We all know that feeling when we purchase something and it just doesn’t work the way we wanted it to. Maybe it’s a new gadget that you can’t figure out how to use, or a piece of software that crashes every time you try to open it. Whatever the case may be, it’s frustrating – especially if you paid good money for said product. But why is customer success important? Customer success is all about making sure your customers are successful in using your product or service – meaning they get what they need from it and have a positive experience doing so. This, in turn, leads to repeat business and satisfied customers who tell their friends about your company (or leave glowing reviews online).So why is customer success important? Here are the reasons:

Why Is Customer Success Important?

Customer success is important because it helps to ensure that customers are able to use your product to its full potential. This in turn increases customer satisfaction and decreases the likelihood that the customer will churn.

Customer support can also aid in generating positive reviews and word of mouth, which attracts more customers.

SaaS Business Culture – 5 Reasons Why Customer Success Is Imperative

Your customers buy your products. Your customers are not properly trained on how to use these products.

Your customers don’t take full advantage of the product you sell them. They don’t hold themselves accountable for reaching their goals.

Your customers don’t realize the value in your product or service. They won’t renew because they can’t afford it.

Customer turnover is costly. You lose money every time you replace an old customer with a new one.

And on and on it goes.

Now, considering the fact that it’s 5-25 times more costly to acquire a new business than it is to retain an existing client, a software-as-a-service business with a leak in their funnel is wasting money just to keep their doors open.

Customer retention is incredibly important because saas companies cannot afford to lose existing customers.

Recouping the money spent on customer acquisition can take up to 12 to 24 months after a purchase.

Without client retention, your business will struggle to grow, expand, and scale. Your customers will leak out of your funnel, costing you both money and your reputation.

At some point, you will exhaust your list of qualified contacts, and your resources will be spent.

The investing world has realized that companies that retain customers and experience growth are more valuable than their competitors.

SaaS businesses that invest in customer success are more likely to be resilient against the threat of churn. By investing in customer success, you can reduce the risk of churn and make your business more adaptable to change.

Here are 5 reasons to focus on your customer experience.

1. It connects your departments and helps them communicate more effectively.

Every single interaction you have with your customers, from the very first email or phone call to their last, will affect their perception of your company.

Every employee, regardless of their job title, has an effect on the customer’s overall experience and satisfaction with the company.

A customer-centric company understands how critical it is for customers to feel comfortable with their new team. They make sure that each customer is introduced to their team in a way that’s both personal and personable. By getting to know each of their customers and truly understanding their unique needs, a customer-centric business can provide an unparalleled level of customer service.

Organizations that plan ahead for customer hand-offs will have a smooth process in place to ensure every customer is taken care of.

2. It Helps Foster New Ideas

When an organization is focused on customer success, it creates an environment where new ideas can flourish. This commitment to customers helps push the company forward and drives innovation.

While customer service reps are the front line of customer engagement, other departments are more than willing to collaborate when a customer’s interests are at stake.

When customers have questions about your products, you can work directly with your customer success team to solve the issue.

This collaborative spirit can extend beyond sales to various departments.

3. It influences every department’s key performance indicators

From a daily perspective, most department’s goals should already be focused on customer satisfaction.

The sales team works closely with the customer service reps (or “CSM”) to handle any new business that results from a sales deal.

The marketing team works closely with customers to understand their pain points and needs. The development team then builds and launches new products based on these requests.

Administrative positions can play a key role in streamlining the internal processes of a business.

4. It Makes Your Customers and External Stakeholders Happier

Satisfied customers are the key to a successful business. Having customers who are happy and satisfied with your company is the dream for every business.

Companies that want their customer service to be truly customer-focused should instil a company-wide culture that places importance on integrating feedback from customers into internal processes.

It’s important to understand that this doesn’t tell software companies to panic when customers aren’t happy with their services.

When a customer is upset, it is the responsibility of the entire organization to join forces and resolve the issue.

5. It guarantees executive focus and attention.

A company’s customer focus is directly tied to its leadership. If an executive team isn’t on board with the company being focused on its customers, then the rest of the employees won’t be either.

Customer Success Managers must understand how clien retention impacts a business, especially how increasing retention rates increases a company’s bottom line.

By sharing this valuable data with other executives, they can gain the support and approval of all decision-makers at a company.

When executives and other C-level employees focus on building a culture of customer service, it ensures customers are always considered.

Working customer-centricity into an overarching goal and KPI of your organization.

An organization can reap many benefits when it puts the customer first, but it requires strong leadership to pull it off.

Who needs a Customer Success Game Plan?

You should definitely give customer success a try! It’s basically the process of making sure your existing customers are happy.

The most important thing for any business is to ensure their customers are happy and successful. This can be achieved through effective customer success management. By investing in this area, businesses can save money in the long run and keep their customers coming back.

The rise of Software as a Service (SaaS) and customer success

The fear of customer loss has always been a key aspect of running a successful business. But something happened when software-as-a-service (SaaS) became the dominant business model in the business-to-business (B2B) market.

The preferred method of selling software as a service is to offer customers a subscription model, where they can cancel their plan at any time. This is opposed to the old method of offering a one-year contract, where the customer has to pay even if they decide to end the relationship.

The recurring revenue model has shifted the focus to reducing churn, and as a result, Customer Success has become increasingly important. By understanding how and when customers use your product, you can help them get the most value out of it and keep them coming back for more.

SaaS products and digital applications have a lot of data informing Customer Success when, where, and how customers are using the product. This helps customer success teams identify issues early on and work with customers to ensure they’re getting the most value from the product.

When businesses can see the way customers use their product or service, they can give them data driven advice on how to use the service product more effectively.

Customer feedback can also be used by customer service teams to suggest features to the product development team that customers would really find useful.

The growth of customer service over the past few years has been exponential. The importance and impact of customer service teams has grown exponentially.

What is the difference between Customer Success and Customer Support?

Many confuse customer support with customer success, but they are very different. While support is reactionary, success is proactive.

When customers have an issue with a product, they call in to the Customer Success team to fix it.

By being proactive, the Customer Support team is able to understand the needs of their clients and helps them reach their goals.

A successful Customer Success program will always be one step ahead of potential concerns and roadblocks. By keeping the customer onboarding experience positive, you create a foundation for continuous improvement.

While Customer Support is a required operational expense, the Customer Success team is a revenue-generating department. With the proper KPIs and compensation models, the CS team can nurture customer lifetime value and contribute to the company’s bottom line.

When a company uses the correct KPIs and incentives for their CS team, they can understand how their customer service contributes to the company’s bottom line. By ensuring that their customers are successful, companies can build long-lasting relationships with their clients that can result in both new and repeat business.

Conclusion

This blog post has answered the question “Why is customer success important?”. By ensuring your customer’s success, you can boost retention, increase revenue, improve satisfaction, and strengthen customer relationships. By helping customers succeed with your product, you can retain them, make them happy, and keep them coming back.