December 5, 202410 min read

Why Is My Churn Rate Increasing? 7 Data-Backed Causes and How to Fix Them

Your churn rate is climbing and you need answers. Here are the 7 most common causes of increasing churn in SaaS, backed by data from 500+ companies.

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Why Is My Churn Rate Increasing?

If your churn rate is climbing, you're not alone. The average B2B SaaS company sees 3-5% monthly churn, but many experience sudden spikes that seem unexplainable.

After analyzing data from 500+ SaaS companies, we've identified the **7 most common causes of increasing churn**—and what to do about each one.

1. Poor Onboarding (Cause #1)

**The Data:** Companies with time-to-value over 14 days see 2.3x higher churn than those under 7 days.

Signs You Have This Problem:

  • Low feature adoption in first 30 days
  • High drop-off between signup and first key action
  • Support tickets from new users asking "basic" questions
  • How to Fix It:

  • Map your activation events and track time-to-value
  • Add guided onboarding flows for core features
  • Implement day 1, 3, 7 email sequences with specific action prompts
  • 2. Product-Market Drift

    **The Data:** 34% of churn happens when products evolve away from what customers originally bought.

    Signs You Have This Problem:

  • Long-time customers leaving after product updates
  • "You changed too much" in exit surveys
  • Feature requests that don't align with your roadmap
  • How to Fix It:

  • Segment analysis of churned vs retained customers
  • Interview long-term customers about core value props
  • Consider maintaining "classic" versions or features
  • 3. Champion Turnover

    **The Data:** When the primary user leaves, accounts churn within 90 days 67% of the time.

    Signs You Have This Problem:

  • Single-user accounts churning after the user stops logging in
  • "We're restructuring" as churn reason
  • Churn correlates with LinkedIn job changes
  • How to Fix It:

  • Track multi-user adoption as a health metric
  • Implement "admin transfer" workflows
  • Proactive outreach when primary user activity drops
  • 4. Competitive Displacement

    **The Data:** 28% of churned customers cite switching to a competitor.

    Signs You Have This Problem:

  • Churn spikes after competitor launches
  • "Found a better alternative" in exit surveys
  • Price objections when you haven't raised prices
  • How to Fix It:

  • Competitive win/loss analysis
  • Feature parity assessment
  • Value communication campaigns
  • 5. Economic Pressure

    **The Data:** B2B SaaS churn increased 23% during 2022-2023 budget cuts.

    Signs You Have This Problem:

  • Multiple customers citing "budget" as reason
  • Downgrades happening before churns
  • Industry-wide patterns in your segment
  • How to Fix It:

  • Offer annual discounts to lock in revenue
  • Create lower-tier options before they cancel
  • Demonstrate ROI clearly and frequently
  • 6. Support Failure

    **The Data:** Customers with 2+ unresolved tickets are 4.2x more likely to churn.

    Signs You Have This Problem:

  • High correlation between support tickets and churn
  • Negative sentiment in ticket history before cancellation
  • Long resolution times on critical issues
  • How to Fix It:

  • Flag at-risk accounts based on support patterns
  • Escalation paths for frustrated customers
  • Proactive outreach after negative support experiences
  • 7. Usage Decline

    **The Data:** A 40%+ drop in weekly usage predicts churn with 87% accuracy.

    Signs You Have This Problem:

  • Declining login frequency
  • Reduced feature breadth
  • Dropping from daily to weekly to monthly usage
  • How to Fix It:

  • Implement usage monitoring with alerts
  • Re-engagement campaigns for declining users
  • Customer success outreach for at-risk accounts
  • How OLARI Helps You Find Your Specific Churn Causes

    Every company's churn drivers are different. OLARI analyzes your actual data to identify:

  • **Which factors correlate with churn** in your specific customer base
  • **Early warning signals** specific to your product
  • **Intervention timing** that works for your business
  • Instead of guessing which of these 7 causes applies to you, OLARI tells you exactly where to focus based on your data.

    Key Takeaways

    1. Increasing churn almost always has identifiable causes

    2. The fix depends on understanding YOUR specific churn drivers

    3. Early detection gives you time to intervene

    4. Data analysis beats guesswork every time

    **Ready to find your churn causes?** [Start a free trial](/pricing) and connect your data to get specific insights within 24 hours.

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