Strategies for Engaging Customers in Contract Renewal Meetings

Sarah Hein · 2025-01-06T10:40:03.746Z

Our customer success managers report that it is very hard to get ahold of customers when it comes time to renew the contract. What do you do to get customers in a renewal meeting in advance and (maybe) get them excited about renewing.

11 comments

· Sorted by Oldest

Jonas Sickler
·
I believe most of our contracts auto renew and have an opt-out period. That puts the ball in the customers’ court for opting out rather than having to chase folks down to get a renewal.
Shannon Howard
·
UserGems sends a survey 3 months before renewal. It's not anonymous, but they offer a $25 UberEats gift card to complete the survey. The email comes from the Director of CS (not the CSM). Attaching a screenshot of the request & the survey. I asked the Director of CS how helpful these are. This is what he said: "Yes they have helped quite a bit! We do them 3x per year for each customer account. 100 days in, mid-way, 120 days to renewal. Helps us keep a pulse on changing objectives/renewal sentiment outside of recurring calls/EBRs. I've found some people are more brutally honest in a survey than on a call which is exactly what we want. We've uncovered lots of unknown challenges (UG related or not) first this way :)"
Sarah Hein
·
Shannon Howard - While that is interesting, the CS team is telling me that the lack of communication isn't because people are not satisfied (our retention rate is nearlly 100%) but getting people to respond in a timely manor is difficult.
👍1
Sarah Hein
·
From my own experience, I manage our marketing tech stack and it is hard for me to imagine ignoring a renewal notice.
Sarah Hein
·
One theory I have is that they may be approaching the customer too early. (they told me that they reach out nearly 3 months before the renewal date). At that point it is not urgent at all.
Evan Huck
·
We don't do this at UserEvidence b/c it's not a big issue for us, but in the past I've done early renewal discounts (e.g. if you commit 3+ months ahead of the renewal date you get a slight discount) Also have those renewal/QBR calls (pre)scheduled at the beginning of the engagement when excitement is high. IE just send the invites for all 3 QBRs (the last QBR being the renewal conversation) at the beginning of the year. Multi-channel and multi-persona engagement is huge too - if you can't get the exec sponsor having an engagement champion you can ping in slack/txt/linkedin etc you can lean on to help wrangle the execs. 3-months isn't too early btw - you should be talking about value throughout the engagement, and we start taking temperature (both verbally and thru a UE survey) at 6-months out (CS team does initial draft forecast 6-mos out) - b/c then you actually have time to action the at-risk accounts
💡1
Ryan Gutierrez, Community Agility Specialist
·
This question is wonderfully framed! What would you personally want to see from to make renewal an easy yes? From a high level what do you hear most from customers in this ask? Thanks for the inspiration to include!
Lauren Stefano
·
Shannon Howard Thanks for sharing such a detailed example. Even if the issue isn't about overall satisfaction/value, it could help to shed some light on the bigger context the customer is working in and why they might not be prioritizing the renewal conversation
💯2
Lauren Turner
·
Lauren Stefano It’s possible they’re having internal budget discussions and don’t know if they can renew yet. Are there any new features or products set to launch in the next few months? If so, this could be a great time to offer a sneak preview or include something as an early renewal reward.
💯1
Christine Newman
·
Are they reaching out to them at other times throughout the year? And I see you have a near 100% renewal rate…what’s the specific issue you are trying to solve for with a renewal meeting?
Sarah Miller
·
With retention that high and the problem just slow contract signing, I wonder if the comms/asks aren't clear or if there's something about the renewal process itself that feels onerous. I'd look into that. Maybe add it to the agenda of a regularly schedule/recurring call, if a call is even necessary. And follow up with a "lovely talking to you, here's a link to docusign the renewal. We look forward to working with you in [X timeframe] and beyond!"
👍1

Strategies for Engaging Customers in Contract Renewal Meetings | CMAweekly Customer Marketing and Advocacy Slack

Jonas Sickler
·
I believe most of our contracts auto renew and have an opt-out period. That puts the ball in the customers’ court for opting out rather than having to chase folks down to get a renewal.
Shannon Howard
·
UserGems sends a survey 3 months before renewal. It's not anonymous, but they offer a $25 UberEats gift card to complete the survey. The email comes from the Director of CS (not the CSM). Attaching a screenshot of the request & the survey. I asked the Director of CS how helpful these are. This is what he said: "Yes they have helped quite a bit! We do them 3x per year for each customer account. 100 days in, mid-way, 120 days to renewal. Helps us keep a pulse on changing objectives/renewal sentiment outside of recurring calls/EBRs. I've found some people are more brutally honest in a survey than on a call which is exactly what we want. We've uncovered lots of unknown challenges (UG related or not) first this way :)"
Sarah Hein
·
Shannon Howard - While that is interesting, the CS team is telling me that the lack of communication isn't because people are not satisfied (our retention rate is nearlly 100%) but getting people to respond in a timely manor is difficult.
👍1
Sarah Hein
·
From my own experience, I manage our marketing tech stack and it is hard for me to imagine ignoring a renewal notice.
Sarah Hein
·
One theory I have is that they may be approaching the customer too early. (they told me that they reach out nearly 3 months before the renewal date). At that point it is not urgent at all.
Evan Huck
·
We don't do this at UserEvidence b/c it's not a big issue for us, but in the past I've done early renewal discounts (e.g. if you commit 3+ months ahead of the renewal date you get a slight discount) Also have those renewal/QBR calls (pre)scheduled at the beginning of the engagement when excitement is high. IE just send the invites for all 3 QBRs (the last QBR being the renewal conversation) at the beginning of the year. Multi-channel and multi-persona engagement is huge too - if you can't get the exec sponsor having an engagement champion you can ping in slack/txt/linkedin etc you can lean on to help wrangle the execs. 3-months isn't too early btw - you should be talking about value throughout the engagement, and we start taking temperature (both verbally and thru a UE survey) at 6-months out (CS team does initial draft forecast 6-mos out) - b/c then you actually have time to action the at-risk accounts
💡1
Ryan Gutierrez, Community Agility Specialist
·
This question is wonderfully framed! What would you personally want to see from to make renewal an easy yes? From a high level what do you hear most from customers in this ask? Thanks for the inspiration to include!
Lauren Stefano
·
Shannon Howard Thanks for sharing such a detailed example. Even if the issue isn't about overall satisfaction/value, it could help to shed some light on the bigger context the customer is working in and why they might not be prioritizing the renewal conversation
💯2
Lauren Turner
·
Lauren Stefano It’s possible they’re having internal budget discussions and don’t know if they can renew yet. Are there any new features or products set to launch in the next few months? If so, this could be a great time to offer a sneak preview or include something as an early renewal reward.
💯1
Christine Newman
·
Are they reaching out to them at other times throughout the year? And I see you have a near 100% renewal rate…what’s the specific issue you are trying to solve for with a renewal meeting?
Sarah Miller
·
With retention that high and the problem just slow contract signing, I wonder if the comms/asks aren't clear or if there's something about the renewal process itself that feels onerous. I'd look into that. Maybe add it to the agenda of a regularly schedule/recurring call, if a call is even necessary. And follow up with a "lovely talking to you, here's a link to docusign the renewal. We look forward to working with you in [X timeframe] and beyond!"
👍1