Churn Bites Episode 2
Topic: Feedback Loop | Guest: Brian Polackoff | Date: December 2024
00:06
Welcome to this episode of Churn Bites, where we talk about customer feedback. I'm here today with Brian Polackoff. Brian, how are you, sir? Give us a quick intro, who you are, what you're all about, and then a quick plug for whatever company or product you're working on right now. Absolutely. Hey, Dad. So yeah, my name is Brian Polackoff, and I am the CEO of Churn Assassin. Really, I've been a SaaS entrepreneur for almost about 25 years now.
00:35
worked previously at a company called VAIRKKO. This company was a B2B SaaS, mid-market company that specialized in human resources and learning management. Great. Can you take us back to a time where you weren't really tuned in to customer feedback? Like, what was that like for you and how did it affect your business? So they say cash is the king for any business. And I would arguably say feedback is king.
01:03
A long time ago when we first started VAIRKKO, probably back in 2010, somewhere in that general range, we were so focused on building. Build at all costs, right? You've probably heard the phrase grow at all costs. Well, build at all costs is kind of what we lived. We built feature after feature after feature. We ran into several issues back then, but it was stemmed from the fact that we were building and had no basis on what to build. We had no feedback until we built.
01:33
So we ultimately found ourselves chasing our tail, not understanding that what we built, ultimately we weren't collecting the feedback on weather or not clients liked it, they hated it, or even more so if we change an existing feature, not understanding whether or not that change was well received or poorly received. You're not alone. This is a common pattern we see with visionaries who have great product intuition. They generally...
02:02
by some innate nature know what to do until they hit a certain spot. So what changed for you? Like you became aware that maybe the direction you were going wasn't supported by the customers or the market you were in. How did you start building a feedback system that worked? So really what kind of started it all was our retention started dropping. Clients were leaving, we didn't really understand why. We were building, we were working.
02:32
nearly around the clock to build the best system available for our clients, but they were still leaving. We didn't quite understand why. So we started doing what any company does. We started having these conversations with these clients, really trying to dig into the why, what caused them to start leaving. And what we found is that the common denominator for a lot of these folks was the fact that they felt their voice wasn't being heard. They didn't like the change that were being made.
03:00
or there were too many changes being made and they felt like they had to learn a system all over again. So this is when it kind of really started to come to the surface that we needed a better way to collect feedback and ship. Hmm, all right. So once you had this feedback system up and running, what kind of changes did you see? Did it make a difference for the customers? And also what happened internally
03:30
when this feedback was taken in? So the feedback was kind of the gift that kept on giving in all honesty. So what happens? Our team, the feedback, we could then be very intentional about what we wanted to build. We were kind of given the answers to the test, right? So our clients were telling us, this is what we want. So we had the answers to the test and we could build to kind of suit their very specific needs. So because of the fact that we could build specifically what they wanted.
03:59
There was a lot less back and forth. There was a lot less, guessing involved. So the morale of the team went up because they also felt like they were working on meaningful features, not features that we thought would actually be valuable to our clients. So our clients finally had the voice they were asking for. They wanted to tell us what they wanted and more specifically, what they don't want. So this was a fantastic way to be able to let our clients voice their opinions.
04:27
We even rolled out with our feedback system, we rolled out a voting system as well, which allowed clients to go in and actually upvote certain ideas that they had or they saw other clients and their feedback. And if they saw something that was going to benefit them as well, they could go in and upvote it. And that also told us the popularity of the vote or the popularity of the overall idea. So feedback truly is the gift that keeps on giving. And if you can harness that, good things will.
04:57
One of the blockers I've seen for people taking feedback like this is they tend to assume their customers are going to be vicious and eviscerate them. What was your experience like? Was there any apprehension on the team of doing this and were the results sort of what you expected or were they better or worse? So the exact opposite was true for us. So we had clients that would come out of the woodwork to provide feedback. And the great thing about it was that they understood.
05:27
goal of the feedback, the goal was to make the product better. So this kind of aligned our clients with our team, kind of put us on the same page. And everyone understood what the feedback was for. So we did have the occasional client that would kind of give us a request or a suggestion in the product that just was unique to that client, those niche features that only would really benefit that one particular client and...
05:54
Yes, those clients, they did have trouble understanding initially that maybe this this idea would only benefit them. But through communication, transparency, those clients were more than welcoming to that feedback. But the vast majority of our client feedback that we got delivered to us, it was on point, it was product specific, and the goal was to make the product that we're already using and paying for, even better.
06:23
Wow, I like what you said there. And I really liked your earlier statement about getting the answers to the test. I don't want to put words in your mouth. Give us a good takeaway here. Like if there's a company or two out there that was in your spot, what advice would you give to them if they're considering opening up their feedback or they haven't yet? My recommendation would be you should have started it yesterday. In all honesty, today's too late. You're truly flying blind without this feedback. And.
06:51
You should try to solicit feedback for everything within the application. If you make a change to your SaaS product, there should be post usage feedback that's being collected from your users. Do they like the change? Maybe you change the color of a button or the placement of a button. Well, maybe they don't like the color. Maybe they don't like the placement. Maybe on different views, mobile views, tablet views. So feedback is so vitally important to understanding where your client's heads are at.
07:20
Since again, we operate the SaaS world. Your users are using the platform and you're not sitting right next to them while they're doing it. So they can't tell you this information unless you give them a feedback loop to do. Sometimes the only way they can tell you they don't like something is to cancel their account. And like we say, churn bites. Well, that's it for this episode. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you in the next one.
About our guest...
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As the Founder and CEO of Churn Assassin, I’ve dedicated my career to solving one of the most significant challenges faced by B2B SaaS companies: customer churn. For Customer Success Managers (CSMs) and founders, predicting and preventing churn can be incredibly difficult, especially with the limitations of traditional customer success platforms. These tools often come with steep implementation costs, unreliable churn scores, and high price points, leaving many teams frustrated and financially drained. That's why I built Churn Assassin—to provide a powerful churn prediction and mitigation platform that’s both effective and accessible.
Churn Assassin leverages cutting-edge machine learning and behavioral analysis to identify churn risks even before a customer begins to consider cancellation. Through our advanced churn predictions, evidence-based signals, and detailed churn metrics, we enable CSMs and founders to act early, preventing client losses and improving retention. By providing actionable insights, we empower teams to not just predict churn, but actively manage it, ultimately reducing churn rates by up to 38% for SaaS companies.
Our platform is designed to be user-friendly and intuitive, with no data science degree required. We specialize in helping businesses bolster their revenue by enhancing customer retention through practical, evidence-driven strategies. With tools like Churn Signal alerts and predictive churn models, we provide teams with the resources they need to engage with at-risk customers in real time. Our mission is to simplify churn prevention and ensure that businesses can focus on growth without constantly worrying about client cancellations.
Beyond the software, I am passionate about sharing insights and strategies that drive innovation in customer success. I frequently share content that challenges the status quo and explores new ways to approach customer retention. My goal is to help Customer Success Managers and SaaS founders exceed their retention targets and dramatically increase customer lifetime value, transforming churn into an opportunity for improvement and growth.
If you’re ready to get ahead of churn and significantly improve your client retention strategy, let’s connect. I’m committed to helping businesses like yours bring churn to its knees and thrive in today’s competitive SaaS landscape. Join me in revolutionizing the way we approach customer success and retention.
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