Customer research call guide

Churn interviews: recruiting plan and guide

What the data tells us

• The form can't be trusted. "Too expensive" is pre-selected and listed first, and roughly half of cancellers have it. Many of those cooked heavily or wrote free text about something else. Treat the selected reason as a lead, not an answer.
• Cancellers look like two groups, whatever they ticked.
• Fading: 3-5 skipped deliveries and 0-2 recipes cooked in 4 weeks. Their free text is mostly "piling up in the fridge", "too much food for two" and "no time", which is about quantity and routine. That fits none of the three exec theories directly.
• Still cooking: 0-1 skips and 6-12 recipes. Many of them ticked price, and almost all the delivery complainers sit here.
• Caveat: the retained-vs-churned stat (first-month cooking) isn't the same measure as the CSV (last 4 weeks), so I can't tell yet whether the fading group never built the habit or lost it. The calls should find out.

Six calls can't size anything. The aim is to find out what's really behind each pattern, so we can fix the form and then measure.

Who to recruit

Recruit a backup for each slot with a similar profile: S-8008, S-8090, S-8196, S-8153, S-8091 and S-8025. The Head of Ops' theory gets one slot because delivery complainers are few and look different from the rest.

Running the calls

• Pair each new interviewer with an experienced one. One leads and one takes notes, and they swap roles on the next call.
• New interviewers should lead calls 2 and 3, which are the least delicate.
• Spend 10 minutes after each call writing the cancellation story in three lines and noting which exec theory it supports, contradicts or ignores.

Interview guide (30 min)

Rules for new interviewers 1. Ask open questions and then stay quiet. Silence gets more than prompting. 2. Don't mention price, recipes or delivery first. Let them raise it. 3. Ask for specific events ("the last box"), not opinions ("what do you generally think?"). 4. Don't defend Sprig, don't pitch, and don't ask "would you come back if…?" People answer hypotheticals unreliably. 5. Follow up with "Tell me more", "What happened next?" and "Can you give me an example?"

1. Open (0-3 min) "Thanks for talking to us. We're trying to learn, not win you back, and nothing you say is wrong. Can we record for note-taking?"

2. Context (3-8 min) - "Who did you cook for? Tell me about a typical week of eating before Sprig." - "What made you sign up? What did you hope it would do for you?"

3. Timeline (8-20 min), the core of the call - "Take me through your first few weeks." (Probe: how many recipes did you cook, and what did it feel like?) - "Tell me about the last box you received. What happened to it, from the doorstep onwards?" - "When did you first think about cancelling? What was going on that week?" - "What did you do for meals instead?" - "Did you think about skipping a week instead? What happened with that?"

4. Only if not raised unprompted (20-26 min) - Cost: "How did the cost sit with you, and compared with what?" - Food: "How did you feel about the recipes over time? Any you made again or avoided?" - Delivery: "What was getting the box like?"

5. The form (26-29 min) Show what they selected. "You chose '[reason]'. What was going through your mind? Does it capture it?" For #2, #3 and #6, add: "Is there anything else that mattered more?"

6. Close (29-30 min) - "If you could change one thing about Sprig, what would it be?" - "Is there anything I should have asked and didn't?"

Tailored probes - #1: "Tell me about the week you had too much food. What did you do with it?" - #2: "Where did you do the comparison, and what exactly was cheaper?" - #3: "You were cooking a lot. What changed?" - #4: "Describe a week when you didn't feel like any of the recipes." - #5: "Walk me through your first delivery." - #6: "Could you have paused? Did you know that?"

After the calls

Review all six together and note which exec theories were supported, contradicted or absent. Separately, remove the default selection from the cancel form now, so the next batch of data is cleaner.

Aim and guardrails

Understand the sequence leading to cancellation, not ask subscribers to vote on executives’ theories. Test price, repetition, and delivery alongside an alternative: subscribers never established—or lost—a workable cooking routine, making unused food feel expensive.

The cancellation form is weak evidence: price is first and preselected, only one answer is allowed, and comments sometimes conflict with selections. The first-month cooking gap—81% of retained subscribers versus 34% of cancellers cooking at least three recipes weekly—is an important association, not proof of causation. Last-four-week cooking counts cannot identify first-month activation.

Recruit these six

Use purposive contrasts, not a representative sample. Counts below mean weeks subscribed / skips in last six weeks / recipes cooked in last four weeks.

Contact primaries immediately; approach backups if unavailable or declining. Offer the same fixed incentive regardless of feedback. Invite them to discuss “your experience using and stopping Sprig,” without naming hypotheses. Confirm they managed the subscription or cooking; do not screen for agreement with a theory.

Before calls, verify metric definitions, subscription dates, and available delivery history. Skipping reduces opportunities to cook; raw cooking counts are not cooking rates. Schedule three calls Tuesday, three Thursday, with debrief time.

Shared 30-minute interview guide

0–2 minutes: introduction

“We’re learning how Sprig fitted into your life and what led you to stop. This isn’t a sales call; honest criticism is useful. You can skip questions or stop. May we record for research notes?”

2–6: expectations and early use

• “What was happening in your life when you signed up?”
• “What did you hope Sprig would replace or make easier?”
• “Walk me through an early delivery: who cooked, what got cooked, and what happened to the rest?”
• “How typical was that during your first month?”

