Experience and Outcomes are all that matter.

Byadmin

Churn is a lagging indicator. By the time a customer cancels, the problem started months earlier, usually as low engagement or stalled adoption. If you’re reacting to churn risk at renewal time, you’re already behind.

The simplest formula for keeping customers I have been able to validate is below:

Retention = Experience + Outcomes(Adoption(Engagement))

Work with me here:

Engagement drives Adoption
Engaged customers use more features and use them more often.

Adoption drives Outcomes
Usage is the path to measurable value—time saved, revenue increased, risk reduced.

Outcomes drive Retention
Customers who realize tangible ROI renew. Those who don’t, churn.

Experience amplifies (or destroys) everything
Even customers achieving great outcomes will churn if the experience is painful. Responsive support, clear documentation, and low-friction workflows protect retention independently of product value.

Where Customer Success Fits

The primary job of a CS team is to increase engagement or adoption. The GTM teams mission is always to be additive to the customer experience.

You can’t manufacture outcomes directly. Those come from the product and the customer’s use case. But you can:

  • Identify the outcomes and remove friction to the engagement (onboarding, training, enablement) needed to hit them.
  • Identify adoption gaps and close them (usage campaigns, feature education)
  • Accelerate time-to-value by guiding customers to the high-impact features first
  • And more. CJM’s are good for mapping all of this out.

Keep it simple: Are they achieving the outcomes they hoped for? Are they enjoying the experience of working with you

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