Customer Success: How to Measure and Maximize It

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Customer satisfaction is one of the most crucial and valuable aspects of any business. It can help you to determine the efficiency of a certain aspect of your business and the areas that need improvement.

Measuring customer satisfaction as one of the call centers’ KPIs is vital in ensuring the quality of the service they receive, which then ascertains the effectiveness of the call center. Helping your customers achieve their desired goals within their time of convenience assures them that you are always available and ready to give them the best support. This leads to customer success.

Moreover, keeping your customers satisfied with your services easily makes them an ambassador of your business by leaving good reviews and even by talking about your business with a friend or sharing their thoughts on social media.

There are many ways of measuring customer success and maximizing it by just determining the NPS, monitoring customer growth and retainment, and also knowing the customers’ feedback through surveys. First, let us clarify what customer success means.

Satisfaction vs. Success

Just because your customers are satisfied with your service does not mean they are already successful customers. Don’t just settle for numbers. Instead, focus on the goals both your services and your customers want to achieve. 

Satisfaction focuses on fulfilling the expectations of your customers. This is hard to measure because it can be very subjective. Some may say that they are already satisfied with the services that they have received because they have average to low expectations of your business. This has the potential to be an enemy of success rather than an indicator.

Checking customer success focuses on whether or not your customers achieve their desired goals in using your product or service. This does not only consider the satisfaction of the customers, but also the efficiency of the product or service offered through maximizing its capacity and fulfilling its purpose.

Ensuring Customer Satisfaction and Success as KPI

Although satisfaction and success are two different things, they go hand in hand in keeping your business among the top. 

Being able to answer your customer’s queries in a short period assures them that they can solve any future problems that may arise in your services. Customer satisfaction, although subjective, is a good key performance indicator when measured analytically. 

Measuring Customer Success

One of the most common tools in determining customer success is the NPS or net promoter score. This provides a qualitative analysis by knowing your customers’ feedback.

Through this tool, you will be able to distinguish the aspects of your services that need to be improved. Remember that success isn’t linear. It is about being open to changes, and these changes may come from your customers’ feedback.

This scale categorizes your customers into three: detractors, passives, and promoters. Those who gave scores of 9 or 10 are the ones who are most likely to recommend your services to a friend or a relative. 

By what we call these customers, they do not stop consuming, but they are also promoting. The more the people that promote your business, the more target customers you will be able to reach.
Another thing that you have to deal with is the customer churn rate. Through continuously monitoring the churn rate, you can know how many new customers you have gained and how many stopped utilizing the services you offer.

Gaining new customers is good for business. However, it still does not guarantee success. Remember, satisfied customers will come and go, but the successful ones stay with you. 

You may try to give introductory offers and discounts for new customers. They might leave you with good feedback too, but how many of them became active users? How many of them upgraded their subscription?

The number of customers who are actively using your services is the one that becomes the driving force of your business. This is one indication that they not only feel satisfied, but they also feel secure that they want to continue working with you in the future.

Shortening the TTV or time to value is also one of the keys to ensuring customer success. If your customer sees the value of your services within a short period, they are more likely to get an upgrade.

Once the customers perceive the value of the services you offer them, they will see a positive difference in how fast they have achieved their desired outcomes when they started with your services.

The goal is to recognize the point where most of your customers begin to see your service’s value and learn how to make it happen faster.

Another way to determine customer success is by figuring out the average revenue per customer. This can be done at whatever time scale works for your business.

There are high and low revenue customers. Those who remain active subscribers are the ones that bring more value to your business than the ones who come and go.

Maximizing Customer Success

After measuring customer success, it is imperative to keep track of customer data from time to time to improve the services you offer. Remember to keep your customers engaged in every progress you are aiming to obtain. 

Maintaining customer engagement is not limited to surveys and data. You may also try establishing an active social media presence to make your customers feel that your services and assistance are just one tap away. To make this possible, your customer service representatives should all be competent enough to answer queries and solve issues.

Monitoring customers’ feedback is also a great way to pinpoint the recurring issues encountered. Upholding your customers’ opinions and suggestions make them feel that they are part of your success. This creates an atmosphere of mutual trust.

Conclusion

Customer satisfaction and success are key indicators of the quality of services you are providing. Every successful business is customer-centric. Your business’s next big step could come from your customers’ comments and suggestions. 

Recognize your customers as your partners towards success.