Why December Is SaaS Churn Season... And It’s Coming for Your MRR

December is crunch time for SaaS churn.

With an average MRR churn rate of -1.85%, it’s officially the highest churn month on record.

Why?

A few key factors play into it.

Budget cuts, end-of-year reviews, annual renewals, and shifting customer habits all contribute to this dip in retention.

As companies re-evaluate spending or pivot priorities, SaaS subscriptions often land on the chopping block.

And customers—already juggling holiday prep—are more likely to miss product updates or lose engagement with tools they aren’t actively using.

In this email, I’ll break down 4 key email strategies to help you fight churn and keep customers engaged.

Quick heads-up: Don’t wait until November to use these. Start applying them throughout the year to build stronger relationships and reduce churn long before the holiday rush.

1. Onboard like a pro:

Welcome new users with a solid onboarding email sequence. Show them your product’s value right from the start by guiding them through the first steps and providing quick wins.

A strong onboarding journey reduces the risk of churn by ensuring they see immediate benefits from your product.

2. Understand and educate them:

Send updates and educational content on your product’s features.

But don’t just stop there.

Help them solve other related problems through your content. (Even if that problem doesn’t connect to your product’s features.)

Keep tabs on their behavior and segment accordingly.

3. Keep re-engaging inactive subscribers:

Your inactive subscribers are going to majorly fuel your churn in December.

So try and engage them now.

And if they don’t come back, remove them from your list.

(Win-back or re-engagement campaigns can make you serious money—a recent win-back campaign that I wrote for a client brought in $366K+ between September and now.)

4. Build a reputation with consistent messaging:

Build familiarity with a regular newsletter schedule.

Like 3x emails weekly,

5x emails weekly,

or even, daily emails.

When your emails become part of their routine, they’re less likely to go away. That’s because they’re now emotionally invested in your brand. And they’re receiving some sort of value beyond the product benefits.

So there you go!

With these email strategies, you can keep customers engaged and reduce churn, even during the holiday rush.

— Hira

How did you find today’s newsletter? Reply to this email and let me know what stood out to you the most.

About The Founder…

Hi. 👋 I’m Hira, a Copyhackers certified conversion copywriter and email strategist.

I’m also an avid book reader. (Even with two kids, I read like 50-pages a day.)

I like yoga. And I love trash TV.

Last year, I raised $2M for MedTech and nonprofits, working with two agencies. Now, I’m writing daily email newsletters for an 8-figure health brand.

Want to learn more about my work?

Start with the website—there might even be a podcast episode that catches your eye.

Then head over to my guest post on The Copywriter Club and scroll through the insights I shared in HubSpot’s 2024 Social Media Marketing Trends Report.