3 Most Important CS Strategic Issues dollar for dollar in 2021
Currently in 2021, from purely the point of view of retaining the most customers and revenue, dollar for dollar what would be the most strategic things to invest in or do?
What would be your top 3?
How would you rank them?
Scaling with Automation (increasing capacity?)
CS operations?
Proving Value?
Charging for Customer Success Services?
Customer Education?
Others?
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If PS sits within CS, then charging for services is often the only way to tie the value delivered to a measurable RoI. There has to be a threshold for gaining access to a dedicated, named CS resource. But this could be a higher subscription level or a minimum ACV level, which technically results in the CS resource being "paid for". But I too am not a fan of treating CS as a paid for function. Increased revenues and reduced churn is how the costs of this function get covered. Great happy customers providing fantastic references also kicks on sales growth which contributes to the internal value calculations.
All companies put Customer Education first. But, Customer Education can be loosely defined. It is only in the later stages, that companies can pay for first rate Customer Education, and then it is a business accelerator.
I created a Customer Education Roadmap as a graphic way to understand where CEd comes in. Feedback is always welcomed.We are a very early stage product (about to launch). So right now our top 3 for the year would be:
1. Customer Education - Ensuring every customer is set-up for success through a 5-star onboarding process so we can ensure proper adoption
2. Proving Value - working closely with these initial customers to showcase ROI and make them "case study worthy"
3. Establishing our playbooks and the CS function itself.
If I think about my previous stint, where I was handling a mature business (Freshchat @ Freshworks), my top 3 would have been:
1. CS Operations
2. Proving Value
3. Customer Education
Once the (1) #operations are in place and (2) value calculations are available and as automated as possible, it's time to focus on (3) #CustomerEducation as part of your #adoption strategy. Lower the viscosity of high-touch customers by offering as many options for #self-service as possible across multiple mediums.
Do you think automation makes sense (or do you think like charging for services, it undermines what Customer Success actually does?)
I am 100% not a fan of charging for CS services - my belief is that you gain the trust of the customer because you are NOT sales, and you are NOT asking to take from them "theoretically." Keeping CS agnostic and focused on the best interests of the customer is how they win, and ultimately your business should grow from this loyal and beneficial relationship.
Jessica