Monetization for Customer Success

Miranda Balcar

Hi everyone, 

I'm looking for a few examples of how saas companies have monetized their Success services. I've heard of a 15% charge for 1 year of "premier service" that includes a dedicated CSM. Does anyone else have a model like this at their org? 

Thanks! 

paulnakata

We don't monetize our post-sale support, but serve companies who do. We see a lot of teams offering enhanced support that includes dedicated CSM plus priority support. Since we provide tooling for teams who use shared Slack channels, we mostly see that delivered in the form of a Slack Connect channel where customers are in a shared channel with CSM and occasionally support staff. 

The pricing has been all over the board - some include it in their base license fees, but most use a percentage-based add-on, although some do use a flat fee. That's been anything from 10% up to 100% (yes, doubling the licensing cost!). 

Koenna

I'm currently working on a monetized CSM approach, but for a perpetual licensing model. To provide max. value for your customers I'd add services like: Designated support person / team + CSM, included professional services / consulting  (i.e. 4 days per year), additional digital resources or trainings / workshops. Put that all together with typical CSM services / activities and you should have an attractive package. 

Pricing in my space would be most likely a fixed rate, but in a typical subscription based model I would agree with @paulnakata and add a fee relative to the base costs. How much that is would depend on the value / quantity of incl. services. Definetely makes sense for larger accounts with a level of complexity and limited ressources on their end. 

Another thing to consider is your own goal: Do you want to build a profit center or do you see your own value / profit in increased NRR? That will impact your price model. 

Andy Swansburg

We bake it into our enterprise tier -- so in a way it is already priced in. If they want dedicated CS and are not on our enterprise tier we usually push them to our Professional Services org which has retainer options.