Industry insiders call this "Pinpoint Retention" (PPR) - the ability to detect and resolve customer service issues before they have a chance to become actual problems for the client. The ultimate goal of this specialised retention effort is to prevent customer frustration during the product learning curve that might lead some to cancel membership.
It is a new kind of retention effort that is a by-product of online software applications commonly referred to as "Software as a Service" (SaaS). These suddenly ubiquitous applications include some of the more recognizable names like eBay and Gmail, but there are hundreds of small competing applications out there too, which run the gamut of online services.
SaaS applications differ from client-side software in that there is no CD-ROM installation disk, and user data is stored online rather than on the user's computer. It is this difference that allows these small companies to develop PPR systems aimed squarely at customer satisfaction and retention.
