Customer Success at a non-SaaS B2C Fintech startup: Where to start?

Mariam Mubeen

Hi all, 

So I recently joined SadaPay, an emerging Fintech Startup and one of the fastest growing companies in Pakistan.

Previously, I was working in the CS Department for a US based organization, a subscription-based model. 

I have worked as a Customer Experience Associate for around 8 here and I've now been promoted to the role of Customer Success. Since we do not have a dedicated Customer Success department, I'm struggling to understand how I can use my learnings from my previous work experience to this work role. As a start, I'm currently working on analysing satisfaction levels of our user's on our in-app chat and overall customer support. 
 
Here are a few things I have in mind to start working on:

 1- Evaluating DSATs (De-satisfaction levels) and creating a strategy for retention to decrease churn rate.
2- Understanding customer trends
3- Competitor analysis to understand customer experiences and pain points with other products.

I'm still quite new to this and not sure if these are the steps that would create enough utility for the company. 

So just looking for guidance or tips. What metrics could I use to track customer success given that we sell our service? What would you do first as a CSM in a non-SaaS company?

Thanks,
Mariam

Kate Reed

Hi Mariam,

Congrats on the new role! 

Before figuring out metrics, if you haven't done this already, I'd recommend devoting the first 30 days of your role to talking (well, mostly listening) to your current customers and understanding what a typical customer journey at the company looks like. What are their problems that your company is solving? What are their problems that your company is failing to solve? What does their end-to-end experience with your company look like? Whether you're in SaaS or another field, understanding your customers is the heart of what we do, and you can't go wrong by starting there.

This should clarify the exact problem your team should be helping your customers solve, and reveal what metrics are going to really matter. 

From there, you can put together a solid 30/60/90 day plan in place that identifies your goals, ways to measure those (metrics), and strategies to achieve them.

If you already have a good handle on that, here are a few resources for metrics, which you may need to tweak to fit your particular business model:

• https://blog.hubspot.com/service/customer-success-metrics
• https://catalyst.io/blog/customer-success-metrics

Hope this helps  

Kate

Connect on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katereed/
Email: kate.reed@commsor.com

Harsh Shah

Hi @Mariam Mubeen, congratulations on your new role!!

Here's how I would start if I were in your place ⤵️

1. Obeserve:

• Take some time to understand all the current processes and SOPs in place.
• Spend some time understanding products and offerings at a deeper level.
• Spend some time with cross-functional teams to understand how information flows internally.
• Try to find common trends and patterns in customer usage and engagement.
• I might also run my introduction campaign to some or all users so they can get familiar with their new CS partner. 
• With the introduction campaign, you can ask them some specific questions like what features they like more and what challenges they have.
• From such a campaign, you will have a list of feedback and suggestions to improve and enhance in your offerings.
• If you got some positive feedback then you can also ask for a review (that's a bonus!)
• Talk with your managers about what they're expecting from this role and their immediate expectations or short-term goals.
• Do some competitor analysis and SWOT analysis
• Take a look at your whole playbook and account to manage

2. Act:

• Based on the above observations and data you can start working on bridging gaps.
• Work on processes, SOPs, or products where there is an immediate need for improvement.
• Start segmenting your accounts to deliver services that are most appropriate based on where they are in their journey.
• Create a list of repetitive activities which can be automated.
• Set up a success plan with your managers to achieve their short-term goals.
• Involve in product improvement by sharing customer feedback based on their impacts and priorities.
• Set up touchpoints to collect useful customer data to improve their experience and engagement.
• Start documenting your SOPs and processes.
• Start developing a strong customer journey map and onboarding strategies.

3. Analyse:

• See what's working and where there's a scope for improvement.
• Track data and metrics to decide the next steps. 
• Plan changes or next actions to achieve that short-term goal set by your management.
• See how you can provide quick, consistent, and more value to your customers.
• Based on past challenges and achievements, improvise your onboarding plan.
• Finalize the next steps once the customer is onboarded successfully to keep their engagement with value-driven strategies.
• Start developing automation to reduce mundane tasks and improve efficiency.
• Share the results with the managers and other teams.
• Based on the collected data, start working on retention, adoption, and expansion strategies.
• Develop touch models for different customer segments.
  

Most importantly, start small but be consistent in whatever you do. 

I hope this would be helpful moving forward.