Lost account research is one answer to this question. It won’t bring those lost accounts back, but it can help you improve processes, remove pain points and better emphasise your USPs to current clients. All of which will help you drive retention, loyalty and customer satisfaction.
Why is lost account research important?
Replacing customers lost to 'churn' is expensive and time consuming. Lost account research helps minimise this burden on your business by identifying learnings from lost accounts to help you improve customer management long-term.
Lost accounts are generally a more substantial concern in a business to business context, where revenue is generated by hundreds of businesses, rather than hundreds of thousands of individuals. However, the principles apply wherever customers subscribe or repeat-purchase.
Lost account research is particularly challenging because respondents are by definition lapsed or disengaged, but we know it can be a worthwhile effort, and we can help you reap the rewards.
Our approach to lost account research
We start with your sector and context: We immerse ourselves in your work to ensure how your business is organised, how and when you interact with your customers. We draw on institutional knowledge to generate hypotheses, but we aren’t limited to what you already think you know.
We provide reassurance to respondents: Lost account research is particularly challenging because respondents are by-definition lapsed or disengaged. As a well-established, employee-owned business, respondents can trust that we are independent from their former supplier and will act with honesty and impartiality. We establish our legitimacy and independence from our first interaction with respondents, to ensure we maximise participation and honest response.
We offer engaging approaches: Our qualitative methods are moderated by skilled and experienced researchers, meaning they are easy and enjoyable for participants – we often get feedback to say how much they enjoyed taking part. We have an experienced business to business telephone team who deliver similarly enjoyable and efficient CATI surveys. And our online survey platform has extensive functionality to ensure that questionnaires are intuitive and engaging.
We meet people where they are: Our goal is to understand the whole person, not just why they hit 'unsubscribe'. By exploring the context of these decisions, we gain a fuller picture of the decision-making process; but we also create a more relaxed and enjoyable interaction for the respondent. We aren’t pressuring your former customers to justify their decision to leave you, we’re ensuring you understand them so you can do better in the future. This low-pressure, people-focused approach generates better insight.
Purposely delivered and mindfully executed
We believe that your lost account research should be just as carefully crafted as your onboarding procedure or retention programmes. It should be consistent with the high-quality of service that you deliver, and it is crucial that the findings and implications are fed back and actioned to help you improve going forward.
Our bespoke approach to research design, collaborative delivery model and commitment to experienced directors on every project means you can be confident that your lost account research will be constructive, impactful, and brand-aligned.
To discuss how we can help you examine and understand your lost accounts, and generate the insights and key learnings you need to optimise and improve retention, contact us today.
"The team at DJS Research did a great job of responding to ever-changing demands on the challenging project we delivered together. They provided exemplar client care and delivered high quality outputs."
"DJS Research provide excellent service, great communication and high-quality deliverables in terms of research analysis."
"Rebecca and her team were brilliant to work with to deliver the first phase of our visitor research. She was always happy to go the extra mile to explain the process and outputs to an inexperienced client regarding our sensitive subject matter. The reports delivered are thorough and the clear graphic representations of the data make it them very useful tools for our ongoing work. We look forward to the next phase of work next year."
"This was our first time using an external agency to manage our market research. We were very impressed with the level of service and professionalism, which ultimately ensured DJS Research delivered exactly to our project objectives."
"Thank you so much for everything that you have done. I've been so impressed with all your hard work and professionalism and most importantly, the great survey that you delivered. We could not have chosen a better supplier, it has felt like a true partnership."
"I would recommend DJS Research to other agencies who require an accurate, timely and comprehensive piece of research. The staff were approachable, helpful and professional at all times, and they provided the outcomes required."
"We found DJS Research to be professional and able to turn around any requests very quickly. Overall the quality of information was good, costings were reasonably priced and the staff were friendly and approachable."
"We used DJS Research to complete a survey of employer skill needs after a very poor experience with another survey company. From the start we were impressed by their professionalism and high level of attention to detail. They were able to complete the survey on time and to high standards. Regular telephone and email updates kept us informed of their progress and ensured that any issues were dealt with at an early stage. We would recommend them to other companies looking to undertake similar work and plan to use them again in the future."
"The team at DJS Research understood and adopted our research proposal with ease. The team worked efficiently and proactively to deliver some meaningful results for us. We would definitely work with them in the future for any research need!"
"We have been working with DJS Research for 18 months on our customer satisfaction tracker and they have consistently delivered quality customer feedback. They are approachable, professional and extremely knowledgeable. We appreciate their experience and expertise so much so that we enlisted their help on additional research projects last year."
"The DJS Research team were excellent from the first point of contact all the way through to delivery of the results. Our brief was fully understood and the survey designed appropriately – their expertise enabled us to measure outcomes which we had initially not considered. A fantastic service throughout – we look forward to our next project with DJS Research."
"Very happy with the service provided by DJS Research. They are easy to work with and happy to be flexible during the project. The project that we worked on with them included a lot of our senior stakeholders and external stakeholders. These relationships are hugely important and DJS Research have worked extremely well with these stakeholders to ensure that the interviews were done professionally and to great quality."
We build small, director-led, teams of sector experts who are with you from brief to debrief. As an employee-owned company, every one of us is invested in delivering quality, value, and long-term impact.
From agile testing to deep-dive strategic studies, we design research to meet your specific objectives. The agility of our in-house operations team and strength of our UK-wide recruiter network enable seamless execution at scale.
Our sector-focused teams have decades of experience understanding audiences and the complexities of the markets in which our clients operate. Working collaboratively we deliver actionable insight which drives positive change.
We build small, director-led, teams of sector experts who are with you from brief to debrief. As an employee-owned company, every one of us is invested in delivering quality, value, and long-term impact.
From agile testing to deep-dive strategic studies, we design research to meet your specific objectives. The agility of our in-house operations team and strength of our UK-wide recruiter network enable seamless execution at scale.
Our sector-focused teams have decades of experience understanding audiences and the complexities of the markets in which our clients operate. Working collaboratively we deliver actionable insight which drives positive change.
Contact us to today to discuss the opportunities presented by lost account research and discover how we can become a valuable extension of your team.
Contact us
Contact us to today to discuss the opportunities presented by lost account research and discover how we can become a valuable extension of your team.
Contact us 
