CHURN FM

Andrew Michael
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Oct 28, 2020 • 38min

EP 85 | Derek Skaletsky (Sherlock) - How to develop a customer engagement score and increase retention in the process

Today on the show we have Derek Skaletsky, Founder and CEO of Sherlock.In this episode, we talked about how Derek came up with the idea to build Sherlock and why now, how Sherlock determines an engagement score, and how CS, Sales, and Marketing teams can use it.We also discussed how Derek’s Head of Customer Success self was arguing with his Head of Product self back at Kissmetrics whilst leading these two teams, and we dove into Kissmetric’s #1 reason for churn and how Derek and his team halved their churn rate in just 12 months with a scorecard.As usual, I'm excited to hear what you think of this episode, and if you have any feedback, I would love to hear from you. You can email me directly on Andrew@churn.fm. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter.Churn FM is sponsored by Vitally, the all-in-one Customer Success Platform.
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Oct 21, 2020 • 35min

EP 84 | Sançar Sahin (Oliva) - Sançar’s secret weapon to nailing a retention driving product positioning

Today on the show we have Sançar Sahin, co-founder of Oliva.In this episode, we talked about the necessary elements you need to build a world-class marketing team, the impact a company’s go-to market strategy has on choosing the right team members, and the inspiration behind Oliva. We also discussed Sançar’s move from building teams as a VP, back to the scrappy stage of a one-man marketing team, the importance of getting deep insights and feedback at the very start of building a product, and how those insights helped clarify Oliva’s positioning.As usual, I'm excited to hear what you think of this episode, and if you have any feedback, I would love to hear from you. You can email me directly on Andrew@churn.fm. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter.Churn FM is sponsored by Vitally, the all-in-one Customer Success Platform.
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Oct 14, 2020 • 44min

EP 83 | Patrick Thompson (Iteratively) - How Atlassian mastered their land and expand strategy with experimentation.

Today on the show we have Patrick Thompson, co-founder, and CEO of Iteratively.In this episode, we talked about why Patrick made the leap to start his own business, how 200 interviews over 6 months of customer discovery helped them find the biggest data-related pain point software teams have, and how Iteratively helps solve it. We also discussed what it was like to work in the growth team at Atlassian in the early days, the difference Patrick sees in picking and prioritising quick wins vs long-term bets to work on at a later stage company vs an early-stage startup, and how partnerships and tool integrations can help increase long-term retention.As usual, I'm excited to hear what you think of this episode, and if you have any feedback, I would love to hear from you. You can email me directly on Andrew@churn.fm. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter.Churn FM is sponsored by Vitally, the all-in-one Customer Success Platform.
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Oct 7, 2020 • 31min

EP 82 | Adelina Peltea - How Holded improves longterm retention with a “Constant Onboarding” approach.

Today on the show we have Adelina Peltea, VP of Growth at Holded.In this episode, we talked about the biggest differences between different growth stages of a startup, why you should always stay true to your startup’s DNA, how to iterate your way to product-market fit at the Seed stage and why Adelina believes you should never get feedback from free users.  We also discussed Adelina’s responsibilities as VP of Growth at Holded, how she reshuffled her team to be more cross-functional and structured around each stage of the user journey, and how the growth team at Holded works together to improve activation rates. As usual, I'm excited to hear what you think of this episode, and if you have any feedback, I would love to hear from you. You can email me directly on Andrew@churn.fm. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter.Churn FM is sponsored by Vitally, the all-in-one Customer Success Platform.
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Sep 30, 2020 • 47min

EP 81 | Mark Tanner (Qwirl) - The pros and cons of a freemium plan and how it impacts churn

Today on the show we have Mark Tanner, co-founder, and COO of Qwilr.In this episode, we talked about what it was like for Mark taking the leap from a cushy job at Google to start his own business, why they built Qwilr, the motivation behind it, and what's the big plan for the future.  We also discussed Qwilr’s on and off relationship with a freemium plan of their product, how first impressions always matter, and churn and retention in the context of sales.As usual, I'm excited to hear what you think of this episode, and if you have any feedback, I would love to hear from you. You can email me directly on Andrew@churn.fm. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter.Churn FM is sponsored by Vitally, the all-in-one Customer Success Platform.
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Sep 23, 2020 • 36min

