MarketStar Blog | Articles (18)

Most sales reps congratulate themselves on a job well done when customers sign on the dotted line, but in reality, that is only the beginning. Customers buy a product with a purpose, and companies need to ensure that the purpose for which they bought the product is well served. But this is not always so. Technology companies often have a way of making customer onboarding complicated and daunting. They put their customers through complex product tutorials, long-form pdf guides, endless how-to videos, and tedious sign-up processes as a way of welcoming them on board. Consider these alarming stats:

Great customer service pays. It leads to customer loyalty, increased profits, and a better brand image. Customer service is not just about gifts or coupons and promotional schemes. It involves putting customers’ needs first and making them feel good after they interact with your organization. Each customer-facing employee should know how to communicate with customers, what kind of words to use, and how to solve simple problems. A study published by Harvard Business Review found that buyers who have a positive experience with a brand are likely to spend as much as 140% more than average.1

Key Insights

• The pandemic has led to trustworthiness becoming the top priority for customers

• Forging deeper ties with customers will be incomplete without a strong focus on effective customer success strategies 

• Outsourcing key customer success activities can contribute in several ways to revenue and growth 

• A clear vision and meticulous planning when it comes to customer success strategies can be the key differentiator between failure and success 

Amid shifting business priorities and disrupted operations brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, one lesson stands out above all others: The critical significance of customer success in growing and protecting relationships with existing customers.

Trustworthiness is now a top priority, as highlighted by a Salesforce study.

Not only has trustworthiness become more important to customers than before the pandemic but it has also grown more difficult to earn.

Building trust among B2B customers requires a sustained focus. And as the function focused on ensuring these outcomes, customer success is now a vital requirement for business continuity and growth. 

It is no surprise that customer success teams only showed an upward trajectory during the pandemic.

What Defines Customer Success? 

Before discussing the benefits of customer success solutions, it’s essential to define what customer success is. 

Customer success is a business methodology that ensures the desired outcomes for your customers throughout the customer life cycle. 

A research by Deloitte identifies three types of value that constitute customer success:

• Performance value focuses on the use of the product itself

• Business value focuses on how using the product or solution contributes to achieving specific business outcomes 

• Experience value centers on the ease of doing business and the depth of the business relationship between customer and vendor 

It also bears certain key differences from customer service and customer support.

Customer support and customer service teams are activated when customers reach out with a specific problem and are geared toward resolving the problem within a single interaction.

Customer success, on the other hand, continuously seeks to innovate new ways of gaining value for customers, providing new use cases and perspectives before customers ask for them.

Why Do Companies Need Customer Success?

In today’s B2B world, getting the signature on the dotted line is only the beginning of the customer life cycle.

With customers finding it easier than ever to switch vendors when dissatisfied with a product, a methodology focused on delivering customer experience, product value, and business value offers several distinct advantages.

Below we have listed the top benefits of customer success in business.

1. Improved Retention

Given the significance of retention, it is important to note that one of the traditional and most effective aspects of customer success is retention.

In the 2020 State of Customer Success report by ClientSuccess, customer success contributed to an average net retention rate of 99% for 411 customer success professionals across 347 organizations.

Retention, unsurprisingly, is cost-effective for companies, with estimates suggesting that retaining an existing customer is 6-7 times cheaper than acquiring a new one.

2. Increased Upsells & Cross-sells

While retention protects the revenue base, growth depends on upselling and cross-selling.

Effective customer success best practices can secure this growth by increasing the likelihood of customer satisfaction.

In fact, vendors are 60-70% likely to sell to existing customers, against being only 5-20% successful in selling to new customers.

This is because satisfied customers recognize the value of a product or service and are aware of how it contributes to securing their business outcomes.

3. Improved Advocacy

Second-order revenues, that is all those sources of revenue which are indirectly influenced by a customer, can significantly contribute to revenue growth.

One common route for second-order revenue is when a champion customer changes companies and brings the product on board with the new company.

The other is word of mouth or referrals from satisfied customers to others in their professional networks.

In either case, by directly impacting customer attitudes toward the assessments of the product and vendor, customer success is significantly responsible for driving second-order revenue.

4. Operational & Product Improvements

With its finger constantly on the pulse to uncover customer pain points, customer success is a key avenue of feedback not only on a product or solution but also on how organizational operations impact customer value.

Customer success teams can create efficient feedback loops and judge the impact of new releases and updates, gathering valuable data for optimizing the product roadmap.

