5 Signals Your Customers Are About to Churn (And How to Act on Them)
Churn rarely happens overnight. Before a customer cancels, there are usually weeks - sometimes months - of warning signs. The problem is that those signals are scattered across product usage, support tickets, engagement data, and conversations. CS teams that catch them early can often save the account; those that don’t find out when renewal comes due.
Here are five of the most predictive churn signals we see, with concrete thresholds and workflows. Then: what to do when each one fires.
1. Sustained drop in product usage
When logins or core feature usage decline for several weeks in a row, it’s one of the strongest leading indicators. In practice we treat “20%+ drop in login frequency or key feature use for two consecutive weeks” as a signal worth a dedicated outreach. The customer may have shifted priorities, lost a champion, or hit a blocker they never reported. Workflow: Before the next billing cycle, the CSM runs a usage report (or opens the account in a tool that surfaces trend), then does proactive outreach: what changed? Offer a usage review or training, and surface any adoption playbooks that might re-engage them.
With iQcadence, usage trend and health movement show on every account; when an account crosses the threshold you set (e.g. two weeks of decline), it surfaces in the alerts queue so the CSM doesn’t have to remember to check.
2. Support escalation or repeated issues
Multiple tickets, escalations, or the same issue recurring in a short window (e.g. 3+ tickets in 30 days, or 2 escalations) often means frustration is building. Even if each ticket is “resolved,” the experience can erode trust. Workflow: Flag the account for a health check. Have a senior CSM or manager do a call to understand the full picture and commit to a path forward - and follow up so they see progress. In iQcadence, support volume feeds into health and can trigger an alert so the account lands on the at-risk list without someone manually spotting it in the support tool.
3. Champion or key contact leaves
When the person who bought or champions the product leaves (you might learn via LinkedIn, email bounce, or account contact change), renewal risk goes up. The remaining stakeholders may have less attachment or product knowledge. Workflow: Identify new champions and expand the relationship: schedule a handoff meeting, share clear ROI and usage evidence, and make sure more than one contact knows how to get value from the product. No tool replaces this; the operational detail is to have a “champion left” playbook (e.g. add to weekly review, assign re-mapping task) so it doesn’t slip.
4. Contract or payment friction
Delayed signatures, payment issues, or requests to push renewal dates can indicate internal hesitation or budget pressure. Workflow: Don’t assume it’s purely procurement. Loop in the CSM to reinforce value and address any underlying concerns. Offer a short extension if it helps them get internal alignment, but use the time to demonstrate outcomes. Tracking renewal dates in one place (e.g. in iQcadence alongside health) means you see “renewal in 60 days but health just went yellow” and can act before the contract conversation.
5. Engagement goes silent
No replies to emails, no-show QBRs, or disengagement from customer communities often means you’re no longer top of mind - or they’re already mentally churned. A simple threshold: “No meaningful touchpoint in 45+ days and health not green.” Workflow: Try a different channel (e.g. phone or a different contact). Keep messages concise and value-focused. If you can’t re-engage, at least document the situation so renewal isn’t a surprise. Tools that surface “days since last contact” and health together make it easy to build a list of silent-at-risk accounts and assign outreach.
None of these signals guarantees churn - but each deserves a defined response. The teams that automate detection and tie it to playbooks (e.g. “when usage drops 20% for two weeks, assign outreach and add to at-risk review”) stop more churn before it happens. In iQcadence, these signals surface automatically in the account dashboard and alerts feed so you don’t have to cross-reference spreadsheets or support tools.
Read more from the blog · Book a demo to see how iQcadence surfaces these signals and triggers the right actions.