Transforming Retention through Human-centered Design
Role
Director, Strategy &
Customer Experience
Customer Experience
Company
Better Place Forests
Despite record-breaking sales, Better Place Forests faced a significant challenge. In less than 5 years, 60% of customers had canceled their purchase.
Better Place Forests offers an alternative to traditional cemeteries for final arrangements. The service allows individuals to secure the right to have their ashes spread at a memorial tree within a protected forest, akin to purchasing a plot in a cemetery.
This approach not only embodies a more sustainable choice—eliminating the use of embalming chemicals and the waste associated with traditional caskets—but also provides a meaningful, designated space for loved ones to visit for generations to come. Better Place Forests operates with a fully remote model, managing ten locations across the United States.
This approach not only embodies a more sustainable choice—eliminating the use of embalming chemicals and the waste associated with traditional caskets—but also provides a meaningful, designated space for loved ones to visit for generations to come. Better Place Forests operates with a fully remote model, managing ten locations across the United States.
The Challenge
Cancelations were fluctuating dramatically from 10-20% each month. Leadership believed this primarily stemmed from issues related to Customer Care and Forest Experience, since they occur after purchase. This created a critical blind spot in how the business assessed customer relationships. Cancelations may occur post-purchase, but they are often the culmination of friction across the experience. A new vision of a customer-centric strategy was needed.
THE PROJECT FOCUS
How might we reduce cancellations to 10% or less in the next 90 days?
THE PROCESS
Viewed from a broader perspective, cancellations reveal a more significant issue of customer retention—and a valuable opportunity. I reframed this challenge as a matter of customer loyalty and advocacy, rather than merely focusing on reducing cancellations. To shift the organizational mindset, I introduced the concept of "Revenue Stability", defining it as a comprehensive approach to enhancing retention, fostering loyalty, and strengthening brand advocacy among customers and loved ones (Full Project Brief).
This was a crucial initial step. Despite high cancellation rates, we seldom treated them as a unified priority. Often, high cancellations were attributed to economic factors or isolated incidents, rather than exploring the underlying cross-functional conditions that could be triggering cancelations both upstream and downstream.
This was a crucial initial step. Despite high cancellation rates, we seldom treated them as a unified priority. Often, high cancellations were attributed to economic factors or isolated incidents, rather than exploring the underlying cross-functional conditions that could be triggering cancelations both upstream and downstream.
The IMPACT
Utilizing human-centered artifacts, such as a Service Blueprint, allowed us to address complex cancellation drivers with a unified strategy of interventions, both upstream and downstream. This approach underscores the value of operating from a shared understanding of the current experience, rather than solely focusing on isolated metrics. Such alignment is crucial for effectively enhancing and scaling intricate systems as a remote team.
The Revenue Stability initiative transformed the organization's approach to cultivating relationships with customers and their families. A sample of the interventions that were implemented are represented below. By employing a human-centered strategy, we achieved an average cancellation rate of 8.2% per month within 90 days of the program launch (Quarter End Report) – a 7% reduction per month compared to the previous quarter.
The Revenue Stability initiative transformed the organization's approach to cultivating relationships with customers and their families. A sample of the interventions that were implemented are represented below. By employing a human-centered strategy, we achieved an average cancellation rate of 8.2% per month within 90 days of the program launch (Quarter End Report) – a 7% reduction per month compared to the previous quarter.
