activity history (logins, support tickets, last touchpoint)
Account context (CSM, ACV, contract end date)

The steps

Pull churn-risk cohort — Query for accounts with health score below the documented threshold OR usage drop >40% week-over-week OR NPS <=6 in the last survey. Deduplicate against accounts already in active save plays. Sort by ACV descending — start saves with highest revenue at risk.
Diagnose the risk signal per account — For each, identify the strongest risk signal: usage drop, support ticket complaint, NPS detractor with comment, missed onboarding milestone, or champion left. Pull the supporting evidence (specific metric or quote) so outreach can reference a concrete reason — not generic 'we miss you'.
Match each account to a playbook — Map the diagnosis to one of: (a) re-onboarding play (usage drop), (b) success-story play (NPS detractor), (c) executive sponsor play (champion left), (d) product feedback play (feature complaint), (e) commercial play (asking for discount/scope reduction). Each playbook has a documented sequence — pick one, do not invent.
Draft the first outreach — Send from the CSM or AE — never a marketing alias. Reference the specific signal: 'Saw your team's usage of [feature] dropped from 40 sessions/week to 6 in October. Want to dig in.' Offer a concrete next action (15-min call) — not 'let me know how I can help'. Under 100 words.
Schedule a 3-touch cadence — Day 0: outreach email. Day +3: follow-up with a relevant resource (case study or playbook from the matched play). Day +7: personal note from the AE or CSM proposing a different format (15-min call vs. async Loom). Stop after 3 touches without escalating to a spam pattern.
Escalate to leadership for top accounts — If ACV is in the top 20% and no engagement after touch 2, alert the AE manager and offer an exec-sponsor introduction. For top 5% accounts, escalate to the CRO automatically — these are board-reported saves.
Log the save outcome — After the cadence completes (engaged, churned, or stalled), log: the play used, touches sent, outcome (saved/at-risk/lost), and the specific intervention that worked or didn't. Aggregate weekly into a save-play scorecard for retention leadership.

If it goes wrong

Outreach feels generic and gets ignored

Tighten step 2 — require at least one concrete metric or quote in every message. If none can be found, the account isn't a save play yet, it's a discovery call.

Customer responds with hostility ('why now? you weren't there before')

Acknowledge the gap honestly: 'You're right — we should have been on this earlier. Here's what we're proposing now.' Do not deflect. Escalate the relationship to a more senior contact for the next touch.

Save plays succeed short-term but customer churns 90 days later

Track 90-day retention post-save. If <50%, the save play isn't working — it's deferring churn. Reroute those accounts to a deeper success engagement instead of a quick save.

All OpenLabor playbooks