If you’re running customer success, you know the value of a well-timed heads-up. Whether it’s a customer about to churn or an account suddenly going quiet, you can’t fix what you don’t see coming. That’s where alert notifications in Churnzero come in. But let’s be real: too many alerts and your team tunes them out. Too few, and you’re flying blind. This guide is for CS leaders and admins who want to strike the right balance—using Churnzero alerts to actually help, not just add noise.
Why Bother With Alerts?
Let’s get something out of the way: alerts aren’t magic. They don't “save” customers by themselves. But they do flag patterns you’d miss otherwise—like a power user who’s suddenly gone dark, or a renewal coming up with no recent activity.
When you set up smart alerts, you:
- Spot churn risks early, before they escalate
- Nudge your team to follow up at the right time
- Avoid dropping the ball on renewals and upsells
But if you just flip on every default alert, you’ll end up with a flood of noise. The goal: fewer, smarter alerts that actually get read and acted on.
Step 1: Decide What Actually Deserves an Alert
Before you touch settings, get clear on what’s worth alerting about. Here’s what’s usually useful:
- Big drops in usage: If a previously active customer stops logging in or using key features.
- Negative feedback or NPS scores: If someone gives you a 6 or below, you want to know fast.
- Renewals or contract milestones: Flag when a renewal’s coming up and there’s been no recent contact.
- Health score changes: If your internal health score drops sharply.
- Support tickets: Lots of tickets, or a critical issue unresolved for too long.
What doesn’t help? Alerts for every login, every little change, or things your team already tracks elsewhere. If you wouldn’t take action on it, don’t set an alert for it.
Pro tip: Ask your CSMs what they actually want to be notified about—not what you think they should care about.
Step 2: Map Out Who Should Get What
One of the biggest mistakes: sending every alert to everyone. You’ll just annoy people and train them to ignore everything.
Instead, consider:
- CSMs: Get alerts for their assigned accounts only.
- Team leads: Maybe get aggregated or higher-level alerts (like “3 accounts with NPS below 6 this week”).
- Executives: Only the big stuff, like a flagship customer at risk.
Churnzero lets you target alerts by role, account owner, or even territory. Use this, or you’ll regret it.
Step 3: Build Your Alerts in Churnzero
Here’s how to actually set up useful, actionable alerts.
3.1: Log in and Navigate to Alerts
- Go to the “Admin” section in Churnzero.
- Look for “Alerts & Notifications” (the name may change, but you’ll find it under admin tools).
- Here’s where you see all existing alerts and can create new ones.
3.2: Create a New Alert
- Click “Create Alert.”
- Choose the trigger—this could be:
- A drop in usage (e.g. “Last 7 days activity decreased by 50%”)
- A low NPS score submission
- A health score change
- A support ticket condition (if you’ve integrated support tools)
- Define the audience: CSM, manager, or custom group.
Pro tip: Write a clear subject line. “ACTION NEEDED: Usage Down 50% for [Account]” beats “Account Alert.”
3.3: Set Delivery Channels
Churnzero lets you send alerts by:
- Email: Good for important stuff, but don’t overdo it.
- In-app notification: Less disruptive, but easy to miss if your team doesn’t live in Churnzero.
- Slack/MS Teams: Only if your team already uses these for work alerts. Otherwise, skip it.
Don’t turn on every channel for every alert—it gets old fast.
3.4: Add Context
If your alert just says “Usage dropped,” it’s not that helpful. Include:
- The account name and owner
- Key metrics (what’s changed, by how much, over what time)
- A quick link to the account in Churnzero
This saves your team time and makes it more likely they’ll act.
Step 4: Test and Tune (Seriously, Don’t Skip This)
Here’s where most teams go wrong: they turn on a bunch of alerts and hope for the best.
Instead:
- Test with a small group: Roll out new alerts to a few CSMs first. See what’s useful, what’s annoying.
- Review after a week: Ask, “Which alerts did you actually pay attention to? Which did you ignore?”
- Tweak the thresholds: Maybe 25% drop in usage is too sensitive, or NPS 7 is too high. Adjust.
- Kill bad alerts: If nobody acts on it, turn it off.
Remember, it’s better to miss a few low-priority signals than to drown your team in noise.
Step 5: Keep Alerts Useful Over Time
Your business changes, and so should your alerts. Every quarter or so:
- Review which alerts led to actual action (and which didn’t).
- Check if any alerts have gotten stale or irrelevant.
- Ask your team for feedback—do they trust the alerts, or just ignore them?
Don’t be afraid to delete alerts that don’t pull their weight.
Pro tip: Use Churnzero’s reporting to see which alerts get clicked or acted on. If the numbers are low, that’s a red flag.
What Works, What Doesn’t, and What to Ignore
What works:
- Tight triggers that flag real risk, not just “activity down a bit.”
- Targeted alerts to the right people.
- Context in every alert (what, who, why it matters).
What doesn’t:
- Blanket alerts to your whole team.
- Vague alerts with no next step.
- “Set it and forget it”—alerts need upkeep.
What to ignore:
- Default alerts you never review.
- Alerts for metrics that always fluctuate (like minor daily logins).
- Anything your team already tracks in another tool.
Keep It Simple and Iterate
The point of Churnzero alerts isn’t to impress anyone with dashboards—it’s to catch problems before they blow up. Start with a handful of well-chosen alerts. Tune them until they work for your team. Kill what doesn’t help. And remember: less is almost always more when it comes to notifications. If your team trusts the alerts, you’re doing it right.