Feedback loops

I just unsubscribed from a music streaming service and was surprised that they didn’t ask any follow-up questions about why I chose to stop paying them.

…they were, rather humorously, quick to send an e-mail letting me know that I could reactivate my account and start paying them again with just one click! (“Hey, we know you left. Not sure why. But we made it easy to come back!”)

What a huge missed opportunity.

Without asking why users leave in the first place, it’s tough to know what the common reasons for their departure are.

And without knowing with some confidence what these core reasons are, they can’t effectively address the pain points that might prevent users from leaving in the future.

Asking for feedback is not a panacea that solves all problems, but it seems like an obvious thing to do to at least partially plug their revenue leak.

The same principle applies to anything upon which you hope to improve:

Build a channel where the people you are serving can easily give you feedback and consult it often.

You can’t fix problems that you don’t know exist.