Another thing to consider: do you have enough bandwidth to provide 1:1 attention to your entire installed base? Or do you need to apply different CS model to different customer segments, aiming to balance business-feasibility / ROI with desire to ensure 100% install base coverage? How to care for the "long-tail" customers, if you have them?
One idea for a low-touch approach is to create an ability for your entire customer-facing part of organization (sales, services, support) to be able to flag a "customer at risk" based on a specific criteria or even a subjective observation. This flag should be picked up by the CS org for triage and remediation. This approach is less than proactive, but a lot better than reactive, while the costs are minimal.
Emmanuel Malanda is definitely the true pro here and it's all important to mention that he's an all-around great guy! He has spent a lot of time with me and has provided me with invaluable advice around Customer Success for an on-prem solution. One of his first recommendations to me was to conduct a churn analysis. In the non-SaaS world, churn can equate to non-renewal of Support contacts. Dig into each Account that "churned" and try to discover why it occurred. For example:--Were there Support-related issues that caused the customer to churn (multiple escalations, sev 1 cases, slow time to relief)?--Constant unresponsiveness or general lack of engagement when called upon--Was the customer properly onboarded to drive consumption?Other areas/things you may want to consider:Customer "interviews": --Take special notice of any trends and commonalities across the group of customers you interview. Things to pay attention to may include product features being called out that are more useful or less useful than others, specific areas constantly being called out (eg. "your documentation is lacking" or "nobody ever responds to my questions in your forum"), Community Engagement--If the vendor has a customer community, how active in the community is the customer?--Monthly newsletter and/or webinar engagementAgree Upon Milestones and a Timeline with Your Customers--If milestone dates are being missed, understand why and adjust the health score as necessaryAnyone else up for a "team call" around this topic? I'd love to hear other ideas and to learn from each otherRegards,Daryl
Hi Scott - thanks for your insights. I may very well take you up on the offer to chat directly once I start working more on the index.
Thanks again.
J