プロダクト主導の戦略を使用して顧客のリテンションと拡大を促進する方法

The price to acquire a new customer can be up to five times higher than the price of retaining an existing one. For companies of all sizes, the costs associated with losing customers can be hard to swallow—particularly if customers are leaving in droves. But beyond the bottom line, customer churn takes a toll on a company’s reputation, and creates other challenges for teams across the organization. For example:

• 顧客の解約率が高いと、マーケティング担当者は、すでにプロダクトに投資していて商談に結びつく可能性のある「ウォーム」な顧客に対するマーケティングではなく、認知度向上や再エンゲージメントなどの高価なトップオブファネル活動に時間とリソースを費やさざるを得なくなる
• 顧客の解約率が高いと、新規リードに関連する機会よりもはるかに必要なリソースが少ないアップセルやクロスセルの機会が少なくなる。

For customer success (CS) teams, churn represents not just a loss of recurring revenue, but also an erosion in customer trust and loyalty that could potentially impact the company’s growth prospects down the road. Low retention is also a signal to prospective customers that the company they’re considering doing business with might not be such a safe bet after all—whether due to poor product-market fit, a bad customer experience, or any other number of reasons. 

According to research from Bain & Company, increasing customer retention rates by just 5% can increase profits by 25% or more, in some industries. And in a world ruled by software as a service (SaaS) and other subscription models where it’s easy to move from one vendor to another at a moment’s notice, it’s more important than ever for companies to prioritize customer satisfaction and product experiences that inspire their users to stay.

プロダクト主導になると、どのように顧客リテンションを向上させることができるのでしょうか？

Customer retention is a measure of how many customers renew their contract at the end of their subscription term. It’s the inverse of customer churn, and is also sometimes known as a company’s “logo retention rate.” Retention is measured by comparing the number of customers at the start of a given time period with the number of customers at the end of that period—excluding any new customers gained during that time.

プロダクト主導型組織は、プロダクト体験を顧客体験の中心に据えることで、プロダクトを主要な顧客リテンションツールと見なしています。このような組織は、プロダクトが本来の目的を果たし、ユーザーにとって価値があれば、顧客はそのプロダクトを使い続ける可能性が高くなり、解約の可能性が低くなることを知っているのです。 

プロダクトが本来の目的を果たし、ユーザーにとって価値があれば、顧客はそのプロダクトを使い続ける可能性が高くなり、解約の可能性も低くなります。

プロダクト主導型組織のカスタマーサクセスマネージャー（CSM）は、プロダクトの価値を示し、その機能を顧客のユースケースや目標に合わせることに重点を置いています。CSMは、顧客が投資の価値を最大化できるよう支援することで、ユーザーとの信頼関係を構築し、プロダクトを引き続き活用して目的の結果を達成するように促します。

プロダクト主導のチームがデータを使ってリテンションを向上させる方法

プロダクト主導型組織はまた、顧客の使用状況とセンチメントデータを基に、顧客がプロダクトにどのように関与しているかを正確に理解します。これにより、解約リスクがある可能性のあるユーザーを積極的に見つけ、必要に応じて介入できます。ここでは、定量的なデータ（プロダクトアナリティクスなど）と定性的なデータ（ユーザーセンチメントや顧客フィードバックなど）の両方が重要な役割を担っています。

Product analytics shows you exactly how users are engaging with the product, on both the individual (visitor) and account level. Customer inactivity, low feature usage, poor adoption, or a decreasing Product Engagement Score (PES) could all signal that a customer isn’t happy or not seeing value from the product—and may therefore soon stop using it. Analytics can also tell you exactly where in the product journey users may be falling off or struggling to complete certain tasks. If enough users are struggling in the same area of your product, you might consider flagging it for the product team so that they can investigate further or make a few changes to improve the user experience.

Feedback—like feature requests, customer survey responses, or Net Promoter Score (NPS) submissions—gives you valuable insight into what your users really think about the product. Consistently negative NPS scores or feedback from users within a particular account (or from key decision makers within an account) could be early signals of a customer’s intent to churn. Similarly, if a broad swath of customers have requested a similar feature or update and ranked it as a high priority, you could assume that not addressing their suggestion might cause frustration and adversely affect their intent to renew. 

顧客の健全性を追跡および可視化する方法

Many product-led CS teams use the intersection of this quantitative and qualitative data to calculate a customer health score, which is a metric used to determine whether customers are healthy or at-risk. Deciding on a scoring system is a subjective process, and will vary from company to company. Regardless, it should help product and customer success teams reliably assess the likelihood that a customer will grow, renew flat, or churn.

Depending on your analytics platform’s capabilities, you may also be able to easily visualize retention using a retention chart. This visualization is a helpful way to monitor retention rates over time, and is particularly valuable following a launch—giving you insight into which features have staying power even after initial launch promotions have ended. Segmenting this data based on persona types, user tiers, or even annual recurring revenue (ARR) value creates greater predictability for CSMs. It’s also a great starting point to help CS teams understand the experiences of their best-performing cohorts of users so that those characteristics—and the activities that helped them get there, like onboarding or in-app guidance—can be replicated for other customers and users.

