Customer retention: Recipe for success in SaaS industries : Case study on leading B2B SaaS provider

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how changes to the business model of a leading SaaS solution provider by way of altering customer experiences could prevent further customer attrition and instead promote customer retention. This study also aims to clarify the root causes of customer attrition existing within the current customer journey and suggest efforts aimed at increasing customer retention. Method: The methodology used in this study is qualitative in the form of semi- structured interviews and has used a deductive approach to research. The approach has been conducted as interviews serving two perspectives: Internal and External. Internal perspective is comprised of interviews conducted with the case phenomena such as employees and managers, whilst the external perspective is comprised of customer insights. Both perspectives have been used to answer the main research questions, just as theoretical literature proposes it a necessity when analyzing customer experiences. Conclusion: The conclusion derived from this study suggests that despite all customers appreciating the product/service provided by The Corporation, customer dissatisfaction stems from activities later on in the customer experience. These activities are perceived as inefficient due to long lead-times when managing advanced software issues as well as perceived information asymmetry within different departments in The Corporation towards the customers. This has implications on the business model as it is directly related to the capture of value from customers later on in the customer journey. Business processes currently used to maintain and service customers represent both the main source of value for The Corporation as well as the root causes of customer dissatisfaction. Efforts aimed at preventing customer attrition and increasing customer retention involves more efficient advanced issue management either by contingency planning or re-allocation of resources to prevent long-lead times of issue management. Multiple main points of contact towards the customer and increased interdepartmental customer-centric communications within The Corporation would increase information symmetry as well as improve customer satisfaction, customer experience and finally and promote customer retention.