Use caseUnderstand switchers
Hear from people in the days after they move to you or away from you, and map what pushed them, what pulled them, what nearly stopped them and the habits they had to break.
A switch in either direction is the same decision seen from two sides, and hearing both shows which forces favor you and which work against you.
Pulse provides a link that goes into the cancellation confirmation and the welcome email, so people are invited in the days after they switch, while the trigger and the doubts are still sharp in memory.
Customers who came to you from a competitor and customers who left for one are heard in the same study, since each group shows a side of the decision the other never saw.
Each person walks from the first thought that something had to change, through looking around, to the day they committed, with the options they weighed and the moment the old provider lost them.
The world's most ambitious teams research with Pulse.
GrowwA switch happens when the case for moving outweighs the fear of it and the pull of habit, and a team can work on each of those.
Pulse groups what switchers said under the four forces, the push of the old situation, the pull of the new, the anxiety about moving and the habit of staying, each with the quotes that show it.
The triggers and pulls that bring customers over from rivals tell acquisition teams which moment to reach buyers in and which advantage to lead with, because that is what switchers themselves describe.
The doubts people had to get past, or that nearly stopped them, such as losing data or a contract penalty, show where reassurance in sales and onboarding would bring more of the hesitant across.
People who recently changed provider, in either direction, are the subject of switching research. It draws on the jobs-to-be-done view that customers hire a new solution when circumstances create a need for progress, and on the four forces model: the push of problems with the current situation and the pull of a new option drive change, while anxiety about the new and habits of the present hold it back. A switch happens when the first pair outweighs the second. Interviews reconstruct a recent switch as a timeline, from the first thought that something needed to change, through passive and active looking, to the decision and first use. Interviewing people who considered switching but stayed adds a third view, showing which anxieties and habits held them back. Recruiting recent switchers matters, since memories fade and turn into tidy explanations. Comparing people who switched to you with those who switched away shows which forces favor your offer and which work against it, and where to act.
Acquisition studies why people arrive; retention studies why they leave. Reading the same switcher interviews, both teams can see when the anxiety that nearly stopped an arrival is the one that finally drove a departure.
Loyalty questions invite people to describe the customer they think they are. The brief puts their last action first, a quote requested or a cancellation started and abandoned, before any question about preference, so the habit force is read from what they did.
A survey beside the interviews counts how many recent arrivals name each pull, such as a simpler price or a migration service, so an acquisition team asking for money to promote it can say how many switchers it moved.