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Before They Churn: A brutal playbook to fix post-signup churn & turn ghost users into retained ones using data & not vibes
1. What the heck is a UX Leak (and why it’s making your users leave your app)?
As already said, this simple thing is making you losing users.
UX leaks.
Firstly, what are they?
In short, they are the invisible friction points in your product that quietly push users out the door after signup.
Most SaaS teams don’t even know they have them, because leaks hide behind “normal” metrics and “meh” feedback.
Like other features, users or the SaaS team can’t see these UX leaks openly.
So, nobody will report them to anyone, as it is not even visible.
But, those invisible leaks are the ones which cause the users to churn.
The Dangerous part
If you see your Day 7 churn rate, and think they churned at Day 7...
You are absolutely wrong.
UX leaks have made them churn before that.
They just didn’t formally leave yet. They got confused, overwhelmed, or underwhelmed.
They then decided that your SaaS isn’t worth it.
And if you don’t patch these leaks, all your acquisition spend?
Wasted.
The 7 Types of UX Leaks
There are 7 types of UX leaks which cause users to churn.
I have made it as a framework called C.H.U.R.N.E.D:
C (Confusing them):
Your users are at a particular screen.
They have finished the work for which they came to that particular screen.
Then, what?
Moments like this confuse users and ultimately cause them to churn. Maybe not now, but soon.
Some examples are generic dashboards, multiple features screaming for attention, etc.
H (High pressure start):
If someone asks you for your accurate address, phone number, flat name, company name etc. all within moments of them meeting you, will you give the details?
No right?
This is what I see many email marketing SaaS do within the first moments their users enter the app.
I even spoke about this to an email marketing SaaS founder about this.
Many SaaS products need information to do the actual work with the SaaS.
But, that doesn't mean that you should ask everything upfront.
U (Unmet Expectations):
It simply happens when you overpromise on your marketing, but underdeliver on your product.
It is one of the fastest way to churn your users.
But, it may also happen when you hide the core features from user’s sight.
R (Random Dead Ends):
User clicks a feature or button.
Like the “save” button.
But, the SaaS product shows nothing.
The user gets confused on what to do.
At some point, they'll think they saved hours of work. But they didn’t. They just forgot to hit save.
Disaster.
You wasted their work, and they will reward you with:
Churn.
N (No perceived value):
Simply say, they don’t feel your SaaS is worth it.
Even if it may be worth it, you are not showing it properly.
You are not giving them clear success metrics, or any change in state or outcome after setup.
Just generic “Congrats” messages which serve nobody.
They churned because your product failed to prove itself.
E (Excessive Guidance)
You know what is worse than no guidance?
Excessive Guidance.
Many products are better when users explore on their own.
Such products need little to somewhat guidance.
But still, I’ve seen some SaaS having 10-step tours, Modals over Modals.
D (Dead, Empty States)
Imagine you go to a place.
They promised you so much about the place.
But, once you visit the place, you see nothing.
Literally nothing.
That’s what so many SaaS products are doing.
I am talking about empty dashboards, “You have no data yet” messages, no content previews or defaults, etc.
These little things are just driving your users away.
Now that you have seen all these types of UX leaks, I can see the fear in your eyes.
You are probably wondering how to find them. I will help you.
That’s what the next chapter covers.
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