Zero Defections: Quality Comes to Services

Research & Insights

Thursday, December 18, 2025

Frederick F. Reichheld and W. Earl Sasser, Jr.

September-October 1990

This HBR article stresses the value of reducing customer churn as a core measure of service quality and a driver of profit.

"As a customer’s relationship with the company lengthens, profits rise. And not just a little. Companies can boost profits by almost 100% by retaining just 5% more of their customers."

It argues that tracking and acting on why customers leave not only improves quality but also boosts profitability by extending customer relationships.

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Conceptualising ‘Value for the Customer’: An Attributional, Structural and Dispositional Analysis
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March 2017
Enhancing Customer Engagement Through Consciousness
Grewal, Roggeveen, Sisodia, Nordfält
February 2020
An Academic Perspective on Customer Success Management
Hochstein, Rangarajan, Mehta, Kocher
September 2003
Conceptualising ‘Value for the Customer’: An Attributional, Structural and Dispositional Analysis
Woodall
August 2020
Customer Success Management: The next evolution in customer management practice?
Hilton, Hajihashemi, Henderson, Palmatier
September-October 1990
Zero Defections: Quality Comes to Services
Frederick F. Reichheld and W. Earl Sasser, Jr.
November 2021
The value of getting personalization right, or wrong, is multiplying
McKinsey & Company

March 2017
Enhancing Customer Engagement Through Consciousness
Grewal, Roggeveen, Sisodia, Nordfält
February 2020
An Academic Perspective on Customer Success Management
Hochstein, Rangarajan, Mehta, Kocher
September 2003
Conceptualising ‘Value for the Customer’: An Attributional, Structural and Dispositional Analysis
Woodall
August 2020
Customer Success Management: The next evolution in customer management practice?
Hilton, Hajihashemi, Henderson, Palmatier
September-October 1990
Zero Defections: Quality Comes to Services
Frederick F. Reichheld and W. Earl Sasser, Jr.
November 2021
The value of getting personalization right, or wrong, is multiplying
McKinsey & Company

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For teams that already detect customer risk and expect consistent, high-quality action to follow.

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Structured risk playbooks

Automated escalations

Cross-team tasking

Approval-based actions

Executive touchpoints

Central risk history

Playbook versioning

Audit-ready activity log

Renewal-aware timing

DEMO

For teams that already detect customer risk and expect consistent, high-quality action to follow.

Book a Demo.

Structured risk playbooks

Automated escalations

Cross-team tasking

Approval-based actions

Executive touchpoints

Central risk history

Playbook versioning

Audit-ready activity log

Renewal-aware timing

DEMO

For teams that already detect customer risk and expect consistent, high-quality action to follow.

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