In the ever-evolving landscape of Customer Success, a fundamental shift is underway - welcome to the era of Product-Led Success. This transformational approach is enabling companies to drive success and growth for their customers economically and scalably. In this blog, we'll explore the dichotomy between Managed Customer Success and the innovative realm of Product-Led Success.
In the traditional landscape, Customer Success Managers (CSMs) shoulder the responsibility of account management and relationship building. However, this approach often leads to reactive customer engagement. From manual onboarding to navigating support tickets, CSMs find themselves in a constant chase for acitionable data, attempting to detect churn-risk or expansion potential. The process, especially for small- to mid-tier customers, is time-consuming, imprecise, and ineffective.
Moreover, the approach becomes increasingly unsustainable as companies expand their portfolio of large enterprise customers, leading to scalability challenges. Smaller accounts are either ignored or receive suboptimal attention, as hiring budgets are tightened and CSMs struggle to balance their efforts.
Email communications are still used as the primary mode of interaction with customers but most are left unread and ignored. Help and guidance cannot be provided and meeting requests are untouched.
Top quartile companies (e.g. Slack, Figma) have one thing common - They understand their users really well and are able to utilize this to create targeted product experiences that help customers achieve their objective. Every CS Leader is being asked to do more to keep and grow customers with fewer resources. The only effective and economic way of achieving the goal is to operationalize Product-led Success.
There are three core pillars of Product-led Success
Automated Customer Segmentation: Streamlining Insights
Automated Customer Segmentation is a cornerstone of Product-Led Success. By integrating and analyzing data from various sources, including product usage, CRM, and account data, companies can bring customer 360 data together and then use Fulcrum to automatically identify key customer segments. This not only streamlines the process but also ensures timely identification of accounts soon to be at risk and those with expansion potential.
In-Product Engagement: The Power of Immersive Experiences
In this new era, in-product engagement takes center stage. Its effectiveness, proven to be almost 5 times greater than traditional email communication, allows CS teams to create native product engagement without requiring code changes or an additional onboarding tool. For critical tasks such as onboarding, surveys, and nudging customers toward their next best action, CS teams can create personalized native product experiences in minutes.
Customer Objective Tracking and RoI Scorecards: Transparency as a Catalyst
Every customer invests in a product with specific objectives in mind. The best companies meticulously track progress on key goals objectives and present regular RoI Scorecards to their customers. This transparency not only builds trust but also serves as a guide during renewal discussions, leaving no doubt about the product's value. Product-led Success is powerful because it allows companies to track and provide key ROI information even for their smallest customers.
As the dynamics of Customer Success continue to evolve, embracing Product-Led Success is not just a strategic choice; it's an imperative for sustained growth. The future belongs to those who harness the power of automation, in-product engagement, and a proactive mindset to elevate every customer along their journey. It's time to steer your ship toward a future where success is not just managed but led by the very products that define it.
