How Teamwork fixed high churn with automated customer health tracking

A few years ago, Teamwork (B2B project management SaaS) experienced very high churn rates—an alarming number of customers cancelling or failing to renew. Leadership was caught off guard by how many supposedly satisfied users were quietly leaving.

The small Customer Success team was stretched thin, yet they believed things were under control until a wave of cancellations proved otherwise. Churn was high enough to noticeably slow Teamwork's ARR growth quarter over quarter.

The problem: Flying blind with manual tracking

Teamwork's customer health tracking was entirely manual, relying on:

Spreadsheets updated infrequently
CRM notes scattered across accounts
No real-time visibility into product usage
No automated health scoring

In hindsight, all the "warning signs" were there:

Declining logins
Inactive accounts
Unaddressed support tickets
Low engagement with emails

But these signals lived in disparate tools and were reviewed infrequently. By the time the CS team realized a customer was disengaging, the cancellation email had already arrived.

Teamwork had been "flying blind" with gut-feel health scores, which led to surprise churn events from clients they thought were doing fine.

The impact: Growth stalled

High churn began to stunt Teamwork's growth:

Revenue erosion - New sales were being erased by losses of existing customers
ARR plateau - Hard to scale ARR when churn offsets new revenue
Internal panic - Team had to scramble in "fire-fighting" mode whenever a big account left
Investor concerns - It's tough to instill confidence when retention metrics are shaky

Teamwork's leadership realized that without fixing churn, their expansion (and funding prospects) would stall.

The solution: Automated customer health tracking

Teamwork decided to implement automated customer health tracking after concluding that spreadsheets weren't sufficient to manage and minimize churn.

What changed

Automated health scores - Real-time health scoring based on usage, support, and engagement data
Usage alerts - Automated alerts for declining logins, inactive accounts, and low engagement
Unified view - All customer data in one place instead of scattered across tools
Prioritization - CSMs could finally prioritize at-risk accounts before it was too late

The transformation

With better visibility, Teamwork's CSMs could:

See which accounts were at risk in real-time
Prioritize outreach to customers showing warning signs
Move from reactive to proactive account management
Focus on prevention instead of firefighting

The results

Over time, Teamwork achieved:

Reduced churn rates - Churn fell as the team moved from reactive to proactive
Improved renewal rates - Better retention through early intervention
Scalable process - Automated tracking allowed small CS team to manage more accounts
Growth resumed - ARR growth accelerated as churn was brought under control

Lessons learned

1. Manual tracking doesn't scale

Spreadsheets and CRM notes can't keep up with hundreds of accounts. Teamwork learned that automated health scoring is essential for identifying at-risk customers before they churn.

2. Warning signs are there—if you're looking

All the signals were present (declining logins, inactive accounts, unaddressed tickets), but they lived in disparate tools and weren't reviewed frequently enough. Automated alerts solve this problem.

3. Reactive approach leads to surprise churn

By the time Teamwork realized a customer was disengaging, it was often too late. Proactive outreach based on automated alerts prevents churn before it happens.

4. Technology enables scalability

A small CS team can't manually track hundreds of accounts. Automated customer success platforms allow teams to scale without adding headcount.

How modern customer success solves this

If Teamwork had access to modern customer success tools from the start, they could have:

Real-time health scoring - Automated health scores (0-100) updated hourly based on product usage events, not manual spreadsheets
Early warning alerts - Get notified immediately when health scores drop or accounts become inactive
Unified dashboard - All customer health data in one place, not scattered across spreadsheets and CRM notes
AI-powered recommendations - Specific actions: who to contact, what to say, when to act

FirstDistro's Customer Insights provides exactly these capabilities. With real-time health scoring (updated hourly), automated alerts for at-risk accounts, and AI-powered recommendations, you'll never fly blind like Teamwork did.

The bottom line

Teamwork's story highlights how a SaaS around ~$2M–$5M ARR nearly plateaued due to churn, until it invested in automated health tracking to predict and prevent unexpected cancellations.

The shift from manual spreadsheets to automated health scoring transformed Teamwork's customer success approach—and their growth trajectory.

Get started with Customer Insights to track customer health in real-time and prevent surprise churn, or view documentation to learn more.

Key takeaways

✅ Manual tracking doesn't scale - Spreadsheets can't keep up with hundreds of accounts

✅ Warning signs are there—if you're looking - Automated alerts surface issues before they become churn

✅ Reactive approach leads to surprise churn - Proactive outreach prevents cancellations

✅ Technology enables scalability - Automated platforms allow small teams to manage more accounts

✅ Results speak for themselves - Teamwork reduced churn and resumed growth after implementing automated tracking

Don't wait for a wave of cancellations. Implement automated customer health tracking now.

Frequently Asked Questions

What was Teamwork's main problem with customer health tracking?

Teamwork's customer health tracking was entirely manual, relying on spreadsheets and CRM notes. They lacked real-time visibility into product usage or engagement, and warning signs lived in disparate tools that were reviewed infrequently.

How did Teamwork fix their churn problem?

Teamwork implemented automated customer health tracking with real-time health scores and usage alerts. This allowed CSMs to prioritize at-risk accounts before it was too late and move from reactive to proactive account management.

What warning signs did Teamwork miss?

Teamwork missed warning signs like declining logins, inactive accounts, and unaddressed support tickets. These signals were present but lived in disparate tools and weren't reviewed frequently enough to prevent churn.

How can I prevent the same problem?

Implement automated health scoring with real-time updates and early warning alerts. FirstDistro's Customer Insights provides automated health scores (updated hourly), at-risk customer alerts, and AI-powered recommendations—so you'll never miss warning signs like Teamwork did.

What can I learn from Teamwork's experience?

Key lessons: (1) Manual tracking doesn't scale, (2) warning signs are there if you're looking, (3) reactive approach leads to surprise churn, and (4) technology enables scalability for small CS teams.