Customer success: 5 metrics to track to avoid losing customers

Acquiring a customer costs 5-7× more than retaining one. Yet most SMEs don't monitor customer health. Result: they discover churn only at unpaid invoice. The 5 metrics that make the difference.

1. NPS (Net Promoter Score)

Question: "From 0-10, how likely would you recommend [company] to a colleague?"

• 9-10: Promoter
• 7-8: Passive
• 0-6: Detractor

NPS = % Promoter - % Detractor. Target: >50 excellent, 30-50 good, <30 needs improvement. Survey every 3-6 months.

2. CSAT (Customer Satisfaction)

Post-interaction survey: "How satisfied are you with the solution provided?" 1-5. Target: >4.0 average. Identifies specific problems immediately (vs general NPS).

3. Monthly churn rate

Customers lost in month / customers start of month. Target:

• B2C subscription: <5%/month
• B2B SaaS: <3%/month
• B2B service contract: <2%/month

4. Health score

0-100 score automatically calculated from signals: login frequency, feature usage, support tickets, payments. Example:

• Login <1/week: -20 points (risk)
• 0 support tickets in 60 days: +10 points (autonomous)
• Always on-time payment: +15 points

Below 50 = at-risk, customer success intervention.

5. Time-to-value (TTV)

Time from payment to first "perceived value" by customer. B2B target: <14 days. Faster TTV, higher retention.

Tools and setup

• Surveys: Typeform free, Tally free
• Health score: HubSpot Service, Vitally ($150+/month), or Google Sheets to start
• Churn tracking: your CRM
• NPS automation: Delighted, AskNicely

Monitoring these 5 metrics reduces churn 25-50% in 12 months. Setup included in Gamerbit complete packages.

Want to apply this to your SME?

If you'd like a concrete analysis of your situation, request the free audit from Gamerbit. In 48 hours we tell you exactly where you're losing leads, time or budget — no sales pitch.

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