How Xactly Uses Win-Loss Data to Reduce Churn

After trying to gather useful customer feedback through surveys—and seeing underwhelming results—Xactly’s customer success team partnered with Clozd to perform win-loss interviews for both new and churned clients.

We tried to get information on our own, but sometimes customers are more closed in terms of what they’ll share with us. So we thought using a third party could help uncover some details they just weren’t sharing with us—and we found that partnering with Clozd really helped them to be more open and transparent.”

Kathy Hassett | VP of Customer Success & Renewals

Their response rate and the quality of feedback increased drastically, and Xactly’s team had the idea to expand their program to include “stay” interviews to explore and assess the needs of all their current customers. As a result, they’ve been able to identify previously unknown issues and develop custom plans to boost customer loyalty and retention.

Expanding their win-loss program

“We let their experience guide the conversation.”

That’s what Nancy White, vice president of customer success at Xactly, said when she was asked about the process behind their win-loss analysis program—which has evolved over the past few years as they strive to meet their customers’ consistently changing needs.

Before they partnered with Clozd, Xactly’s customer success team had been using surveys to gather customer feedback, but the results—particularly for churned clients—were disappointing.

“Our response rate was really low on those surveys,” said Kathy Hassett, Xactly’s vice president of customer success and renewals. “If they did respond, it was very surface level, so we weren’t able to really glean any good information. In most cases, they didn’t respond at all. We certainly had more success when we started using Clozd.”

With Clozd, they utilize in-depth interviews primarily at the beginning and end of their customers’ journeys—first to understand the reasons they’d chosen to sign with Xactly, and then in an attempt to find out exactly why those customers had chosen to leave.

Those win-loss and churn interviews continue to deliver valuable data.

They also helped Xactly’s team identify a promising opportunity to use the same type of in-depth, discovery-focused interviews to actively connect with each of their existing customers—with the goal to prevent them from churning.

Uncovering hidden problems

The result was an internal initiative that focused on customer health, awareness, and retention.

“We thought it would be great to look at our customer base as a whole, and we figured that there were probably a number of customers out there that were at-risk, and maybe we weren’t aware yet,” Kathy said. “But even if they weren’t at-risk, we thought that we could gain a lot of good, valuable information by talking with these customers and doing what we were calling ‘stay’ interviews.”

These tailored “stay” interviews were in-depth and adaptable, with questions aiming to connect with and understand the unique objectives and experiences of each customer.

“With the win-loss interviews that we do typically, the customer is a newer customer,” Nancy said. “And so they’ve only had interactions with a very limited number of departments and people at the organization.

What’s great about the stay interviews is that we’re able to cover a broader set of topics.”

These topics would generally include:

• ​What’s going well?
• ​What’s not going well?
• ​What are some areas for improvement?
• ​How can we ensure that we retain those customers?
• ​Are they currently thinking of renewing with us, or are they maybe on the fence?
• ​Are there some out there that are already looking at other options that we weren’t aware of?

They also asked questions about their experience interacting with various teams—sales, customer success, support, professional services—as well as their thoughts about Xactly’s pricing model.

The results from these interviews have been overwhelmingly positive.

We specifically reach out to customers who have provided feedback, and we’ll say, ‘Based on the information you provided for the interview, we want to meet with you. And we want to bring in the departments you have concerns with so we can work together on a get-well plan or action plan to improve your experience.’ I think our following up shows them that their experience and feedback are important to us, and that we’re going to act on it.”

Nancy White | VP of Customer Success

Xactly has been able to connect with their customers on a completely different level. Instead of being reactive to issues that created friction—and even rendered some of their customer relationships unsalvageable—they’ve been proactive in uncovering problems before they have a chance to fester.

“There have been a number of these stay interviews that have helped to highlight areas we weren’t really aware of,” Kathy said. “And we’ve been able to very quickly pivot and change our approach to make sure that we’re able to go back and address those areas.”

By asking questions that are more specific, they’ve gotten answers that are more detailed—and feedback that’s more actionable.

Additionally, by engaging their customers as partners and helping them achieve their key business objectives, Kathy and her team ensure that their customers feel valued—and continue to realize the value of their investment in Xactly year after year.

“One outcome that I wasn’t necessarily anticipating is the goodwill we’ve seen from our customers,” Kathy said. “We’re partnering with Clozd and investing in this area, and it shows our customers that we really care about them and want them to be successful—and that we want to retain them. And I feel like they’re feeling the love.”