Defining customer success has been a challenge for many companies. What does it mean for your business? What are the necessary components for customer success? After years of research and working with some of the top brands in the world, we’ve identified three pillars that are essential for delivering customer success.
What is customer success?
In business, customer success refers to the attainment of long-term goals by a customer. It is often measured by the customer’s continued use of a product or service, increased adoption of a product or service, or positive outcomes generated as a result of using a product or service. There are three key pillars to delivering customer success: engagement, expansion, and advocacy.
The difference between customer success and customer support
What do you think of when you hear the term “customer success”? Many people might equate it with “customer support.” After all, both are about satisfying and delighting customers, right? Wrong. While customer support is all about addressing customer issues and solving their problems, customer success is about going beyond that to help customers achieve their goals.
In other words, customer success is about ensuring that customers are getting value from your product or service. It’s a much more proactive role, and it requires a different skillset than customer support. That’s why it’s important to understand the difference between the two roles and make sure you have the right team in place to deliver on customer success.
How to measure customer success
One of the most important steps in delivering on customer success is understanding how to measure it. Many organizations rely on customer satisfaction surveys, usage data, or support tickets to gauge success. While these metrics are valuable, they often fall short of providing a complete picture. A more holistic view of customer success can be achieved by mapping out the customer’s journey and identifying key touchpoints. This will help you to understand which interactions are most important to the customer and how you can improve their experience.
How to deliver customer success
Delivering customer success means taking a holistic, customer-centric view of your relationship with them. It means putting their needs first and ensuring that they always have a positive experience. There are three primary ways to achieve this:
- Understand what your customers need and want.
- Anticipate and meet their needs before they even know they have them.
- Continuously improve your products and services to meet changing customer needs.
It’s also important to be proactive in reaching out to customers who may be slipping away and trying to understand why. Customer success is all about building a lasting, valuable relationship with your customers, and following these three pillars will help you to achieve just that.
Conclusion
Delivering customer success is essential for any business, regardless of size or industry. By understanding what customer success is, and focusing on the three pillars of customer success, you can set your business up for long-term success. It’s important to measure customer success so you can track your progress and make changes as needed. And finally, delivering on customer success means providing your customers with the best possible experience and helping them achieve their goals.