The Customer Benefit of Customer Success

I recently heard someone say “I know the internal benefits of Customer Success, but have a hard time expressing the benefits to customers”. Ouch! Investing in Customer Success should be a win-win for both internal and external parties.  

If you’ve heard a similar statement, or are trying to articulate your value to a customer, the list below highlights the external value of customer success.

You have an advocate and a communication channel. Having Customer Success Manager (CSM) creates a communication channel between you and the company. A CSM should be scheduling ongoing meetings, with timing and formality to be agreed upon by both sides. The CSM should also be providing project management assistance and communication for any product growth or outstanding tickets and promoting your interests internally, bringing up feature requests. As an advocate, the CSM champions your feedback internally, while setting realistic expectations and guidance to ensure your best use of time and energy.

You have a connector. A CSM is also your quarterback, both within the company and with other customers. He or she is your golden ticket to getting introductions to the product team, technical resources, and executives. As needed, the CSM may also introduce you to like-minded customer to discuss challenges, use cases and best practices.

You minimize time to value. You made a purchasing decisions based on expected business impact. The best way to reach your return on investment as quickly as possible is to partner with a resource who is familiar with the product. Employing their knowledge of your industry, your CSM can offer insight on best practices in leveraging the product in your environment, comparing to industry norms or other customer’s best practices. While product documentation is extremely helpful, working with a CSM allows you to get assistance in ramping up with the product by talking through specific use cases.

You get insight into enablement needs and internal alignment. If a product is well-used within your organization, you may have multiple stakeholders using, iterating, and creating new use cases with the product. The CSM can act as a uniting factor, sharing learnings from one organization to another and creating trainings that may be applicable across different areas of the business.

You get insight and alignment on product roadmap. CSM can provide insight into newly released products and features before release notes are finalized. Additionally, they can potentially give you priority access to beta features. By getting to know your business and goals, they are able to understand what changes may have the most impact to your business and ensure you are aware of them.

As a customer, what other benefits do you receive or expect from your CSM? As a CSM, what other benefits do you feel your customers receive from you?