When I began our Customer Success department, my first task was to truly understand which customers of ours were shoo-in renewals each cycle. We were transitioning from a bookings-model to an annual recurring revenue (ARR) model which meant we needed to understand which customers we could forecast and rely on. As such, I developed this mapping methodology to plot the last bilateral contact with each customer versus their upcoming renewal date. It became colloquially known as the Communications Quadrants.
It became apparent quite quickly which customers had been neglected or who had been unresponsive for quite some time. We began pulling customers from months of silence into monthly and quarterly check-ins per their preference. This in itself was a learning process as we had to customize each experience to ensure we meet unique customer needs.
If you plan on using this model, customize the renewal cycle dates for your own customer journeys. In addition, I recommend starting with a larger date range for communications. In our case, I extended to the preceding 12 months because once booked & trained, customers went on their merry way with their purchase. However, we have since shortened the quadrants to show 6 months of communications & have created a buffer zone for slipped renewals that didn’t come in on time. We total each quadrant and slip zone at our biweekly management meetings to discuss likelihood of renewal and status of account.
As with any model pilfered from the internet, you’ll likely add your own flair. I’d love to see some creative additions. Let us know if you’ve tried something similar.
FM
Originally published at http://emktg5.wordpress.com on December 23, 2020.
