Creating a Technical Customer Health Score System

The Real Story Behind Customer Health Scoring

When Baremetrics founder Josh Pigford noticed customers leaving without warning, he knew something had to change. His team built a simple health score system tracking just three metrics: login frequency, feature usage, and payment history. This basic approach helped them reduce churn by 30% in the first quarter by identifying at-risk customers before they cancelled.

Why Customer Health Scores Matter

A customer health score helps you predict which customers might leave before they actually do. Think of it like a check engine light for your SaaS business. When you see warning signs early, you can fix issues before customers leave.

Building Your Health Score System

1. Pick Your Key Metrics

Start with these basic metrics:

• Login frequency and patterns - How often do customers use your product?
• Feature adoption rate - Which key features are they using?
• Support ticket volume and sentiment - Are they having problems?
• Payment history - Are they paying on time?

2. Set Up Data Collection

You don't need fancy tools to start. Many indie hackers begin with product usage analytics tracked in a simple spreadsheet. As you grow, you can move to more sophisticated systems.

3. Create Your Scoring Model

Start simple with this framework:

• Assign 0-100 points for each metric
• Weight metrics based on importance
• Calculate a final score between 0-100

4. Set Up Alert Thresholds

Define score ranges that trigger different actions:

• 75-100: Healthy - Keep monitoring
• 50-74: At risk - Need attention
• 0-49: Critical - Immediate action required

Taking Action on Health Scores

Your health score system should connect to your activity-based growth triggers. When scores drop, have clear steps:

• Send automated check-in emails
• Schedule customer success calls
• Offer training sessions
• Provide feature tutorials

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Don't make these mistakes:

• Tracking too many metrics at once
• Ignoring qualitative feedback
• Waiting too long to act on low scores
• Not adjusting your model based on results

Starting Small and Scaling Up

Begin with manual tracking of just 2-3 key metrics for your most important customers. Use this to build your minimum viable process before adding automation.

Extra Tip: The Weekly Health Check

Set aside 30 minutes every Monday to review your lowest-scoring customers. This simple habit helps catch problems early and shows customers you care about their success.

Start With Documentation

Create a simple system to document every support interaction. Use minimum viable processes to ensure consistency without overwhelming your team.

Build Support-Development Bridges

Set up regular meetings between support and development teams. Share support insights using customized dashboards to keep everyone aligned.

Test Solutions Quickly

Use feature flags to test solutions with small user groups before full rollout. This reduces risk and accelerates learning.

Measure Impact

Track how your solutions affect support volume and user satisfaction. Implement customer health scoring to measure improvement.

Start With Documentation

Create a simple system to document every support interaction. Use minimum viable processes to ensure consistency without overwhelming your team.

Build Support-Development Bridges

Set up regular meetings between support and development teams. Share support insights using customized dashboards to keep everyone aligned.

Test Solutions Quickly

Use feature flags to test solutions with small user groups before full rollout. This reduces risk and accelerates learning.

Measure Impact

Track how your solutions affect support volume and user satisfaction. Implement customer health scoring to measure improvement.