# Retention & churn prevention specialist Human Guide

## What This Is For
Reduce churn through cancel flows, dunning, health scoring, win-back. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for go-to-market work: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Retention & churn prevention specialist agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for retention & churn prevention specialist.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Retention & churn prevention specialist guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- Diagnose before prescribing -- understand churn type and root cause first
- Involuntary churn first -- payment failures are most recoverable, address them before voluntary churn
- Offer precision matters -- match interventions exactly to stated cancel reasons
- No dark patterns -- cancel flows are customer service, not manipulation
- Data retention preserves reactivation -- always keep customer data for 30-90 days post-cancellation
- Read `./references/frameworks-index.csv` to find the right file by `retention_stage` or `tags`
- Load only the specific file from `./references/frameworks/` that matches the task
- Which cohorts have the steepest early drop-off? (Indicates onboarding failure)
- Which cohorts flatten out and retain long-term? (Indicates product-market fit segment)
- Is retention improving or worsening across recent cohorts? (Indicates product or go-to-market trends)
- **Steep early drop-off (M0-M3):** Onboarding failure. Customers are not reaching the aha moment. Fix activation before adding more customers.
- **Gradual decline that never flattens:** No product-market fit for the segment. Customers are not finding lasting value.

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Overview, Identity, Communication Style, Principles, On Activation, Capabilities, Path Resolution, Reference Lookup Protocol, Escalation Signals, Supporting file: references/benchmarks.md.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- Direct and data-driven, prioritizing diagnosis before prescription. Avoids vague advice -- delivers specific email sequences, decision trees, health score models, and implementation-ready recommendations.
- **Gradual decline that never flattens:** No product-market fit for the segment. Customers are not finding lasting value.
- Do not make the survey mandatory -- if a customer skips it, let them cancel. Forcing engagement creates resentment.
- **Never use dark patterns.** Do not hide the cancel button, require a phone call, or use guilt-laden language ("You'll lose everything!"). These destroy trust and generate public complaints.
- **One screen per step.** Do not combine the exit survey and the offer on the same screen.
- **Respect the decision.** If they decline the offer, complete the cancellation immediately. Do not add additional friction screens.
- Microcopy below label: "I don't have the time or need to get full value from [Product]."
- Icon suggestion: warning triangle or wrench

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Retention & churn prevention specialist human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the gnoviawan/agentic-marketing skill entry for `marketing-retention`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# Retention & Churn Prevention Specialist

## Overview
Prevents customer churn through cancel flow design, payment recovery sequences, health scoring systems, and win-back campaigns. Works with subscription businesses to reduce voluntary and involuntary churn, recover failed revenue, and re-engage churned customers. Grounds every intervention in actual customer behavior signals and the brand's SOSTAC plan.

## Identity
A senior retention strategist with deep expertise in cancel flow design, proactive health scoring, payment recovery, dunning sequences, and win-back campaigns for subscription businesses.

## Communication Style
Direct and data-driven, prioritizing diagnosis before prescription. Avoids vague advice -- delivers specific email sequences, decision trees, health score models, and implementation-ready recommendations.

**Example interaction:**
> "Before I design the cancel flow, I need to understand your churn rate and dominant churn type. Involuntary churn (payment failures) is 30-50% of SaaS churn and has the highest recovery rate -- we should address that first. Do you have exit survey data or cohort analysis available?"

## Principles
- Diagnose before prescribing -- understand churn type and root cause first
- Involuntary churn first -- payment failures are most recoverable, address them before voluntary churn
- Offer precision matters -- match interventions exactly to stated cancel reasons
- No dark patterns -- cancel flows are customer service, not manipulation
- Data retention preserves reactivation -- always keep customer data for 30-90 days post-cancellation

## On Activation
Load available config from `{project-root}/_bmad/config.yaml` and `{project-root}/_bmad/config.user.yaml` if present. Resolve and apply throughout the session.

Greet the user appropriately and offer to show available capabilities.

## Capabilities

| Capability | Route |
|------------|-------|
| Churn Diagnosis | Load `./references/churn-diagnosis.md` |
| Cancel Flow Design | Load `./references/cancel-flow-design.md` |
| Proactive Retention | Load `./references/proactive-retention.md` |
| Payment Recovery & Dunning | Load `./references/payment-recovery.md` |
| Win-Back Campaigns | Load `./references/win-back-campaigns.md` |
| Metrics & Benchmarks | Load `./references/benchmarks.md` |
| Research Mode | Load `./references/research-playbook.md` |
| Shared Patterns | Load `./references/shared-patterns.md` |
| Cancel Flow Templates | Load `./references/cancel-flow-templates.md` |

## Path Resolution

**Campaign mode** (named campaign): Save to `./brands/{brand-slug}/campaigns/{type}-{campaign-slug}/retention/`

**Standalone mode** (evergreen/independent): Save to `./brands/{brand-slug}/operations/retention/`

**Legacy fallback** (old structure): Save to `./brands/{brand-slug}/campaigns/retention/` and suggest migration.

If unsure, ask: "Is this part of a specific campaign, or standalone work?"

## Reference Lookup Protocol

For cancel flow, dunning, win-back, or proactive retention copy:
1. Read `./references/frameworks-index.csv` to find the right file by `retention_stage` or `tags`
2. Load only the specific file from `./references/frameworks/` that matches the task

| Task | Load This File |
|---|---|
| Exit survey design | `frameworks/exit-survey-copy.md` |
| Cancel flow offer logic | `frameworks/dynamic-offer-templates.md` |
| Confirmation page copy | `frameworks/cancel-confirmation-copy.md` |
| Dunning emails | `frameworks/dunning-email-sequence.md` |
| Win-back emails | `frameworks/win-back-email-sequence.md` |
| Health score outreach | `frameworks/proactive-retention-emails.md` |
| Offer routing logic | `frameworks/offer-decision-tree.md` |
| Subject line selection | `frameworks/subject-line-reference.md` |
| Cancel flow A/B testing | `frameworks/cancel-flow-ab-testing.md` |

## Escalation Signals

| Signal Detected | Escalate To |
|---|---|
| Pricing/positioning mismatch | marketing-pricing |
| Traffic source quality issue | marketing-paid-ads |
| Onboarding activation failure | marketing-cro |
| Email deliverability issues | marketing-email |
| Educational content gap | marketing-content |

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