A tactical guide for high-retention onboarding
by: Muiz Thomas
Churn doesn’t start when someone hits “cancel.” It starts as soon as they log in.
If that first experience feels confusing… or worse, irrelevant, you’ve already lost them. It doesn’t matter how good your features are if the value isn’t obvious from the get-go.
That’s why I created the STAY Framework. Not as another acronym to dress up a slide deck, but as a practical, boots-on-the-ground way to identify and address the root causes of churn, before they become problems.
| Section | Key Points |
|---|---|
| S - Segment | Understand the specific use case and urgency of each user, beyond basic CRM data. Map their needs, pressure points, and goals. |
| T - Tailor | Customise onboarding based on user’s workflow. Guide users to solve their specific problem, not just show features. |
| A - Accelerate | Speed up the time it takes for users to see tangible value from the product. Aim for clear “Aha” moments early on. |
| Y - Yield | Capture feedback and data to continually improve the experience for future cohorts. Use insights to adjust onboarding and retention strategies. |
I call it STAY because that's what we want customers to do. Stay. Not leave (revolutionary, I know).
And that only happens when their experience is aligned with their goals from the start.
S - Segment by use case and urgency
T - Tailor the experience to fit their workflow
A - Accelerate time to first value
Y - Yield insights to improve the next cohort
Each part solves a different piece of the churn puzzle. Here’s how it works.
This might sound painfully obvious, but it’s worth repeating: most SaaS teams segment by what's easy to pull from a CRM (company size, role, industry) instead of what actually drives behavior: the specific problem a user is trying to solve, and how urgently they need it solved.
A CMO at a 50-person startup scrambling to prove ROI before the next board meeting is in a very different headspace than a CMO at a 500-person company doing routine quarterly optimisation. Same title on the surface. Completely different needs, pace, and onboarding context.