Targeted Saves and Multi-Channel Orchestration in Modern SaaS using Gainsight

By Peter Lyon, Chief Customer Officer & Mark Deegan, CEO – Wigmore IT

After leading more than 180 SaaS engagements across every growth stage and region, we’ve seen the common pitfalls firsthand: broken retention strategies, uncoordinated communications, and well-meaning teams working in silos. These aren’t issues of effort—they’re issues of orchestration.

This whitepaper captures lessons learned through Wigmore IT’s work helping SaaS companies transition from fragmented, reactive customer engagement to aligned, data-informed, and scalable success strategies.

The need is clear: targeted saves, governed multi-channel communication, and a shared definition of customer value across functions.

Let’s get into it.

The Retention Illusion 

Many SaaS companies claim to be customer-centric, yet their internal workflows and systems betray them.

• Health scores are misaligned with real-world outcomes.

• Renewal teams spend time on low-risk or unsalvageable accounts.

• Marketing, CS, and Support send messages that collide, contradict, or confuse.

In one example, a customer labeled as "red" in the health score renewed at a 90% rate—while many "green" accounts churned. This happens when metrics are built on sentiment, vanity data, or overcomplicated logic rather than signals that correlate with retention.

Worse still, these signals rarely inform customer communications. The result? Emails about new features landing on the same day as unresolved escalations. Or a nurture campaign triggering while a renewal is already in negotiation.

Supporting Gainsight Features:

• Custom Health Scorecards with product/persona segmentation

• Journey Orchestrator: Rules-based multi-channel campaigns

• Timeline: Unified activity logging for visibility

• Call to Action (CTA) prioritization based on risk and lifecycle stage

  
  

Why Targeted Saves Are Non-Negotiable 

Retention is about precision, not coverage. In an environment with thousands of renewals per year, only a small portion are truly “swing” accounts—those who could churn, but don’t have to.

The fix?

• Define and align around Minimum Customer Value (MCV)—the least amount of value a customer must experience to be considered retainable.

• Build health scores using composite indicators—product usage, sentiment, lifecycle stage—not just one-size-fits-all signals.

• Focus save efforts on movable middle segments—typically $2k–$50k ARR—where efficient human or digital intervention delivers ROI.

One organization improved its save rate from 38% to 70% in under six months by refining save targeting and tightening customer segmentation around lifecycle maturity and product adoption.

Supporting Gainsight Features:

• Renewal Center with segmentation and prioritization filters

• Risk CTAs with associated Playbooks for save motions

• Success Plan Templates aligned to lifecycle stage and MCV

• PX + CS Integration for unified behavior-based scoring

  
  

Multi-Channel Communication: Where It All Falls Apart

Email. In-app. Slack. Salesloft. Support. Legal. Every department has a message—and they often don’t know what the others are saying.

Without orchestration, we see this pattern time and again:

• Product sends a release note while Support is managing an active incident.

• Marketing triggers an upsell campaign as Finance escalates a payment issue.

• Renewals team initiates outreach during onboarding—when trust isn’t yet established.

  
  

Supporting Gainsight Features:

• Journey Orchestrator with PX data-driven triggers

• JO Email Assist + In-App Messaging

• Unified customer communication calendar

• Slack & Salesforce integrations for full visibility

  
  

The Solution: Governed Orchestration at Scale 

The key is not just to stop chaotic communications or chase every renewal—it's to focus the right resource on the right customer at the right time, using:

1. A robust MCV framework to define when a customer is actually in value.

2. Behavioral health scoring to anticipate churn risk earlier.

3. Governed Journey Orchestrator campaigns to eliminate noise and reinforce signal.

4. Clear operational handoffs to reduce internal duplication.

   
   

Supporting Gainsight Features:

• Scorecard 2.0 with automated rule evaluation

• Journey Orchestrator with lifecycle-mapped programs

• Playbooks for renewal and escalation workflows

• Real-time alerts and Slack notifications based on PX events

Final Word: From Friction to Focus 

Too many SaaS companies operate with well-meaning chaos. Fixing this isn’t about adding more dashboards or hiring more people—it’s about focus.

• Focus on customers who are savable.

• Focus your teams on actions that matter.

• Focus your tools on signals that correlate with outcomes.

  
  

When you align on what value really means, orchestrate around that value, and govern your engagement accordingly, retention becomes repeatable.

Supporting Gainsight Features:

• Executive Dashboards: Real-time visibility on saves and retention

• Gainsight Assist for Outlook: Bring CS into daily workflows

• Adoption Explorer for cohort trend monitoring

• Dashboard Filters for ICP, segment, and product-line reporting

Let’s move from friction to focus—together.