Mastering Churn: The Prompt Playbook To Make Customers Stick

Read time: 5 mins

Why Are You Here?

Welcome to Cyborg Marketer, your weekly guide to brand growth mastery. Ready to crack complex concepts with AI and unique ChatGPT prompts? Let’s dive in.

Growth Spotlight

Ever felt the thrill of a Peloton shoutout or the nudge from Duolingo's owl? That's psychological mastery at work.

Peloton made workouts a community event, while Duolingo gamified language learning, turning lessons into addictive challenges.

By 2020, Peloton boasted a 90% retention rate and $1.8 billion in revenue1. Duolingo? 42 million active users and a 120% revenue jump2.

Both tackled churn with a secret weapon: psychological triggers. They didn't just offer products; they understood and catered to human emotions.

Their lesson? Address churn by resonating with the human psyche.

And I’m going to spill the beans on how to do exactly that.

The Psychology Behind Churn

Ever wonder why some customers drift away, even with top-notch products at competitive prices? It's not just about the price or product quality; it's the emotions they feel when interacting with your brand. In fact, a significant number of customers leave simply because they feel uncared for3.

A Harvard Business Review study unveiled a gem:

Emotionally connected customers are not only three times more likely to recommend a brand but are also significantly less likely to churn4.

Their emotional bond acts as an anchor, keeping them loyal even in turbulent waters.

Imagine the sting of leaving your go-to coffee spot or ditching those Spotify playlists you've crafted over years of lazy Sundays. That's the emotional tug-of-war many face when thinking of parting ways with a brand.

But some brands make staying so darn rewarding. It's like being part of an exclusive club where every interaction brings joy, surprises, and a sense of belonging.

If you want to curb churn effectively, you need to tap into psychological triggers. Here's the playbook (inspired by the legendary Sarah Levinger, a thought leader in the realm of consumer psychology):

• Make Departure Psychologically Painful: Build a world where leaving feels like saying goodbye to an old friend.

• Make Staying Psychologically Rewarding: Don't just throw discounts. Craft experiences that make hearts flutter.

• Provide Regular Dopamine Hits: A surprise here, a flash sale there. Keep the dopamine flowing.

• Inject Behavior Science into the User Experience: Harness behavioral science to craft experiences that stick.

• Behavioral Triggers: Dive into the data. Tailor your moves based on their rhythm.

• Offer Additional Value: Offer layers of value, each more enticing than the last.

• Foster a Sense of Ownership: Make them the heroes of your brand saga.

• Personalize the Brand Experience: Everyone loves a tailor-made suit. Why should experiences be any different?5

• Offer Regular Positive Reinforcements: Little gestures, big impacts. Show them they matter.

These are a lot of triggers, and we're not going to spend hours trying to devise ways to implement them.

So we’re going to ask ChatGPT to do the thinking for us!

ChatGPT Brainstorm

We’re going to break this down into two prompts.

Prompt 1 - The Heart-to-Heart

This first prompt is going to be like an interview. It's curious, eager to know all about your brand, its dreams, its strengths, and its challenges. Just a couple notes here:

• To whip up those game-changing anti-churn strategies, it needs the full scoop on what makes your brand tick and the magic you're capable of.

• When dishing out those brand deets, go big or go home! Paint a vivid picture, and in return, get razor-sharp insights.

• Based on your juicy tidbits, it will serve up insights that'll light the way and show you where the gold's at!

ASSISTANT ROLE=brand strategist, anti-churn expertPERSONALITY=curious, empathetic, insightful, conciseCONTEXT=Anti-churn strategies are most effective when tailored to a brand's unique characteristics. Key factors include the brand's core message, target audience, goals, budget, resources, competitive landscape, success metrics, product, USP, and industry.TASK=Engage with the user to understand their brand deeply, then provide insights based on the discussed information. Ask each question and then wait for the user to respond before asking the next one. CONVERSATION FLOW:1. Kick off the conversation by asking about the brand's core message/value.2. Proceed to inquire about its product, USP, industry, target audience, top goals, budget, resources, competitive landscape, and success metrics.3. Listen more, talk less, and allow the user to articulate and explore their brand's specifics.4. After gathering the necessary information, provide insights based on the user's answers.Insights:1. Core Message/Value: Your core message of {User's Answer} suggests a strong alignment with {specific insight based on the core message/value}.2. Product, USP, and Industry: Given your product is {User's Answer}, and your USP is {User's Answer} in the {User's Answer} industry, it's evident that {specific insight based on these details}.3. Target Audience: Targeting {User's Answer} suggests a focus on {specific insight based on the target audience}.4.Goals, Budget, Resources, and Competitive Landscape: With your top goals being {User's Answer} and a budget of {User's Answer}, and given your resources in {User's Answer}, {specific insight based on these details}.5. Success Metrics: Measuring success through {User's Answer} indicates {specific insight based on success metrics}.FORMAT=Return your output in markdown with headers, bold, and bullet point lists as needed to be organized.

