"Our user adoption/engagement is low, and we don't know why people aren't sticking around"
Problem: Poor User Retention and Unclear Reasons for Churn
I’ve seen it firsthand: massive enterprises scrambling to manage churn, hopping on weekly calls to dissect the issue. And let me tell you, some of the reasons I’ve heard for churn are wildly out there—ranging from mildly absurd to utterly ludicrous. Things like “industry trends” or “competitor pricing” that supposedly only impacted your company. Sure. 🙄
Even funnier, “why did we gain customers this week?” Suggestion: Tax Refunds. 🤡
Why Don’t You Know Why People Aren’t Sticking Around?
Honestly, the fact that many product or marketing teams can’t answer this definitively is downright terrifying. Shall we break down why that might be?
Misalignment with Customer Needs: Your product doesn’t address the real problems your customers face, often due to a lack of solid research or understanding of desired outcomes.
Poor Product-Market Fit: Over-engineered or under-delivering features miss the mark for your audience.
Friction in Onboarding: A clunky, confusing onboarding process turns users away before they experience any value.
Weak Value Proposition: Your messaging fails to make the case for why your product matters—or why it’s better than the alternatives.
Subpar UX: The product is unintuitive or demands too much effort to use effectively.
No Post-Onboarding Engagement: Without strategies to keep customers hooked, they drift away.
Ignoring Customer Feedback: Users feel unheard when feedback loops don’t exist or aren’t acted upon.
Limited Support: When help isn’t easy to find, dissatisfaction rises.
Pricing Issues: Your price doesn’t align with perceived value, or free models fail to convert into paying customers.
Misguided Marketing: Campaigns attract the wrong audience or overemphasize features over benefits.
Notice something? This isn’t all about UX. It’s never just about UX. And it’s never just about any one department or competency.
Here’s the kicker: Is everyone in your organization operating from the same insights playbook?
If your answer isn’t an emphatic YES, we’ve got a problem.
No single team—whether it’s marketing, product, UX, or sales—can carry the weight of solving churn alone. The solution requires your entire organization to work in harmony, which, funnily enough, is why it’s called an organization.
Customer Science > Data Science
Let me be blunt: most organizations don’t understand customer science. We’re stuck in the rearview mirror of data science, which focuses on analyzing the past. While data science is critical for certain things, it’s not what drives breakthrough innovations, which fundamentally solve for adoption and churn because…um, ‘breakthrough’.
Customer science, on the other hand, is forward-looking. It’s not just about knowing what users did, where they did it, or when. It’s about understanding how they struggle to achieve what they’re trying to do—and meeting those needs.
Oh, and spoiler alert: Needs evolve. New solutions enter the market, priorities shift, and situational factors change (and emerge). While the foundational JTBD (Jobs-to-be-Done) framework remains stable, the context around it—like metrics and priorities—doesn’t.
The companies that thrive are the ones that adapt to these shifts, using evidence-based insights to inform everything from product design to messaging.
So, What’s the Solution?
If you want to tackle churn effectively, you need customer science. That means truly understanding where your audience struggles today so you can build tomorrow’s winning solutions. And you can’t do it alone. It requires a cross-functional effort, driven by real, actionable insights.
I outline the approach in my post, How to Create a Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) Product Innovation Strategy. It’s a bit of a long read, but it’s far simpler (and more effective) than the smoke-and-mirrors some organizations use to appear like they’re innovating when they’re really just…well, let’s call it “treading water.”
Need Help? Let’s Talk.
If your organization is struggling with retention or customer insights, I’m here to help. I know how painful it can be to pour money into research that misses the mark. My approach makes it easier to iterate on the front end before committing big dollars to large-scale surveys (though I can’t control survey costs…yet).
Whether it’s strategy, insights, or helping your teams align, I’ll tailor my service to your needs. And here’s the best part: the first call is free.
Why not book one? Let’s solve this together.
Mike Boysen - www.pjtbd.com
Why fail fast when you can succeed the first time?
Book an appointment: https://pjtbd.com/book-mike
Grab my JTBD Masterclass: https://mc.zeropivot.us/s/mc-1
Get the whole customer management thing done on a single platform:
https://pjtbd.com/tech-stack