Customer success can also aid in optimizing operational processes across all customer-facing and other teams by identifying key bottlenecks or sources of friction that frustrate customers.

How Outsourcing Can Help You Build Effective Customer Success

At first glance, outsourcing more transactional engagements such as customer service or customer support may seem more reasonable than doing so with a long-term, relational role like customer success.

However, outsourcing key customer success activities can contribute in several ways to revenue and growth: 

• Cost-savings: Companies can save on operational costs related to onboarding and training, renting and maintaining office space, management costs, and investing in the latest tools and technology stacks

• Overcoming talent shortages: Outsourcing can ease this process by doing the heavy lifting when it comes to hiring quality customer success representatives

• Access to expertise and technology: Outsourced CSMs have not only been hired for their skills but also undergo the necessary training in a variety of approaches, processes, and technologies so that they can hit the ground running for any organization

Effective management of the long tail: Outsourcing the long-tail customers can help organizations move beyond an 80-20 trap in their revenue generation

The Bottomline

In the wake of the pandemic, the writing on the wall is clear: customer success is integral for the survival of business organizations in a subscription economy.

Satisfying the expectations of existing customers, retaining their business, and increasing revenues through customer advocacy are all vital for sustainable growth.

However, building in-house customer success teams may not always be cost-effective or viable.

Instead, taking on a blended approach of outsourcing specific customer success functions can provide important efficiencies and resource boosts that allow for better engagement of customers.

In today's digital age, live streaming has become a game-changer for businesses. It's not just about broadcasting; it's about creating real-time, interactive experiences that engage your audience like never before. From product launches to Q&A sessions, live streaming can enhance your brand's presence, foster community engagement, and drive leads and sales. But with so many platforms available, how do you choose the right one for your business needs? Let's dive in. 

It’s no secret that event marketing is highly effective. The practice of engaging people face-to-face during a social event yields rewards that more than justify the budget. Yet while it may seem simple on the outside – set up a booth; staff it with friendly, knowledgeable people; offer branded schwag – for your event marketing to truly have a lasting impact beyond the initial contact, you must carefully consider and plan the kind of content you employ. 

Studies show that businesses that implement a sales enablement solution see an increase in their content usage, conversions, revenue generated and deal size. However, before you deploy your sales enablement solution, pause and ask yourself: Is your sales enablement platform everything it could be? 

Digital technology is evolving at a rapid pace. Business needs are in constant flux. And organizations are looking for flexible solutions that can evolve with their needs. This has resulted in subscription-based products and solutions being given preference over pay-per-product models. “Subscription businesses are proliferating because billions of digital customers are increasingly favoring access over ownership”, writes Tien Tzuo, CEO of cloud-based solutions company Zuoro, in his book, ‘Subscribed’.¹

In a recent study commissioned by Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs, the greatest challenge (as reported by 41% of respondents) before B2B marketers is - 

“Producing the kind of content that engages prospects and customers” 

The tables are turning in favor of stickiness factor of content. Stickiness is not a rare commodity if your content marketing initiative is driven by strategy. The strategy is at the heart of every successful content marketing initiative.  

To give an example, Coca-Cola is undergoing a major overhaul in its strategy – from creative excellence to content excellence. If we analyze Content 2020 and other successful content marketing strategies, we stumble upon content secrets which are only too familiar. 
These are - 

Every business is scrambling to find a place in the customer’s mindspace. That’s because today’s customers expect service delivery to be instant, personalized and meaningful every time, everywhere and across every channel. Undoubtedly, contact centers are doing a good job of resolving customer issues. But the challenge is in meeting the ever-changing needs of an ever-evolving customer. So, many contact centers adopted multiple channels besides voice to connect with their customers. But this doesn’t suffice anymore since it’s not about different channels delivering disparate experiences anymore. 

Say hello to the era of omnichannel experiences. The time is ripe for contact centers to make the transition before they miss the bus. Omnichannel is about delivering services through multiple channels in a seamless manner. The company enjoys sundry benefits, including cost reduction, thanks to the consolidation of service delivery, while the customer benefits by experiencing a service that is swift and seamless across channels. But a few questions remain unanswered: Is there a tried and trusted way to jump-start the transition? Can the omnichannel strategy help deliver stellar customer service? 

As B2B buyer behavior evolves, the content demands on vendor organizations and sales teams continue to grow. Adequately addressing these demands is possible only with a strong content strategy — one that addresses important questions such as what purposes the content should serve, what goals it should achieve, who the content should serve and how, and how it should be designed, created and managed.1