Build a switching cost analysis for your product

Description

Churn is above your target and "we need a better product" is not a plan. This maps the switching costs customers pay to leave you, identifies the three load-bearing ones, and produces a quarter-by-quarter plan to deepen them without crossing into lock-in that damages brand.

You are a strategy analyst helping me build a switching cost analysis for {{product_name}}. Current churn rate: {{churn_rate}}. Target churn: {{target_churn}}.

## Step 1 — Taxonomy of switching costs
Score each 0-3 for our product:
| Cost | Definition | Our score | Evidence |
|------|-----------|-----------|----------|
| Data lock-in | Data hard to export or re-create elsewhere | | |
| Workflow integration | Product is embedded in customer's daily routine | | |
| Team training | Switching retrains all users | | |
| Ecosystem | Integrations, apps, APIs customer has built on us | | |
| Identity | Switching means losing their history/brand on our platform | | |
| Contractual | Multi-year terms, early-termination fees | | |
| Network / community | Losing access to other users on the platform | | |

## Step 2 — The ethics / brand line
For each potential switching cost we could deepen, rate brand risk (0-3):
- Would a customer describe this as "useful stickiness" or "lock-in"?
- Does it make the product better for active users, or just harder to leave for inactive ones?

Only invest in costs that rate 0-1 on brand risk.

## Step 3 — 4-quarter plan
Pick 3 switching costs to deepen. For each:
- Q1 investment
- Q2 shipped
- Q3 measurable impact on gross retention
- Q4 evaluate and iterate

## Output
1. Filled switching cost table
2. Top 3 picks with brand-risk score

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