Giving the customer a voice to reduce churn and bring objectivity to sales decisions

At Castalie, customer listening had become a strategic priority. In a context of growth, several weak signals — particularly a rise in churn at the beginning of the year — made it clear that the team needed to go beyond internal assumptions. The challenge was no longer just to collect feedback, but to truly understand what customers were saying, without filters or bias.

The adoption of Diffly marked a turning point in this approach. By giving customers a voice through a neutral third party, the team was able to openly address issues that had previously remained unspoken and rely on customer insights to drive the company forward.

“For me, Diffly is about addressing the elephant in the room, letting the customer’s voice be heard, and growing our company by following their recommendations.”

Bringing objectivity to losses to better understand churn and lost deals

Two major challenges quickly emerged: understanding customer churn and analyzing lost deals. In some cases, the reasons discussed internally — particularly pricing — were no longer sufficient to explain prospects’ decisions.

The involvement of a third party brought much-needed objectivity to the analysis, reducing the subjectivity inherent in internal feedback. This external perspective proved essential in uncovering what was really happening on the customer side.

“We needed more objectivity and less subjectivity from our teams. The third-party value was extremely important for us.”

The feedback collected sometimes surprised the teams, such as deals lost not because of price, but due to a lack of responsiveness: a competitor had simply sent their proposal within 48 hours. These insights, difficult to capture through a traditional CRM, were highly actionable.

Combining scale and depth through surveys and interviews

The combination of questionnaires and interviews proved to be a key success factor. Questionnaires generate volume, structure customer verbatim, and help identify clear categories that teams can prioritize. Interviews, on the other hand, provide deeper insights by exploring what lies behind a response or an ambiguous comment.

This dual approach allows teams to quickly move from weak signals to in-depth understanding, without adding unnecessary complexity to internal processes.

Cross-functional alignment through real-time data

All customer feedback is centralized in a shared, real-time dashboard. Each week, these insights are presented to the executive committee and then cascaded across teams in a fully cross-functional manner.

This rhythm makes it possible to validate certain initiatives, launch new ones, and align teams around shared priorities directly informed by customer feedback.

“Today, we have real-time customer feedback that we can share weekly with teams in a very structured and consistent way.”

More candid feedback thanks to a neutral third part

One of the most significant benefits of this approach lies in the quality of the conversations. The fact that customers are not speaking directly to their sales representative — whether they signed or not — fundamentally changes the nature of the exchange.

Customers are more open, feel less pressure, and share insights they likely would not have expressed otherwise. This level of candor makes it possible to identify improvement levers that teams would neither have the time nor the perspective to capture on their own.

A continuous improvement lever for sustainable performance

Beyond the tool itself, the approach implemented at Castalie is part of a broader continuous improvement mindset. Customer feedback informs both sales decisions and product roadmaps, while enabling teams to stay focused on what truly matters.

Monthly support and the ability to quickly activate feedback further strengthen the operational impact of the initiative. Today, the customer’s voice is fully embedded in Castalie’s strategic thinking and has become a structuring lever to drive growth in a more informed and sustainable way.