EP 80 | David Apple (Notion) - The evolving role of Customer Success in hyper-growth companies

Today on the show we have David Apple, Head of Customer Success at Notion.In this episode, we talked about the conflict between Sales and Customer Success and how it can be avoided, what the leading indicators of retention are at Typeform VS Notion, and how Typeform’s CS team segments its customers based on their retention rate to help prioritize, appoint resources, and make decisions. We also discussed why sooner is not always better, the low touch and high touch onboarding set up at Typeform & Notion, and why the two companies waited a long time to invest a single dollar in customer acquisition plus more.As usual, I'm excited to hear what you think of this episode, and if you have any feedback, I would love to hear from you. You can email me directly on Andrew@churn.fm. Don't forget to follow us on TwitterChurn FM is sponsored by Vitally, the all-in-one Customer Success Platform.
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Sep 16, 2020 • 41min

EP 79 | Angel Steger (Facebook) - More than numbers: How a “bad hookup face” helped Pinterest increase virality and retention.

Today on the show we have Angel Steger, Director Of Product Design at Facebook.In this episode, we talked about what it’s like designing a building for over 2.7 billion users, how focusing on activation can increase retention, and how giving users a feeling of ownership had a big impact on Pinterest’s user activation.We also discussed Qualitative research at Pinterest: How a bad hookup face helped increase their messaging response rate, and how Dropbox and Pinterest use internal experimentation systems to help avoid bad user experiences.As usual, I'm excited to hear what you think of this episode, and if you have any feedback, I would love to hear from you. You can email me directly on Andrew@churn.fm. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter.Churn FM is sponsored by Vitally, the all-in-one Customer Success Platform.
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Sep 9, 2020 • 37min

EP 78 | Francis Brero - Why MadKudu pivoted their company’s focus from churn risk detection to conversion prediction.

Today on the show we have Francis Brero, CRO, and Co-Founder of MadKudu.In this episode, we talked about how Francis started out studying mechanical engineering and ended up founding a company now serving as the CFO, what MadKudu is and how they help their customers, and why starting off the company by helping companies predict churn didn’t work. We also discussed how a typical customer uses Madkudu and what success looks like for them, how Madkudu predicts retention at different time horizons, and the three stages of a customer’s lifecycle every CS team should know about.  As usual, I'm excited to hear what you think of this episode, and if you have any feedback, I would love to hear from you. You can email me directly on Andrew@churn.fm. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter.Churn FM is sponsored by Vitally, the all-in-one Customer Success Platform.
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Sep 2, 2020 • 33min

EP 77 | Ward Sandler (MemberSpace) - Reduce churn with these 3 cancelation alternatives in your exit flow.

Today on the show we have Ward Sandler, co-founder of MemberSpace.In this episode, we talked about the biggest point of failure for first-time subscription business owners, the evolution of pricing and packaging at MemberSpace, and the importance of figuring out what customers are willing to pay before you build a product.We also discussed how MemberSpace educates its customers on churn, how Ward maintains and keeps up with customer conversations as the company grows,  and how you can decrease churn with cancelation alternatives.As usual, I'm excited to hear what you think of this episode, and if you have any feedback, I would love to hear from you. You can email me directly on Andrew@churn.fm. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter.Churn FM is sponsored by Vitally, the all-in-one Customer Success Platform.
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Aug 26, 2020 • 40min

EP 76 | How retention helped Drift’s VP of strategy, Adam Schoenfeld build and sell 2 companies

Today on the show we have Adam Schoenfeld, VP of Strategy at Drift, and GM of Drift Video.In this episode, we talked about how a customer-centric approach helped him build and scale two successful businesses, why he talks to his customers every single day, and why everyone at Drift has chat duty.We also discussed the importance of churn & retention when a company is being acquired, and how Adam views churn and retention now as VP of strategy at Drift vs his previous views as CEO of his own company.As usual, I'm excited to hear what you think of this episode, and if you have any feedback, I would love to hear from you. You can email me directly on Andrew@churn.fm. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter.Churn FM is sponsored by Vitally, the all-in-one Customer Success Platform.

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