Customer Success is more visible than ever on social. With Twitter/FB/News as content sources, the term “Customer Success” has increased every year since 2012, and 2015 is projected to surpass last year by 45%. So what does this mean for businesses everywhere? We decided it was crucial to understand how Customer Success is perceived and to define that success accurately across our teams.
Our first consideration with Customer Success is: how do clients view customer success?We dug into social posts, investigating the language people use to explain their understanding. We found that many authors see Customer Success as synonymous with Customer Support — audiences are simply not differentiating between the two. Here is what users believe to be true about CSM teams:
Customer Success is fad
Is it just me or has social media promulgated some really stupid job titles? Customer Success Coach? Please.
— Harry Hoover (@MyCreativeTeam) January 17, 2012
This emerging title doesn’t live up to my expectations
“Customer Success Team” is the worst name for support I have ever heard…
— Steve McNiven-Scott (@stevemcniven) July 9, 2013
There seems to be a fundamental break in the understanding between what a Customer Success team member can do, and the type of service a client expects from their CSM.
Users are expecting support from the CSM, which inhibits that representative from building out a successful relationship with the client. If clients perceive these two jobs to be the same, they will always be disappointed when they are not.
How do we bridge the disconnect in understanding the difference between customer service and customer success?
Simply put, we need to be united in the goals of what customer success is, and then share it as frequently as possible so it disseminates effectively.
#customersuccess is less about you achieving success with your customers, and more about helping your customers achieve their goals.
— Matt Dyor (@mattdyor) August 1, 2013
Tweet it out, preach it out, and make sure the teams that have Customer Success Managers know what the definition of that is. Be confident in that definition, communicate that to the client, and make sure they understand that you are trying to help them be successful.
Customer success is success in the eyes and from the perspective of the customer 🙂 🙂 #sproutchat A1
— Lois Martin #121 (@LoisMarketing) March 25, 2015
Here at Crimson Hexagon, this is how we view the CS role:
“The customer success model is built on proactive customer engagement. The goal is to provide our customers with the correct support at the right time and right level, to help them realize their desired outcomes with Crimson on a short-term, as well as long-term basis.”
By working together as a team to get the word out about the differentiators of these positions, and sharing the power of having a customer success team member on your side, we can overcome these problems that are pervasive in the client relations field.