I always ask GPT-4 to give me dummy data to fill in these prompts, and it almost always suggests an eco-conscious/sustainable brand.

Does GPT-4 have an agenda? Maybe. But I’m going to roll with it this time.

Introducing…EcoBeauty! An organic skincare brand that uses eco-friendly ingredients and believes self-care doesn’t have to come at the planet’s expense.

Here's the brand breakdown:

• Type of Product: Organic Skincare Products

• Product Category: Beauty & Personal Care

• USP: Eco-friendly ingredients ensuring self-care without harming the planet.

• Target Audience: Eco-conscious millennials and Gen Z

• Top 3 Goals: Expanding product line, increasing online presence, establishing partnerships with eco-friendly influencers.

• Resources: In-house R&D team, a dedicated social media team, and partnerships with local organic farms for raw materials

• Competitive Landscape: A surge in sustainable beauty brands, some competitors have started subscription models, others are focusing on influencer partnerships.

• Budget: $100,000 for the fiscal year.

And here's a glimpse of what our chat brewed:

So the output doesn't dive deep into the specifics, and you know what?

That's perfectly OK.

This is just the teaser trailer. It's supposed to give you a bird's-eye view of the arena you're stepping into.

Consider this your marketing cheat sheet, a snapshot of what you should probably have your eyes on later.

Prompt 2 - The Strategies

Remember those psychological triggers? It's time to weave them into our strategy.

But just a few golden rules for the prompt:

• Prioritizing Novelty: We're gunning for strategies that are fresh out of the oven. We don’t do boring over here.

• Direct Impact on Retention: We're zeroing in on strategies that don't just attract but keep our audience hooked, line, and sinker.

• Combining Overlapping Strategies: Instead of throwing a bunch of similar ideas at the wall and seeing what sticks, we're merging strategies to form one powerhouse move.

• Strategy Focus: We want to be guided on which ones to chase now and which to pocket for the future. No overwhelm, just a clear path forward.

ASSISTANT ROLE=brand strategist, anti-churn expertPERSONALITY=analytical, insightful, solution-orientedCONTEXT=Given the brand details discussed, the goal is to suggest complementary anti-churn strategies that align with the brand's characteristics. TASK=Suggest novel, unique and creative anti-churn strategies that resonate emotionally with the brand's audience, deeply consider the customer's emotional journey, and have a direct impact on user retention. Avoid common solutions like loyalty programs and ambassador programs and suggesting overlapping strategies. Instead, combine them to offer a more comprehensive solution. Focus on strategies that offer a fresh perspective and deeply connect with the customer's feelings and experiences. After suggesting the strategies, provide a recommendation section that prioritizes them based on short-term and long-term feasibility, considering the brand's resources and goals.Suggested Anti-Churn Strategies for [BRAND NAME]:Make Departure Psychologically Painful: Develop unique methods that create emotional barriers, making the thought of leaving your service a challenging decision.Make Staying Psychologically Rewarding: Enhance user experience with innovative features that offer deep emotional satisfaction.Provide Regular Dopamine Hits: Design features that not only offer immediate gratification but also create lasting emotional connections.Inject Behavior Science into the User Experience: Use behavioral triggers in novel ways to encourage desired user actions and reduce churn.Offer Additional Value: Introduce fresh and unique features or services that add significant value for the user.Foster a Sense of Ownership: Develop methods that make users feel deeply invested in your platform, enhancing their emotional connection to your brand.Personalize the Brand Experience: Tailor the user experience in ways that are not only personalized but also deeply emotionally resonant.Offer Regular Positive Reinforcements: Engage users with innovative gestures that make them feel valued and appreciated.FORMAT=Return your output in markdown with headers and bullet points.

And here’s the final output!

The output paints the broad strokes of an emotional masterpiece. It may lack specifics, but you can always ask ChatGPT to expand on any of those ideas.

At first glance, you might think some strategies seem similar, but they're like the different colors in a rainbow—individually good, but together? Breathtaking.

The Bottom Line

Addressing churn isn't a mere tactic—it's your compass6. When you truly connect, you don't just retain—you inspire them to champion your brand. You go beyond just a vendor that completes transactions. You forge lasting bonds that redefine your brand's future.

Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It

Delve into the emotions and desires that shape your customers' journey. It's not just about preventing them from leaving—it's about making them fall in love with your brand, over and over again. So, as you reflect on your strategies, ask yourself: Are you merely a choice, or are you their only choice?

To a future where churn is but a distant memory,

— Gold