Retention isn't just about keeping customers—it's about removing every reason they'd ever want to leave.In this episode of Special Ops, Emma Rainville is joined by Shockwave’s retention tactician Tiago Richard to deliver a hard-hitting, operations-first breakdown on subscription retention. Whether you're scaling supplements, masterminds, SaaS tools or monthly memberships, this episode offers direct strategies that tackle both active and passive retention—and explains why refund prevention starts before your customer asks for one.Tiago walks through critical churn points (month 1, 3, 6, 12), refund psychology, how to align CS with retention KPIs, and what elite operators do to pre-convince their subscribers to stay. You'll also hear granular plays around pricing posture, incentive timing, and the community effect of visible cancellations.We cover:The difference between active vs. passive retention—and where each one fails Shockwave’s best practices for refund prevention that don’t involve discounting Tactical incentives at key churn markers (month 1, 3, 6, 12) Mastermind vs. supplement retention frameworks Why “usage” is the biggest predictor of churn—and how to design around it What makes annual subscription ops fundamentally different from monthlyTimestamps:(0:00) Introduction: retention starts after the sale(2:03) Active vs. passive retention—defined(5:30) Retaining masterminds vs. supplements(7:55) Milestone drop-offs: designing incentive triggers(9:15) Passive retention via community psychology(12:20) What to do when someone says “I want a refund”(14:40) Retention by habit-forming: 21-day logic(15:20) Why annual retention takes proactive ops(16:17) Outro & retention playbook dropSign up for the Visionary Vault to get Richard’s Retention Best Practices PDF and our operational retention checklist: https://specialopspodcast.com/visionary-vaultExplore Free Resources inside the Visionary Vault: https://specialopspodcast.com/visionary-vaultGet in Touch with Emma Rainville:YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@specialopspodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/emma_rainville512/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmarainvilleoperationsguruGet in Touch with Richard:Email:
[email protected]: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-parkin-55621ba9/Get in Touch with Tiago:Email:
[email protected]: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiago-sanguinetti/
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