プロダクト主導になると、どのように拡大を牽引できるのでしょうか？

優れたCSチームは、プロダクトを活用してアップセルやクロスセル（拡大）の機会を促進しています。

Like retention, product analytics has a role to play here, too. CS teams can evaluate user behaviors and patterns to understand how their customers are using and moving through the product—then use tactics like in-app messaging to engage with them in the most impactful moments. For example, if a user continually navigates to an area of the app their organization isn’t yet entitled to, you might have a potential upsell opportunity on your hands. It’s the CSM’s role to determine whether the feature the user is trying to access could add value or help improve their existing workflows, then engage with the customer at the right moment to pitch a trial or sale.

アプリ内ガイドを使用して拡張を促進したり、更新を確保したりする方法の例をいくつかご紹介します。

• Use a tooltip to denote that a particular feature or area of your product is available with a higher subscription tier or for an additional fee
• プロダクトのプレミアム領域への関心を示す行動をしているユーザーを対象に、機能固有のアプリ内ガイドを提供する
• カレンダーツールとのインテグレーションを使用して、ユーザーが新しいプロダクトまたは新機能のリリース後にCSまたはアカウントチームに相談する時間を簡単にスケジュールできるようにする
• アプリ内ガイドをリリースして今後のアップデートについて顧客に通知し、可能であればプロダクト内で直接、簡単にアップデートできるようにする

アプリ内メッセージは、マルチチャネルの拡大アウトリーチ施策を補完するのにも非常に役立ちます。多くの場合、顧客を成功に導くための最後のステップに用いられます。このプロダクト主導のアプローチは、顧客が利用できるオプションをプロダクト内で明確に表示することにより、顧客の契約内容の拡張手続きを容易にするだけではありません。プレミアム機能や新しいプロダクトがコンテキストに沿って紹介されることで、そのプロダクトがユーザーにとって一番印象に残るものとなり、プレミアム機能を本気で検討する可能性が高まるのです。

プロダクト主導の効果的なリテンションと拡大戦略の構築方法

顧客のリテンションと拡大は、CSチームだけの責任ではありません。しかし、顧客との第一の接点であるCSMは、顧客の更新や拡張の意思に影響を与え、そのプロセスを案内するのに適した立場にあります。ここでは、CSチームが押さえておくべきポイントをご紹介します。

プロダクト体験に焦点を当てる

The best way to build a loyal customer base and drive retention is to focus on delivering a great product experience. While many aspects of product performance and functionality are out of the CS team’s hands, CSMs are responsible for helping customers maximize the value of their investments and use the product to its fullest potential. By working with their customers to identify the right products or features to solve their challenges, CSMs ensure good product-market fit and help customers reach their desired outcomes—all activities that impact retention. They can also help the product team continually improve the product by submitting feedback on behalf of their customers and ensuring customer-submitted feedback is collected and considered for future product iterations.

顧客との循環システムを構築する

Collecting customer feedback and sharing it with the right teams throughout the organization is a key ingredient in building a great product. Closing the loop with customers after they submit feature requests builds loyalty and encourages them to continue sharing their feedback—creating a continuous loop of improvement and iteration. It’s also an opportunity for CSMs to thank their customers for their ideas, demonstrate that the company cares about what users think, and reinforce that the customer experience is a core driver of product innovation. All of this builds affinity and sends a signal to the customer that they can trust the company to keep up with their evolving needs.

カスタマーマーケティングとの連携

CSMは、カスタマーマーケティングチームと協力して、アウトリーチの重複を避けながら、ジャーニー全体を通じて顧客を惹きつけるための適切な戦略を特定する必要があります。契約期間の終了が近づいたら、マーケティングチームが特定の顧客に向けた更新キャンペーンを実施するチャンスです。マーケティングチームと協力することで、CSMは自分たち独自のパーソナライズされた有機的な方法を見つけることができます。カスタマーマーケティングチームは、CS組織の継続的なアウトリーチ活動の拡大を支援する貴重なリソースにもなり得ます。たとえば、顧客向けニュースレターやアプリ内のお知らせで会社が取り組んでいることを顧客に知らせ、イベントに顧客を招待したりフィードバックを求めたりしてロイヤルティを高め、ユーザーをコミュニティに招待してエンゲージメントを高めることができます。

アプリ内ガイドによる摩擦の軽減

A simple—yet often overlooked—retention strategy is making it as easy as possible for your customers to get the information they need about your product or get in touch with the CS team when they have questions. Making your customers hunt for information breeds distrust and frustration. Conversely, bringing these resources inside your product can help reduce friction and simplify the support, renewal, and expansion processes. You can also use in-app guides to give users the option to start a free trial or take a tour, directly within your product. This makes what they’re seeing feel more relevant and timely, and therefore increases their likelihood of renewing or expanding their contract.

メッセージを具体的かつ的を絞ったものにする

Being as targeted and specific as possible helps ensure your retention and expansion efforts will resonate. Think about it from the customer’s perspective: They don’t want to be on the receiving end of a message promoting a feature that’s not in alignment with their needs—especially at the point of renewal. Leverage product analytics, segmentation, and targeting to ensure the guides and calls to action you deliver in-app are relevant to specific customers and personalized for the actions you want them to take.