What this template is for
A churn risk investigation is one of the highest-stakes workflows a CS team runs. It fails when the save plan is improvised, when accountability is unclear, or when post-mortems are skipped because the renewal closed (or did not). This template makes the save plan an explicit Jira issue with sequenced sub-tasks and a mandatory post-mortem at the end.
It is designed for CS teams who want save plans to be operationally rigorous and learnable.
When to use it
Use this template whenever a customer health check turns red, a renewal becomes uncertain, or any named leading indicator (exec change, security audit failure, support escalation spike) fires.
How to set it up in Jira
Create a churn-risk project (or component within customer-success). Add the custom fields above to the Create Issue screen. Use Custom Fields for Risk Level and Recovery Status select lists. Required-on-create for account, renewal date, ARR at risk, and save-plan owner.
Sub-task breakdown
- Validate risk signals prevents false-positive scrambles.
- Diagnose root cause with the account ensures the save plan addresses the real issue.
- Build the save plan captures sequenced steps with owners.
- Engage exec sponsor is the leadership step.
- Execute save-plan actions weekly is the recurring rhythm.
- Confirm outcome and post-mortem captures learning regardless of win or loss.
Use STM Issue Templates to auto-create these sub-tasks on every new churn-risk issue so the weekly cadence and post-mortem are never skipped.
Fields to add to your Jira create screen
These are the fields a project admin should make sure exist on the Create Issue screen for this issue type (Project settings → Screens). Without these on the screen, reporters can't provide the information triage needs - and STM can't reference them either.
| Field | Example value | Required |
|---|---|---|
Summary | Churn risk - Acme Corp - Renewal due Aug 2026 | Yes |
Account / Customer (custom) | Acme Corp | Yes |
Renewal Date (custom) | 2026-08-15 | Yes |
ARR at Risk (custom) | $120k ARR | Yes |
Risk Level (custom) | Critical / High / Moderate | Yes |
Risk Signals (custom) | Usage drop, exec change, ticket spike | No |
Root Cause Hypothesis (custom) | Why we think the account is at risk | No |
Save Plan (custom) | Sequenced steps to address the cause | No |
Save Plan Owner (custom) | CSM or account team lead | Yes |
Exec Sponsor Engaged (custom) | Yes / No, date | No |
Recovery Status (custom) | Saving / Held / Lost | No |
Component/s | churn-risk, save-plans | No |
Labels | churn-q3, account-acme | No |
Attachments | Usage trend, exec emails, save-plan deck | No |
Note on custom fields. STM currently supports up to 5 custom fields per template. You can add as many custom fields as you like to your Jira Create Issue screen - the 5-field limit only applies if you want STM to set or update those custom fields itself.
Sub-tasks STM creates automatically
Build an STM sub-task template containing the items below, then wire it to an On Create Issue Executor scoped to this issue type. Whenever a new issue of this type is created in the project, STM creates the full sub-task set in one step - with assignee, due date, and components inherited from the parent unless you override them.
- Validate risk signals and confirm severity
- Diagnose root cause with the account
- Build the save plan with sequenced steps
- Engage exec sponsor
- Execute save-plan actions weekly
- Confirm renewal outcome and write a post-mortem
Common questions
What is a Jira churn risk investigation template?
It is a Jira task that captures the full save-plan workflow for a single at-risk customer. It records the renewal date, ARR at risk, risk level, signals, root cause hypothesis, save plan, and recovery status. One issue per at-risk account creates an auditable record of how the team fought for the renewal and whether the save plan worked.
How do you run a churn risk investigation in Jira?
Create one Jira issue per at-risk account using this template the moment a health check turns red or a leading indicator triggers. Within 48 hours, populate root cause hypothesis and save plan. Use sub-tasks to execute the save plan weekly. Confirm the renewal outcome and run a post-mortem so the team learns from saves and losses.
Should churn investigation live in Jira or in the CRM?
The CRM owns the opportunity and the dollar amount. Jira is better at the cross-functional save-plan workflow - assigning product, support, and exec actions, tracking weekly execution, and post-mortem learning. Many teams keep the renewal opportunity in CRM and the save plan workflow in Jira, linked by account ID.
What custom fields are required for a churn risk ticket?
Account, renewal date, ARR at risk, risk level, risk signals, root cause hypothesis, save plan, save plan owner, exec sponsor engagement, and recovery status. Configure Risk Level and Recovery Status via Custom Fields select lists. Required-on-create for account, renewal date, ARR at risk, and save plan owner.
Automate the sub-tasks with STM
STM Issue Templates saves the sub-task list above as a reusable template and creates them on every new issue of this type - via an Executor on issue creation, on status transition, or triggered manually from the issue's "Create bulk sub-tasks" menu. STM does not change the parent issue's create screen (that's a Jira project-settings job) but it removes the manual work of creating the sub-tasks every time.
Try STM on the Atlassian Marketplace ↗ See how STM templates are built →