

CHURN FM
Andrew Michael
CHURN FM is the podcast for subscription economy pros. Every Wednesday we hear how the world’s fastest growing companies are tackling churn and using retention & engagement to fuel their growth.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Aug 19, 2020 • 32min
EP 75 | Bozena Pieniazek (Maze) - How Product Marketing impacts churn & retention
Today on the show we have Bozena Pieniazek, Director of Marketing at Maze.In this episode, we broke down the function of Product Marketing, discussed how it impacts churn and retention, shared views on where it should sit in a company, and dove into how product marketers help companies understand user personas and their different use cases.We also discussed why Maze decided to rethink their positioning, how nailing your positioning & messaging, can help attract and bring in the right customers for your business, and how you can fill your marketing funnel by asking the right questions.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.

Aug 12, 2020 • 36min
EP 74 | Mark Thompson - Why your customers churn involuntarily and how to prevent it.
Today on the show we have Mark Thompson, co-founder of PayKickstart.In this episode, we talked about how an internal tool their team built ended up being their main product, affiliate programs as a channel for growth, and the challenges they face when it comes to churn & retention.We also discussed how PayKickstart optimizes their onboarding to tackle churn, how they measure its impact, and how to avoid credit card failures by being proactive with your customers. 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.

Aug 5, 2020 • 45min
EP 73 | David Brice - Why Envato launched a subscription service alongside its 15-year-old transactional business.
Today on the show we have David Brice, General Manager & Executive of the Customer Group at EnvatoIn this episode, we talked about how David made the switch from a green tech business owner to a marketplace software business General Manager, why Envato launched a subscription service alongside its 15-year-old transactional business, and how the two business models are treated within the company. We also discussed how they balance the supply and demand function to make sure their authors are earning a healthy income on both products, how they minimize churn and increase retention, their health metrics, and what David wished he knew about churn and retention when he first started out.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.

Jul 29, 2020 • 39min
EP 72 | Panos Siozos - How crossing the chasm into the late majority impacts churn and how to avoid it
Today on the show we have Panos Siozos, co-founder and CEO of LearnWorlds.In this episode, we talked about what it was like for Panos to take the leap from a job in education & parliament to starting his own company, how COVID-19 has impacted the eLearning industry & how LearnWorld’s funnel tripled in just one day. We also discussed how LearnWorld is retaining its customers in this new breed of teachers, how they use their own product to onboard their customers & educate them on how to succeed, & 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 Twitter.Churn FM is sponsored by Vitally, the all-in-one Customer Success Platform.

Jul 22, 2020 • 39min
EP 71 | John Henwood - How productboard increased retention by scaling a handheld onboarding experience
Today on the show we have John Henwood, Director of Customer Success at Productboard.In this episode, we talked about how customer success has evolved over the past 10 years, how Customer Success’s approach to increasing retention differs at a big organization VS an early-stage startup, and how John prioritized his focus when he first joined Productboard.We also discussed why Productboard’s Customer Success team handhold their customers through their onboarding process, how they measure success, and what was John’s thought-process when building out and scaling the customer success team at Productboard. 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.

Jul 15, 2020 • 49min
EP 70 | Ryan Bonnici - How G2 structures its marketing team to accelerate growth and increase retention.
Today on the show we have Ryan Bonnici one of the World's Most Influential CMOs as named by Forbes currently leading the marketing team at G2. In this episode, we talked about Ryan’s responsibilities as CMO at G2, how he and his team split their focus, and how G2’s Product team mirrors their marketing team’s structure. We also discussed G2’s Buyer Intent and how it arms companies to predict churn, how their retention team measures success, and how they guide their free users into their paid funnel. 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.

Jul 8, 2020 • 41min
EP 69 | Samuel Hulick - How to improve user retention with a killer onboarding plan.
Today on the show we have Samuel Hulick, the person behind the infamous onboarding teardowns from UserOnboard.comIn this episode, we talked about the single biggest mistake that product companies keep repeating when it comes to user onboarding, how Samuel approaches building an onboarding experience, and the key metrics he believes are important to measure. We also discussed where onboarding starts & ends, Slack & Duolingo’s onboarding experience & what makes them stand out, and last but not least we chatted about the relationship between retention & onboarding through Samuel’s lense. 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.

Jul 1, 2020 • 43min
EP 68 | Sjoerd Handgraaf - How to increase retention in a two-sided Marketplace Business
Today on the show we have Sjoerd Handgraaf, CMO at Sharetribe. In this episode, we talked about why retention is key to tackling the supply vs demand problem in marketplace businesses, what liquidity is and why it is important, and the key things you need to be looking at when building a marketplace business.We also discussed early churn at Sharetribe, why they built an entirely new product to tackle graduation churn, and how the Sharetribe’s marketing team operates around churn and 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.

Jun 24, 2020 • 41min
EP 67 | Mark Roberge - How to drive revenue growth through customer retention
Today on the show we have Mark Roberge, Managing Director at Stage 2 Capital, and former Chief Revenue Officer at Hubspot. In this episode, we talked about the strengths of a successful CRO, the growth phases of a company’s lifecycle, and why retention is the one metric that defines product-market fit. We also discussed the pillars of a good go-to-market strategy, how Hubspot discovered their key leading indicators for customer retention in the early days, and 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 Twitter.Churn FM is sponsored by Vitally, the all-in-one Customer Success Platform.

Jun 17, 2020 • 43min
EP 66 | Georgiana Laudi - How to use Jobs To Be Done to create a laser-sharp SaaS growth Strategy
Today on the show we have Georgiana Laudi, Co-Founder of Forget the Funnel.In this episode, we talked about how Georgiana decided to focus on SaaS and build Forget the Funnel, the type of work they do for their clients, and how they evaluate the health of their client’s business to identify where there’s an opportunity for growth. We also discussed The “Jobs to be done” framework, their process, how they set up, and conduct surveys in order to pull out what the customer’s jobs to be done are, and lastly, we talked about customer experience mapping. 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.