Customer success is a methodology whose main objective is to ensure customer satisfaction and success when using a product or service.
This practice goes beyond the sale, as it seeks to help you get more value for your purchase in the long run.
The concept emerged with SaaS (software as a service) companies, when technology companies moved from offering perpetual licenses to marketing them as subscriptions.
It was at this point that executives saw the importance of the customer really seeing the value of the product or service. Later, this need was seen not only in those businesses that followed a subscription model, but in all types.
This discovery caused companies, regardless of their industry, to seriously ask themselves how to guarantee the success and loyalty of their customers.
Currently, it is proven that the fastest growing companies use customer success strategies. That is why in this article we are going to explain what this methodology is about, how to put it into practice and why it can be beneficial for your business.
What is customer success?
Although it is often confused with customer service, customer success could be distinguished by three keywords: information, anticipation and .
Customer service is characterized by being the reactive and immediate response to specific problems or difficulties presented by customers of a product or service. On the contrary, customer success is based on proactivity.
This methodology proposes to use the available data about customers and the to be able to anticipate their needs, problems and concerns.
The purpose is to achieve a greater understanding of the panorama, a more direct and effective communication, and, therefore, a better experience that will lead to satisfied customers who are loyal to our product.
The difference is that customer service is involved after they make a purchase, while the customer success team begins to be part of the process before this happens.
It also differs from account executives, since the economic benefit part is usually not the most important.
While a successful customer success strategy will translate into increased revenue for a company, for the CS team the focus is not on money. His philosophy is that the client’s success is his success too.
Benefits of customer success
This type of methodology brings multiple benefits for all types of business but, in general terms, they can be summarized in these three:
- Helps reduce desertions or customer churn (rate of abandonment or customer turnover). Ensuring retention is a much easier and less expensive alternative to winning new customers.
- Increase renewals. This is very important since in almost any business that applies.
- Increase customer loyalty and engagement. And a customer who reaches this level of engagement with the brand is likely to become its advocate and promoter.
How to implement customer success in your business?
There are some basic requirements that any company that decides to start this practice must have. These are:
A technological solution
That is, some software or tool that allows you to collect, order and filter information. The idea is to monitor from there the activity of the users of the product together with the inputs of (Customer Relationship Management, or what in Spanish would be Management of Customer Relations).
These systems allow making predictions, generating statistics and reports, as well as adding context from the rest of the interactions with customers. Whether you use a CRM or even an excel dashboard, keeping track is very important.
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A strategy
There are as many possible as there are businesses. It is important that customer success planning is always adapted to the product and the size of the company.
A work team
The number of representatives needed will also vary depending on the size of the business. The team will be in charge of converting all the information collected into effective solutions.
a manager
You will be the one who will have direct contact with clients, your job is to analyze and understand their needs, as well as focus on their long-term resolution.
What are the tasks of the customer success team?
The responsibilities of customer success teams are usually very broad, since they involve different departments and personnel with various backgrounds (support teams, sales staff, account executives, professional services, among others).
In addition, they vary depending on the strategy, the information collected and the decisions of the customer success manager, but some elementary actions are:
- Make the goals of the client and the company are aligned. An example of this is taking care that the product team creates tools that really correspond to the needs of the users.
- Ensuring that advertising is aimed at the right target. That is, ensure that the marketing team attracts the right type of leads.
- Follow up the speech of the sales team, follow the positioning of the company’s products.
- Intervene in the design and execution of the “education” of customers about the product. Follow the entire customer training process regarding the use and exploitation of what is being sold.
What does a customer success manager do?
In addition to directing the customer success team, the figure of the manager alone is one of the most relevant in this practice.
For many, it is a role that combines skills present in both salespeople and professionals, but their skills and objectives go further.
Due to the complexity and variety of its tasks, it is a profile for which a deep knowledge of the business is required.
A customer success manager must:
- Get involved at all stages. Guide customers through the customer journey and support them in all aspects (from sales to support).
- Establish direct communication with potential customers and build lasting relationships.
- Provide personalized and timely. He is in charge of advising customers in their purchasing decisions.
- Achieve a deep understanding of the needs of the target. You must become the “voice of the client” and look after his interests.
- Integrate new customers and follow up on renewals (in the case of subscription models).
- Foment .
- Define department objectives and ensure compliance.
- Follow up projects.
- Collect for the product team.
- Submit results reports and propose solutions.
- Turn customers into brand ambassadors.
How to develop a customer success strategy?
Although it varies depending on the nature of each business, there are some aspects that are repeated in all areas. If you are looking to implement a customer success strategy for the first time, we are going to give you some tips to keep in mind:
- Identify the ultimate goals of your customers. For this you can use some tools such as the empathy map (a technique that consists of finding out the wishes and needs of users through a series of questions).
- Take care that everyone on the team knows in advance their objectives and the expectations of their role.
- Prepare a guide with the objectives of your business in the short and long term in terms of customer success.
- Analyze all the results and modify if necessary.
- Educate your customers. Anticipate their questions about the product with training, resources and tutorials.
- I promoted loyalty. Create loyalty programs and build a community through .
When planning the strategy you can ask yourself questions about the customer experience:
- What is the current customer experience with my product? Why are they searching for my product? Why would they stop buying or cancel their subscription?
- How could the customer success department impact or change that experience?
- What content do customers prefer? What channels do they choose when communicating? What would be the right time to make contact or monitor them?
You will also find tools for the current service, such as NPS (Net Promoter Score) surveys.
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How to apply customer success in a business?
Although customer success emerged in the industry (business to business, that is, the business model in which transactions are carried out between companies), over time its effectiveness has been demonstrated in different types of business, since they all deal with customers.
In general terms, customer success serves to improve a company’s income, increase brand recognition, optimize its performance and favor its competitive advantage.
In the case of growing businesses or startups, it is ideal for building a loyal customer base for the brand.
Another very important aspect of customer success that can be applied to any business is its educational function. Whatever the field of your company, teaching your customers the best way to use your product or service and how it can make their lives easier is the first step to building a better experience.
Conclusions
Nowadays, we know that it is not enough to develop excellent marketing actions to get new clients. Similarly, good customer service is no longer enough to retain old customers.
For this reason, customer success is necessary, since it is a strategy that will allow you to anticipate the challenges that your clients will impose and thus think of the most effective solutions.
I turned the goals of your clients into those of your business and boost the growth of your company. And if you still don’t have a website that allows you to achieve all your goals, . We give you a 30-day free trial.
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