Turning Competitive Signals into Real-Time Customer Success Action

Don’t wait for usage to drop. Catch churn at the moment it begins.

Churn doesn’t start when customers go silent, it starts when they quietly research alternatives. G2’s Competitive Signals reveal those early signs so teams can act before it’s too late.

In a recent article by Matt Ciarallo, Director of Customer Success at G2, he makes an important observation about where churn really begins.¹

It doesn’t begin when usage drops or when a customer stops attending calls. It begins much sooner, at the moment they start quietly researching alternatives.

Maybe they check pricing on a competitor’s website.
Maybe they skim comparison pages on G2.
Maybe a new product category catches their eye.

By the time these behaviors surface in your internal systems, the customer has already started rewriting their future without you in the room. And if your renewal strategy is built only on product usage and relationship sentiment, you’re reacting too late.

This is the gap G2 calls Competitive Signals: real-time indicators that a current customer is evaluating another solution or rethinking the contract.¹ These signals don’t replace internal health scoring, they complete it.

Why Competitive Signals Matter More Than Ever

G2’s research highlights a simple truth: software buyers explore options quietly and early.¹
And when they do, they leave a digital trail behind.

For Customer Success teams, these signals offer something new:

A chance to intervene before the customer emotionally commits to leaving.
A way to understand account momentum in context, not just in metrics.
A foundation for proactive renewal and expansion strategies.

Put differently: Competitive signals are not alerts. They are leverage.

If a customer is actively comparing vendors, something is unresolved like a need, a concern, an ambition, a budget question, a feature gap. Seeing that moment in real-time gives your team the ability to step in with support, clarity, and leadership while the decision is still fluid.

Bringing G2 Competitive Signals Into Real-World Action

At Noded AI, we’ve built directly around this shift.

When a competitive signal comes through, the platform doesn’t simply tag the account and hope a CSM notices. The signal becomes the beginning of a guided action sequence.

Here’s how:

When a customer starts evaluating another solution in G2, Noded AI captures that signal immediately and brings it into the account view, right alongside usage patterns, relationship notes, milestones, and sentiment trends. The story of the account updates instantly because Noded AI understands the shift in customer behavior.

The signal also rebalances priority. If a customer is actively weighing alternatives, they move to the front of the line, not buried behind accounts with higher usage concerns but lower strategic risk.

From there, Noded initiates next steps:
A renewal conversation gets pulled forward.
A product gap discussion gets scheduled.
An executive sponsor may be looped in.
A tailored value reinforcement plan might launch.

None of it happens manually. None of it depends on someone “remembering to follow up.”
The workflow meets the moment.

And because everything lives in one place like notes, usage patterns, transcripts, intent signals.

So the CSM never has to guess what the story is. It’s already assembled, already visible, already actionable.

This is what reduces time-to-intervention from “whenever we notice” to “right now.”

Why External Signals Are Becoming the New Retention Currency

Internal product data tells you how customers are engaging today.
Competitive intent tells you what they’re planning to do tomorrow.

Most churn happens before the CSM knows the account is at risk.
Most expansions happen because a CSM understood ambition before it was expressed.

Competitive signals unlock both sides.

When you combine internal and external context, you stop reacting to accounts.
You start leading them.

The Direction is Clear: Signal-Driven Customer Success

G2’s broader market data shows:

Only about 5% of buyers are actively in-market at any given time.²
Yet 60% of customers research alternatives during renewal cycles, even if they’re satisfied.²

Which means:
The window to influence renewal decisions is both small and early.

Your advantage is in seeing the shift when it starts, not when it’s already done.

With Noded AI, you don’t just recognize churn risk, you intercept it.
You don’t just retain accounts, you strengthen trust.

The window to influence a renewal is both early and small, which means visibility matters more than velocity.

This is why Noded integrates directly with G2 Buyer Intent and Competitive Signals.

When a customer visits a competitor’s product profile, pricing page, or comparison listing on G2, that signal flows straight into Noded.

There’s no exports, no uploads, no swivel-chair monitoring. The signal updates the account’s health score, triggers the right follow-up sequence, and places context directly in front of the CSM.

In other words:G2 provides the signal. Noded turns it into action.