You may be wondering how much does A customer success manager makes and what do they actually do? And how can you become one? A customer success manager is responsible for ensuring that a company’s customers are satisfied with its products or services. They work to resolve any issues that may arise and develop relationships with customers. 

You can be a part or new to the customer success industry, but one thing is certain: it is growing and changing.

Research by Mordor Intelligence shows that the global customer success management market’s compound annual growth rate is 25.02% over a 5-year period (2021-2026). In the research, which covered all regions except Northern Asia and Greenland, Gainsight and Salesforce are the biggest actors in the North American customer market.

These statistics prove that customer satisfaction is a great career choice. Before we discuss estimates of how much does A customer success manager make as well as details of a career as a customer success professional, let’s first define customer satisfaction.

What is customer success?

Customer success Provides various services to gain and keep customers. These services are usually provided by large teams, smaller teams, or one employee in smaller companies. In fact, almost all companies, regardless of size, now use A client success manager software like Salesforce CRM, HubSpot CRM or ZOHO CRM.

This software is not meant to replace the real work of , the customer service manager. This job requires exceptional problem-solving and creative thinking in order to increase your customers’ success rates.

This job is complex and requires different roles for different levels of experience and performance. Client success manager is a more popular title than any other and is often used as an umbrella term. However, it is only one customer success position.

The question is: What are these positions? And what can you do to follow your career as a client success manager? We have all the information you need.

While the responsibilities and cash compensation of a customer success manager vary depending on experience, company size, and even the location, it is possible find the median data by simply looking at websites like LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and PayScale. that’s exactly what our team did.

Before we move on, let’s clarify the differences between Account Managers & client success managers.

Customer success associate

 

This is not a title that you hear every single day, but it does exist.

This is where most companies begin their entry-level customer service employees. in fact, customer support associates might be the weakest link in the industry. Because they have limited product knowledge and experience, they often work with smaller companies and customers. it is possible for customer success Associates to rise in the company, as the customer success industry favors the most talented.

What skills do you need?

As an entry-level position customer success Associate requires a relatively low skill set than other positions.

However, providing excellent customer service requires strong communication skills with customers and team members, logical thinking, problem solving, and advanced technical skills. CSMs play a vital role in ensuring customer satisfaction and success.

Salary for customer success associate

Glassdoor data shows that the average base salary for a customer satisfaction associate in the US of $55,919/year is for someone with 1 to 3 years experience in sales, marketing or a related field. This number is CA$47K/year in Canada, and PS27.391/year in the United Kingdom. This drastic change is natural because North America is the leader of customer success and different currencies work differently. According to PayScale data, customer success Associates can also receive commissions and bonuses.

Higher base salaries in other countries

• Australia – A$50,000/year
• India – Rs 546,334/year

Customer success manager

We are now at the customer success manager, which is just like any other umbrella term position, it can get a bit complicated.

This is the most highly-sought-after position in business and is therefore the most frequently discussed when it comes to customer success. This title reminds us that not all titles are the same in terms of tasks.

A customer success manager can be the sole person in a small-medium-sized customer success team or the head of a customer support team. They can also be the superior of customer success Associates, working with larger companies and learning more about the product. They would have A customer success manager or senior customer manager as their superior, who oversees a team of managers and associates. in most cases, however, we mean a customer success manager, which can refer to a leader of a team of associates and managers.

What skills do you need?

customer success managers must have the same skills as customer service associates. They must be able to communicate clearly, analyze and create solutions that last.

It would not be wrong to say that a manager has more experience than an associate. If you work for a larger company, it is natural to seek leadership qualities in customer success managers that you hire.

How much does a customer success manager make?

The second step in the customer success career path is the customer success manager. Because it may require leadership roles, it is important that the candidate has the required experience. According to Glassdoor’s report, The average base salary in the US is $64,682/year . The Canadian counterparts earn an average salary of CA$64K per year, while it is PS42.154 per year in the United Kingdom.

Higher base salaries in other countries

• Australia – A$91,000/year
• India – Rs945,579/year
• Spain – EUR35781 / an

Senior customer success manager

As we have already discussed, a senior customer manager or manager of customer satisfaction is the person responsible for a whole customer support team consisting of CSMs and customer service associates.

This could be in the sales team as the head of CS, or it could be multiple people working in a separate customer service department under a chief.

What skills do you need?

As we move up the ladder of customer success, our skills naturally become more diverse.

We can see that a senior customer service manager would have the same skills as a regular customer service manager and may even have perfected them. Leadership is the most important skill that a senior CSM should possess. Most companies expect their senior CSMs will be master feedback givers who can help their teams find the best ways to improve customer journeys.