6–15: reconstruct the change

• “Walk me through your last few weeks with Sprig.”
• “Tell me about the last box you received—from arrival to what happened to each meal.”
• “When did you first consider stopping? What happened just before that?”
• “Was there a time it worked better? What changed?”
• “Tell me about a week you skipped, if any. What drove that decision?”

Anchor memories to deliveries or calendar events; accept “I don’t remember.”

15–20: cancellation and alternatives

• “Tell me about the day you cancelled. Why then?”
• “What had you already tried?”
• “What options did you consider, including skipping?”
• “What have you actually done for meals since?”

20–27: test explanations, only after the unaided story

Ask everyone: - “How did the cost fit your budget and what you got from it?” Probe actual alternatives, prices or discounts used—not hypothetical willingness to pay. - “How did recipe choice change over time?” Request specific examples and timing. - “How did deliveries fit your plans?” If problems arose: promised versus actual arrival, consequences, frequency, and attempted resolution. - Then show their selected reason/comment: “How well does this capture what happened? What’s missing?”

27–30: confirm

Summarize the sequence, separating ongoing frustrations from the final trigger. “What have I misunderstood? What else mattered?”

Support and synthesis

Pair each novice with an experienced observer; rehearse Monday. Use silence and “Tell me about a specific time,” not suggested answers. Never defend Sprig or pitch fixes.

After each call, record timeline, supporting examples, contradictions, and unknowns separately from interpretation. Friday, compare cases across all explanations, explicitly noting disconfirming evidence. Report mechanisms and next validation steps—not churn percentages or causal conclusions from six interviews.

Aim and guardrails

Use six interviews to identify how cancellation happens, not vote on which executive is right. Explore price, repetition and delivery alongside an alternative: subscribers stop cooking the meals, food accumulates, and the subscription loses value.

The cancellation form is weak evidence: “Too expensive” is pre-selected, only one reason is allowed, and comments often suggest overlapping problems. The first-month cooking difference—81% of retained subscribers versus 34% of cancellers cooked at least three recipes weekly—is a useful lead, not proof that cooking prevents churn. Last-four-week cooking counts cannot establish first-month habits.

Recruit these six

Purposefully sample contrasting behaviors and mismatches between selected reasons and comments. Counts below are weeks subscribed / skips in last six weeks / recipes cooked in last four weeks.

Backups, in corresponding order: S-8096, S-8122, S-8209, S-8179, S-8259, S-8151. They preserve the main behavioral contrast, though comments differ.

Invite neutrally: “We’re learning about your experience using and stopping Sprig; this is not a sales call.” Book six 30-minute calls plus replacement availability. Do not screen for agreement with an executive theory. Confirm dates and household context; validate unusual counts rather than treating administrative data as ground truth.

Shared 30-minute interview guide

0–2 minutes: Introduction

“Thanks for joining. We want to understand what happened in your experience, including anything that worked or didn’t. There are no right answers, and we won’t try to persuade you to return. May we record for research notes? You can decline any question.”

2–6 minutes: Expectations and first month

• “What was happening in your life when you signed up?”
• “What did you hope Sprig would replace or make easier?”
• “Walk me through a typical week in your first month: receiving, choosing and cooking meals.”
• “What happened to meals you didn’t cook?”

Establish actual routine before asking whether it changed.

6–16 minutes: Reconstruct the cancellation timeline

• “Take me through your last few weeks with Sprig.”
• “When did you first consider stopping? What happened just before that?”
• “Tell me about the last box you received: what arrived, what you cooked, and what happened to the rest.”
• “Tell me about a week you skipped. What led to that?”
• “What happened on the day you cancelled? Why then rather than earlier?”

Probe for dates, examples, actions and consequences. Separate gradual dissatisfaction from the final trigger. Ask what they tried, including changes to orders, skipping or contacting support.

16–21 minutes: Replacement and trade-offs

• “How are you handling dinners now? Tell me about last week.”
• “What alternatives did you actually consider or use?”
• “What did those cost, and what did you get for that?”
• “What made cancelling preferable to continuing or skipping?”

Distinguish actual competitor switching from general perceptions of cheaper options.

21–27 minutes: Cover gaps, then reconcile the form

Only after the unprompted account: - Price: “How did the cost fit your budget? Did anything change?” - Recipes: “How did recipe choices change over time? Any specific examples?” - Delivery: “How did deliveries fit your plans? Describe any problem and what followed.” - Usage: “What made cooking the meals easier or harder?”

Then: “The form recorded [reason]. How well did that capture your situation? Were other reasons missing?” Clarify whether they actively chose it.

27–30 minutes: Close

Summarize the sequence and ask: “What have I misunderstood? What mattered most that we haven’t discussed?”

Support and synthesis

Run a rehearsal for both new interviewers; pair each with an experienced observer. Use silence and neutral probes—“What happened next?”—not “Was it too expensive?” Never defend Sprig.

Debrief immediately using one template: expectations, usage trajectory, incidents, underlying constraints, cancellation trigger, replacement, supporting quotes and uncertainty. Compare confirming and contradicting cases. Report plausible mechanisms and follow-up tests—not prevalence estimates or a causal verdict from six calls.