Reducing churn: how ActivePlatform helps retain cloud customers

Customer retention is a major challenge for cloud service resellers. With subscription-based business models, preventing churn is just as important as acquiring new customers. Losing a customer means not only losing immediate revenue but also missing out on long-term recurring income.

ActivePlatform provides a comprehensive set of tools to help cloud resellers improve customer retention through data analytics, automated renewal reminders, and personalized recommendations. By implementing proactive renewal strategies and offering seamless customer experiences, resellers can minimize churn and build long-lasting relationships.

In this article, we’ll explore the best practices for reducing churn and how ActivePlatform enables resellers to retain customers effectively.

Customer churn occurs when a subscriber cancels or fails to renew their cloud service. The main reasons for churn include:

• Lack of renewal visibility — sales managers may not have access to expiring licenses due to CRM issues, missing partner portal access, or lack of internal tracking. If an account manager leaves, their customers may go unmanaged, increasing churn risk.
• Billing issues — unexpected charges, confusing invoices, or failed payments.
• Service dissatisfaction — poor product fit, lack of perceived value, or inadequate customer support.
• Better offers from competitors — if customers find a more attractive deal elsewhere, they may switch providers.
• Lack of engagement — if customers don’t fully utilize their cloud services, they may see no reason to continue.
• Neglected small and mid-sized customers — sales teams often prioritize large accounts, while smaller customers may be overlooked, leading to lost renewals.

Addressing these issues proactively can significantly improve customer retention. Let’s see how ActivePlatform helps resellers achieve this.

One of the most effective ways to prevent churn is to ensure timely renewals. Many customers don’t renew simply because they forget or are unaware of their upcoming subscription renewal. ActivePlatform provides automated renewal reminders to notify both customers and their account managers in advance and encourage renewal.

How it works:

• Customizable notification schedules — set up multiple reminders.
• Personalized messaging — tailor messages based on product and customer type.
• Actionable links — include direct links to renew or modify subscriptions with just one click.

By keeping customers and account managers informed and making renewal effortless, resellers can reduce involuntary churn caused by expired subscriptions.

The diagram below shows one of the possible communication strategies regarding renewals that can be configured in ActivePlatform. It distinguishes between annual and monthly subscriptions with pre-pay and post-pay options. Annual plans begin notifications 20 days before expiration, whereas monthly plans start at 10 days. Multiple reminders are sent at decreasing intervals to ensure timely action.

While reminders help, the best way to prevent churn is automatic renewal. ActivePlatform allows resellers to enable auto-renewal by default, ensuring customers never experience service disruptions.

Benefits of auto-renewal:

• Seamless experience — customers continue using services without needing to take action.
• Higher retention rates — auto-renewal reduces the likelihood of forgetting or delaying renewals.
• Better financial stability — resellers can forecast revenue more accurately.

Customers can still opt out or adjust auto-renewal settings, giving them flexibility while keeping retention high.

A key reason for churn is that customers outgrow their current plan or feel they are paying for unused features. ActivePlatform helps resellers offer personalized recommendations based on customer needs.

How it works:

• Mid-term upgrade offers — suggest a better plan based on usage data (for example, upgrading from Microsoft 365 Basic to Business Premium).
• Add-on recommendations — promote complementary services like security add-ons, AI tools, or extra storage.

By aligning offers with customer needs, resellers can increase customer satisfaction and boost revenue per user.

Data-driven insights are crucial for identifying at-risk customers before they churn. ActivePlatform provides activity logs and reporting to help resellers take proactive action.

Key analytics features:

• Usage tracking — identify customers who haven’t been active and may be considering canceling.
• Billing history analysis — detect patterns of late payments or frequent downgrades.
• Churn risk scoring — use external analytics tools and AI-powered predictions to flag accounts at risk of leaving.

By leveraging these insights, resellers can contact customers early, offer incentives, or provide additional support to prevent cancellations.

Personalized support is a key retention strategy, not just for enterprise clients but for all customer segments. With ActivePlatform, resellers can ensure that no customer is overlooked by assigning dedicated account managers to monitor subscription health and engagement.

Additionally, resellers can set up a team to track expiring subscriptions and unattended accounts using the Operator Control Panel. This allows them to:

• Identify customers without active managers — ensuring every account has oversight.
• Monitor upcoming renewals — proactively engage with customers before their subscriptions expire.
• Prevent churn due to staff turnover — if a sales manager leaves, their accounts don’t go unmanaged.

By leveraging these capabilities, resellers can maintain strong customer relationships across all segments, improving retention and reducing lost revenue.

Reducing churn requires a proactive approach, and ActivePlatform equips resellers with the tools to improve retention rates through:

✅ Automated renewal reminders to keep customers informed.
✅ Auto-renewal features for seamless subscription continuity.
✅ Personalized recommendations to increase engagement.
✅ Advanced analytics to identify and prevent churn risks.
✅ Personal account managers and monitoring for all customers.

By implementing these strategies, resellers can minimize customer losses, maximize revenue, and build long-term client relationships.

Want to see how ActivePlatform can help your business reduce churn and grow your cloud revenue?

👉 Book a demo today!

ActivePlatform is a full-service automated cloud brokering solution for cloud service providers and internal IT hubs that makes it easier to manage and control the cloud delivery and profitability. ActivePlatform unites vendors, providers, developers, and resellers into a single ecosystem for buying, selling, and managing cloud services. With its open vendor integration framework, ActivePlatform creates a vibrant catalog of cloud services ultimately helping businesses gain access to the services they need to thrive.

ActivePlatform enables SaaS, PaaS, IaaS aggregation, delivery, and monetization, provides simplified administration through central management, and enables critical visibility into resellers and cloud services consumption and usage. The platform has implementations with distributors, cloud solution providers, and telecom operators. ActivePlatform is headquartered in Europe.