Leadership, check

Feedback skills, check

Have the patience and time to lead and give feedback to a whole team? Check

Salary for Senior customer success managers

You must have experience To be a senior CSM. Companies are looking for senior CSMs who have at least 5-6 years of business experience. This is not enough time to learn the secrets of customer success. Take your time. You don’t become a Senior customer success manager overnight. According to Glassdoor, the average base salary of a senior CSM in the US amounts to $78,180 /year. The average CSM in the US sees PS61.571 per year, while it is CA$70K in Canada.

Higher base salaries in other countries

• Australia – A$126K/year
• India – Rs.1,509K/year
• France – EUR66,000/year

Director of customer success

The next chain of command for the customer success department is the director of customer service, but it’s not just another superior in the company hierarchy.

It may change from one company to another, but in a larger company, the director for customer success is the one who builds and mentors the team. He/she is responsible for the creative thinking, critical decisions, and the creation of metrics and reports. Although they may not have as much contact with customers, they are responsible for what the team does.

What skills do you need?

Yes, a senior CSM must have leadership qualities. But, for a director in CS, it’s even more important.

A senior CSM may lead one team, but a director or CS might be responsible for leading multiple teams. therefore, it is important to be able to communicate clearly and effectively verbally and in writing. a director of customer success must possess the rest of CSM skills (problem-solving and critical thinking) in order to be a true expert on all things.

Director of customer success Salary

This would require a lot of experience. It is therefore not surprising that a director of customer satisfaction needs to have a minimum of eight to ten year experience. Because the salary is well-suited for such experience. According to Glassdoor, the average salary for a director of customer satisfaction in the US is $122,091 per year. This figure is approximately PS858,828 /year in the United Kingdom, while is about CA$95K per year in Canada.

Higher base salaries in other countries

• Australia – A$145K/year
• Germany – EUR90,000.

VP customer success

When you see VP, you know it’s serious.

This is the next in line to the director of CS, and its responsibilities are very similar to the director’s.

A VP of customer satisfaction has the authority and ability to perform the director’s role if necessary. The main difference between the two positions is a director is closer with the teams, while a vice president is closer to an executive branch of a company. We could even say that a director of CS who is actively working is 25% of the work of a VP for customer success. The other 75% is managerial.

What skills do you need?

A VP of customer satisfaction is becoming more executive-based as the tasks become more complex.

A VP must have both the experience and practical knowledge of a director of customer service, as well as executive skills. This person will be working with the most senior customers so it is essential that they have the practical knowledge and experience of a director of customer success.

Salary for VP customer success

You need to be the best customer success VP you can get. The truth is that intelligence is not all that matters in this job. A candidate with 10+ years of experience would be the ideal candidate. would pay around $141,482 per year in the US, while would pay around PS101,949 per year in the United Kingdom.

Here are Some More Titles

As I have said many times, you must have realized that there is no single way to name employee titles and positions. sometimes the exact same job can be done by another employee in a different company.

However, most medium-sized to large companies have a position similar to the one above. However, not all companies need to have these positions.

Let’s have a look.

Chief Customer Officer (CCO), Salary and Responsibilities

A chief customer officer is “almost like” a CEO, but it is for the customer. a CEO is the boss of everything, but a CCO is the boss of his/her department. While not all companies need a CCO in their organization, the average salary for the position is $207,124 per year.

Customer Success Specialist – Salary and Responsibilities

The title “specialist”, which refers to someone who assumes different responsibilities and changes its form in different industries or companies, is the title.

It is difficult to identify a clear list of responsibilities for customer Success Specialists. a customer success specialist, in most cases, is someone who takes on more technical tasks and manages the strategic approach for the department or team. A specialist is superior to an entry level employee but lower than CSMs.

Although customer Success Specialists may need more education than experience, they may also require more experience. However, this is not an entry-level job and companies may need to have some experience. According to Glassdoor, $64,682/year is the median base salary of a customer success specialist in the US.

Customer Success Representatives – Salary and Responsibilities

Representatives are usually a position that is above entry-level positions. In this instance, it refers mostly to the customer success department, which works in close contact with customers and is the heartbeat of the beehive. According to Glassdoor, The average base salary for a position is $64,682 per year in the United States.

Conclusion

One might say, “all these positions to please customers?” Is it really necessary?

Customer is the king in all industries, but especially in SaaS/tech.

No matter how big or small the company is, all employees must work together in harmony, day and night. You may have one employee who can improve your experiment, or you might have several employees. the moral of the story? Someone is trying to make our experiment better, and you can be one of those people.

We hope this article answered your question – how much does A customer success manager make to help you make an informed career decision.